Prehistory There is evidence of the presence of individuals belonging to the genus
Homo in the cave '''' 1,300,000 years ago. This cave is located in the southeastern quarter of Cartagena. Remains of
Neanderthal individuals of the
Mousterian culture were found in the
Cave of los Aviones. This place is located close to Cartagena. There were also remains of Neanderthals belonging to the Mousterian culture in the '''', which is located in the southwestern quarter of the municipality. The southeast end of Cartagena was inhabited again during the
Mesolithic. Important points are the
Cueva de los Pájaros and
Cueva de los Mejillones (caves). Neolithic components such as ceramic shards have been found. The southeast of Cartagena was again inhabited during the
Neolithic. The sites are
Las Amoladeras and
Calblanque. The south of the Alumbres district was also inhabited during that period. The archaeological site is located in the
Cerro del Gorguel (hill) and in it remains of a characteristic Neolithic hamlet were discovered. The reasons for the dearth of human presence and structures in this municipality during the Neolithic period were the lack of rainfall and the absence of water courses. During the
Bronze Age there was a similar situation. The
Argaric civilization inhabited the southeast of the Iberian Peninsula (
Región de Murcia and
Almería) during the Bronze Age. Nevertheless, they did not significantly occupy this municipality, there were few structures belonging to them and they had little relevance here. They lived in the northwest.
Ancient history The town is thought to have originally been named
Mastia. Possessing one of the best harbors in the Western Mediterranean, it was re-founded by the Carthaginian general
Hasdrubal around 227 BC as
Kart-hadasht ("New City"), a name identical to
Carthage, for the purpose of serving as a stepping-off point for the conquest of Spain. The Roman general
Scipio Africanus conquered it in 209 BC and renamed it
Carthago Nova (literally "New
Carthage," and therefore etymologically "New New City") to distinguish it from the mother city. It became a tributary community (
civitas stipendaria).
Julius Caesar gave the town
Latin Rights, and
Octavian renamed it in his honor as the colony
Colonia Victrix Iulia Nova Carthago or
Colonia Vrbs Iulia Nova Carthago (C. V. I. N. C.) depending on the source. The city was very relevant both in the Carthaginian and the Roman conquest of the
Iberian Peninsula. In 298 AD,
Diocletian constituted a new Roman province in Hispania called
Carthaginensis and settled the capital in this city. It remained important until it was sacked by the
Vandals in 435 AD. During the Roman period, it was the site of major silver mines, yielding a daily revenue of 25,000
drachmae. It was known also for the production of
garum, a fermented fish sauce, and for
esparto grass which granted it a new name,
Cartago Spartaria.
Middle Ages The demise and fall of
Western Roman sovereignty caused Cartago Spartaria to go into decline. It was occupied successively by the
Vandals (409–425), the
Visigoths (425–551 and 624–714) and the
Eastern Romans (551–624), who made it the capital of
Spania (the Byzantine Empire's westernmost province). During this time the Christian
diocese of Cartagena lost its place as the
primary diocese in Hispania to the more reliably
Visigothic Archdiocese of Toledo, a primacy it would never recover. Cartagena was re-conquered by the Visigoths, who held it until the Muslim conquest in 714 AD. By that time it was barely a fishing village. It was called Qartayannat-al-Halfa. It was subsequently ruled by the
Umayyads (714–756), the
Caliphate of Cordova (756–1031), the
Taifa of Denia (1031–1076), the
Taifa of Saragossa (1076–1081), the
Taifa of Tortosa (1081–1092), the
Almoravids (1092–1145), the
Almohads (1145–1229) and the
Taifa of Murcia (1229–1245). During the Islamic period, Cartagena primarily oriented itself to the sea, possessing at best a small rural hinterland. Following the local refusal to abide to the 1243
Treaty of Alcazaz, a Castilian army led by the
infante Alfonso of Castile took Cartagena by force in 1245 by means of a military operation combining land forces and a Cantabrian fleet. It was granted a
fuero copied after Córdoba's in 1246. Similarly to the other subdued rebel towns, it early underwent an aggressive process of Castilianization. The diocese of Cartagena was restored in 1250, but its seat was established in Murcia since 1266, a decision later formalised in 1291. In 1270, Alfonso created the
Order of Santa María de España for the naval defense of the
Crown of Castile and established its headquarters in Cartagena. In 1296, Cartagena was briefly annexed to the
Crown of Aragon, but returned to Castile by the
Treaty of Elx in 1305, which fixed the final boundary between the kingdoms of Valencia and Murcia. Cartagena then lost its status as royal demesne and became a seigneurial jurisdiction, a situation which lasted until 1346. Cartagena did not fully recover until the 18th century, when it became a leading naval port in the Mediterranean. During the 1492
expulsion of the Jews from Spain, chronicler Andrés Bernáldez reports that seventeen ships carrying Jewish deportees reached Cartagena before continuing to
Málaga; about 150 Jews converted to Christianity in Cartagena.
Modern history (1634) On 3 September 1643, the
Battle of Cartagena took place near the
Cabo de Gata between a Spanish fleet and a French fleet. In 1728, Cartagena became the capital of the
Spanish Navy's Maritime Department of the Mediterranean and the city was heavily fortified with the construction of a modern castle in the place of a former Moorish
Kasbah, several barracks and a huge
Cartagena Arsenal. In a relatively short period of time, the population of the city grew from around 10,000 to 50,000 inhabitants. In 1757, during the
Seven Years' War, a
French Navy force was forced to take shelter in the port. A squadron under
Michel-Ange Duquesne de Menneville sent to reinforce them was attacked and defeated by a
Royal Navy squadron under
Henry Osborn at the
Battle of Cartagena. (1786) In 1873, the city established a self-governing
Canton of Cartagena and become the center of the
Cantonal Revolution. Governmental forces besieged the city for several months until they surrendered. During the
Spanish Civil War (1936–1939), Cartagena was the main base of the
Spanish Republican Navy and one of the primary strongholds of the
Republican Government. It held out against the forces of General
Francisco Franco longer than any other city in Spain, being the last of its cities to surrender. The city saw its industrial activity increase during the 1950s, resulting in greater prosperity and this trend continued until a general decline in manufacturing throughout Europe in the late 1980s and early 1990s.
Present At the moment, Cartagena comprises part of the autonomous community of the
Region of Murcia, and is the seat of the
Regional Assembly of Murcia. It is also capital of the maritime province of Cartagena, which was granted by the Royal Decree of 5 October 1607 under the reign of
Philip III. ==Geography==