Carthage (state)

Carthage
Qart-ḥadašt
814 BC–146 BC
Carthage and its dependencies in 264 BC
Capital		Carthage
Languages		Punic, Phoenician, Berber, Numid, Ancient Greek
Religion		Punic religion
Demonym		Carthaginian
Government		Monarchy until 308 BC, Republic thereafter
King, later Shophet ("Judge")		See List
Historical era		Antiquity
•	Foundation of Carthage	814 BC
•	Roman conquest	146 BC
Currency		Carthaginian shekel
Preceded by Succeeded by Phoenicia Africa (Roman province) Sicilia (Roman province) Hispania
Today part of		10 countries  Algeria  France  Gibraltar  Italy  Libya  Malta  Morocco  Portugal  Spain  Tunisia

Carthage (Qart-ḥadašt "new city") was the Phoenician city-state of Carthage and during the 7th to 3rd centuries BC, included its sphere of influence, the Carthaginian Empire. The empire extended over much of the coast of North Africa as well as encompassing substantial parts of coastal Iberia and the islands of the western Mediterranean Sea.

Carthage was founded in 814 BC. A dependency of the Phoenician state of Tyre at the time, Carthage gained independence around 650 BC and established its political hegemony over other Phoenician settlements throughout the western Mediterranean, this lasting until the end of the 3rd century BC. At the height of the city's prominence it served as a major hub of trade, with trading stations extending throughout the region.

For much of its history, Carthage was on hostile terms with the Greeks in Sicily and with the Roman Republic, leading to a series of armed conflicts known as the Greek-Punic Wars (c. 600–265 BC) and the Punic Wars (264–146 BC) respectively. The city also had to deal with potentially hostile Berbers, the indigenous inhabitants of the area where Carthage was built. In 146 BC, after the third and final Punic War, Roman forces destroyed, redesigned, and then occupied Carthage. Nearly all of the other Phoenician city-states and former Carthaginian dependencies subsequently fell into Roman hands.

According to Roman sources, Phoenician colonists from modern-day Lebanon, led by Dido (also known as Queen Elissa), founded Carthage circa 814 BC. Queen Elissa (also known as "Alissar") was an exiled princess of the ancient Phoenician city of Tyre. At its peak, the metropolis she founded, Carthage, came to be called the "shining city", ruling 300 other cities around the western Mediterranean Sea and leading the Phoenician world.