Apart from the major civilizations on the Mediterranean, such as Egypt and Greece, one major trading partner of the Phoenicians was Tartessos (also known as Tartessus and Tarshish), a wealthy trading nation in South Spain, on the Gualdaquivir. The Phoenician colony of Gades (the current city of Cadíz) was built to enable trade with this nation. Tartessus was important because it provided tin, which was important for the fabrication of bronze. The tin mainly came from England. Tartessos disappeared somewhere in the 6th century BC. It is believed that it was destroyed by the Phoenicians, possibly with the goal of securing the trade route to the British islands for themselves.
Of the great amount of Phoenician voyages, only one report is known to us. It is a description by Herodotus of a voyage around Africa, sent out by the Egyptian pharaoh Neco. It is assumed that the Phoenicians kept their sailing directions and such a well-guarded trade secret, which is the reason why we do not know more of their voyages.
During the seventh to fifth centuries BC, the Phoenician cities lost their independence, and were conquered by Assyria, and later by Persia and Alexander the Great. It was one of the former colonies in the Wester Mediterranean, Carthago (often called Carthage), which now became the most important Phoenician city, in time controlling much of the Western Mediterranean and having colonies out in the Atlantic.
Although the Carthaginians were secretive about their voyages just like the Phoenicians, we have the names of two of its great explorers, from the fifth century BC. A sailor called Himilco found the route to the Tin Islands (Cornwall), while Hanno, a Carthaginian king, set out to establish colonies on the Atlantic coast of Africa, and explored the coast possibly all the way to Cameroon. In the end, Carthago was destroyed in three wars (the so-called Punic Wars) with the Roman republic, to which it was the main contender for the control of the Mediterranean.