Editing Cádiz (section)

=== Foundation and early history under the Phoenicians ===
Founded as ''Gadir'' or ''Agadir'' by [[Phoenicia]]ns from [[Tyre, Lebanon|Tyre]],<ref>{{cite book|last1=R. Bierling|first1=Marilyn|last2=Gitin|first2=Seymour|date=2002|title=The Phoenicians in Spain : An Archaeological Review of the Eighth-sixth Centuries B.C.E. : a Collection of Articles Translated from Spanish|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=VKISiDr6CnMC|location=|publisher=Pennsylvania State University Press|page=155|isbn=9781575060569}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Eugenia Aubet Semmler|first=María|date=2022|chapter=Tyre and its colonial expansion|title=The Oxford Handbook of the Phoenician and Punic Mediterranean|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GOXgEAAAQBAJ|location= |publisher=Oxford University Press|page=77|isbn=9780197654422}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Álvarez-Martí-Aguilar|first=Manuel|date=2022|chapter=The Gadir-Tyre Axis|title=The Oxford Handbook of the Phoenician and Punic Mediterranean|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GOXgEAAAQBAJ|location= |publisher=Oxford University Press|page=619|isbn=9780197654422}}</ref> Cádiz is often regarded as the most ancient city still standing in Western Europe.<ref name = "edad1">''Espinosa, Pedro'' (2007). '''EL PAIS'''. [http://www.elpais.com/articulo/cultura/Hallado/Cadiz/muro/3000/anos/elpepucul/20070930elpepicul_7/Tes Hallado en Cádiz un muro de 3.000 años]</ref> The city was an important trading hub founded to access different metals including gold, tin, and especially silver.<ref name="Gitin2002"/> The Phoenicians established a port in the 7th century&nbsp;BC.<ref>{{cite book |last=Krensky |first=Stephen |title=Who Really Discovered America? |publisher=[[Scholastic Inc.]] |others=Illustrated by Steve Sullivan |year=1987 |isbn=0-590-40854-2 |page=30}}</ref>

Traditionally, Cádiz's founding is dated to {{circa}} 1100 BC,<ref>[[Velleius Paterculus]], ''Hist. Rom.'' I.2.1-3.</ref> although no archaeological strata on the site can be dated earlier than the 9th century BC. One resolution for this discrepancy has been to assume that Gadir was merely a small seasonal trading post in its earliest days.

Ancient Gadir occupied two small islands—Erytheia, primarily a settlement, and Kotinoussa, hosting cemeteries and sanctuaries outside the urban area—situated near the mouth of River Guadalete.<ref name="PérezLópez-Ruiz2016">{{cite book |last1=Pérez |first1=Sebastián Celestino |last2=López-Ruiz |first2=Carolina |title=Tartessos and the Phoenicians in Iberia |year=2016 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-967274-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-Va1DAAAQBAJ&pg=PA140 |pages=140–141}}</ref> Presently, these islands are interconnected. While the ancient ruins of Gadir beneath modern Cádiz's historical center remain largely unexcavated, excavations have been carried out in the southern cemeteries.

By the 6th century BC, disturbances within Phoenicia itself, notably the [[Siege of Tyre (586–573 BC)|fall of Tyre]] to the [[Neo-Babylonian Empire|Babylonians]] (573 BC), led to the end of Phoenician control over southern Iberia. This vacuum was later filled by [[ancient Carthage]], which rose as a predominant power in the region during subsequent eras.<ref name="PérezLópez-Ruiz2016 147">{{cite book |last1=Pérez |first1=Sebastián Celestino |last2=López-Ruiz |first2=Carolina |title=Tartessos and the Phoenicians in Iberia |year=2016 |publisher=Oxford University Press |isbn=978-0-19-967274-5 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=-Va1DAAAQBAJ&pg=PA147 |pages=147–148}}</ref>