Buy this book on Amazon: A Short History of the World
The eastern Mediterranean area was not very rich in metals, which meant that the local inhabitants were required to move westwards in search of a new supply. Between the turn of the millennium and 500 BC, the Phoenicians, who descended from the northern group of Sea Peoples that had settled in present-day Lebanon, and the sea-faring Greeks established settlements at strategic points along trade routes throughout the Mediterranean. One of the Phoenician settlements, Carthage, would end up playing an important role in Roman history.
