The ancient Phoenicians early aimed at and finally obtained the empire
of the sea by making themselves masters of the most commodious harbors
of the Mediterranean Sea and the Arabian Gulf. They established a
regular intercourse with the countries bordering on the Mediterranean as
well as with India and the eastern coast of Africa. From these latter
countries they imported many valuable commodities which were not known
to the people of other parts of the world, and during a long period they
held this lucrative branch of commerce without a rival. The character
and the situation of the Phoenicians aided them greatly in acquiring
this mastery of commerce. Neither their manners and customs nor their
institutions showed any marked national peculiarity; they had no
unsocial prejudices and they mingled with the people of other countries
without the least scruple or repugnance. As their native country was
small and quite barren, they early learned to rely upon commerce as the
best source of riches and power. Like the other Semitic tribes, the
Phoenicians were noted for their energy and acumen, and while they
were not a literary people in the strict sense of the word, ancient
civilization received probably a more powerful impetus through their
commercial supremacy than through any other agency.

During the reign of King Solomon the Jews made an attempt to wrest from
the Phoenicians at least a part of the world's trade. Solomon built
ships and imported Phoenician sailors for his fleet. For a time it
seemed as if the Israelites might become the rivals of their teachers in
the art of navigation and in the mysteries of trade; but their peculiar
religious customs in that early day proved a serious impediment to
commercial ascendancy, as it rendered them incapable of that unreserved
intercourse with strangers so essential in commerce.

The monopoly of the sea, at least of the Mediterranean, passed to the
Carthaginians, their descendants. The latter extended their navigation
toward the west and north. They planted colonies and opened new harbors,
and up to the time of the Punic wars kept almost the entire trade of the
countries bordering on the Mediterranean in their hands.

After the downfall of Carthage the control of the commerce of Southern
Europe and Northern Africa descended to the Romans. When Rome became the
capital of the world, it gathered the wealth and valuable productions of
all its provinces. Under the consuls and the