Phoenician settlement of North Africa

The Phoenician settlement of North Africa or Phoenician expedition to North Africa was the process of Phoenician people migrating and settling in the Maghreb region of North Africa, encompassing present-day Algeria, Libya, Morocco and Tunisia, from their homeland of Phoenicia in the Levant region, including present-day Lebanon, Israel, and Syria, in the 1st millennium BC.

The Phoenicians originated in the Northern Levant sometime circa 1800 BC^[1] and emigrated to North Africa around 900 BC.^[2] The causes of Phoenician emigration to North Africa as far as the Atlantic coast are debated, but could include overpopulation in the Levant and economic opportunities and precious metals in North Africa. These precious metals in particular may have been given up to the Assyrian Empire as they expanded into the Phoenician homeland in the Levant, though whether this caused the Phonecians to need to search for more through expansion into Northern Africa has been disputed.^[3]

The first Phoenician settlers immigrated to North Africa around 900 BC as traders and merchants, mainly from Tyre and Sidon in modern-day Lebanon.^[2][4] They settled predominantly in what is now Tunisia,^[5] but they also established over 300 colonies and settlements in the lands currently part of modern Algeria and Morocco.^[6] These included the settlements of Thapsus, Leptis and Hadrumetum, Tunis, Carthage, Utica, Hippo, Igilgili (Jijel), Icosium (Algiers), Iol (Cherchell), Gunugu (Gouraya), Cartennae (Ténès), Tingi (Tangier), Lixus (Larache), Mogador (Essaouira) and Thymiateria (Mehdya).^[5] These settlements displaced the local peoples, and caused the importance of the Greek culture and language to diminish in importance west of Tripoli.^[7] The descendants of the Phoenician settlers in Ancient Carthage came to be known as the Punic people. From the 8th century BC, most inhabitants of present-day Tunisia were Punic.^[8]

In the late seventh and early sixth centuries BC, Phoenician settlements in Northern Africa grew politically distant from Phonecia. In particular, the city of Carthage became an independent entity, known as the Punics and expanded control over the western Maghreb and Europe.^[3] Evidence from Sicily shows that some western Phoenicians themselves may have identified as under the term "Phoinix",^[9] or 𐤊𐤍𐤏𐤍𐤌 (knʿnm, "Canaanites").^[10]

1 in 17 men in coastal North Africa and Southern Europe have a Phoenician paternal ancestor, according to a 2008 study.^[11]

There is relatively little information about the Phonecian migration into North Africa when compared to Phonecian migration into other areas. The majority of primary sources detailing the settlements are Greece or Roman in origin and, as of the early 2020s, few archeological sites have been excavated.^[6]: 197