ThePhoenician settlement of North Africa orPhoenician expedition to North Africa was the process ofPhoenician people migrating and settling in theMaghreb region ofNorth Africa, encompassing present-dayAlgeria,Libya,Morocco andTunisia, from their homeland ofPhoenicia in theLevant region, including present-dayLebanon,Israel, andSyria, in the 1st millennium BC.
The Phoenicians originated in theNorthern Levant sometime circa 1800 BC[2] and emigrated to North Africa around 900 BC.[3] The causes of Phoenician emigration to North Africa as far as the Atlantic coast are debated, but could include overpopulation in theLevant and economic opportunities and precious metals in North Africa. These precious metals in particular may have been given up to theAssyrian Empire as they expanded into the Phoenician homeland in the Levant, though whether this caused the Phoenicians to need to search for more through expansion into Northern Africa has been disputed.[4]
The first Phoenician settlers immigrated to North Africa around 900 BC as traders and merchants, mainly fromTyre andSidon in modern-day Lebanon.[3][5] They settled predominantly in what is now Tunisia,[6] but they also established over 300 colonies and settlements in the lands currently part of modern Algeria and Morocco.[7] These included the settlements ofThapsus,Leptis andHadrumetum,Tunis,Carthage,Utica,Hippo,Igilgili (Jijel),Icosium (Algiers),Iol (Cherchell),Gunugu (Gouraya),Cartennae (Ténès),Tingi (Tangier),Lixus (Larache),Mogador (Essaouira) andThymiateria (Mehdya).[6] These settlements displaced the local peoples, and caused the importance of the Greek culture and language to diminish in importance west ofTripoli.[8] The descendants of the Phoenician settlers inAncient Carthage came to be known as thePunic people. From the 8th century BC, most inhabitants of present-day Tunisia werePunic.[9]
In the late seventh and early sixth centuries BC, Phoenician settlements in Northern Africa grew politically distant from Phoenicia. In particular, the city ofCarthage became an independent entity, known as thePunics and expanded control over the western Maghreb and Europe.[4] Evidence fromSicily shows that some western Phoenicians themselves may have identified as under the term "Phoinix",[10] or 𐤊𐤍𐤏𐤍𐤌 (knʿnm, "Canaanites").[11]
1 in 17 men in coastal North Africa and Southern Europe have a Phoenician paternal ancestor, according to a 2008 study.[12]
There is relatively little information about the Phoenician migration into North Africa when compared to Phoenician migration into other areas. The majority of primary sources detailing the settlements areGreece orRoman in origin and, as of the early 2020s, few archeological sites have been excavated.[7]: 197
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