Trade, Not Empire: Phoenician Colonization Begins Colonization long predates modern empires, exemplified by the Phoenicians, a Levantine maritime civilization of city-states like Tyre, Byblos, and Sidon active since as early as 2500 BC. Unlike land-hungry empires, they pursued trade, mastering sea routes that reached Britain, the African coast, and the Greek islands. Trading posts and way stations evolved into permanent settlements that controlled local markets and became colonies. Despite conflicting ancient and modern dates, a broad pattern emerges: pre-colonial outposts from the 12th–8th centuries BC, followed by formal colonization in the 8th–6th centuries BC as prosperity grew.
A Mediterranean Web of Ports from Iberia to Libya Their network stretched across Iberia, Sicily, Sardinia, Cyprus, and North Africa, with notable ports such as Cádiz, Motya, Palermo, Cagliari, Larnaca, Utica, Carthage, Tripoli, Sabratha, and Leptis. Ties to the homeland varied: some colonies absorbed Phoenician religion, architecture, and culture, while others retained strong indigenous traditions shaped by geography and local strength. All functioned as trade and manufacturing hubs—famously for purple-dyed cloth—allowing production and export from numerous points along European and African coasts. This web magnified control of regional markets while sustaining long-distance voyages.
From Commerce to Conflict—and an Enduring Legacy As holdings multiplied, the value of dispersed territory became strategic: clashes with locals increased, fortifications rose, and the Phoenicians militarized to push further expansion. Rival powers—from Greeks to Assyrians—overwhelmed them, and by the time of Alexander the Great’s campaigns, their dominance had ended. Yet their merchants had already woven a durable Mediterranean network that spread goods, religion, art, and culture and persisted for centuries after their fall. Though never aiming at typical conquest, they nonetheless colonized much of the Mediterranean by prioritizing trade, a pattern later echoed by the British East India Company.