The Phoenicians were legendary traders in the Mediterranean. Initially, the Phoenicians were cautious with their early sea ventures. They rarely moved out of sight of land for fear of inclement weather and rough seas. Their ships were sail driven and the early types of trading vessels could not move against the wind making them highly susceptible to shipwreck. The Phoenicians later become emboldened in their travels as they began to learn the patterns of weather and particularly navigation by the stars. The Phoenicians are credited with navigation by the Polar star, known to modern day sailors as the North Star. This advancement in navigation and weather prediction allowed the Phoenicians to expand their trade routes to the coasts of Africa, Spain and in some instances as far as Britain. We can see that the Phoenicians expanded their trade to places such as “Northern Syria, Syria of Damascus, Judah and the land of Israel, Egypt, Arabia, Babylonia, Assyria, Upper Mesopotamia, Armenia, Central Asia Minor, Ionia, Cyprus, Hellas or Greece, and Spain.”¹ This expansion allowed the Phoenicians to form highly guarded trade routes between these countries and to corner a large portion of trade through the Mediterranean further expanding their trade based economy.
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