Editing Carthago Nova (section)

=== High Empire === 
The Roman prosperity of Cartago Nova was primarily based on the exploitation of the [[silver]] and [[lead]] mines of the [[Sierra minera de Cartagena-La Unión|Cartagena mining area]]. Around 40,000 [[Slave|enslaved people]] are said to have worked in these mines, which had been exploited since Phoenician times, with Rome continuing extensive extraction.

In 44 BC, the city was granted the title of a [[Roman colony]] under the name ''Colonia Vrbs Iulia Nova Carthago'' (C.V.I.N.C), made up of citizens with full [[Roman citizenship|Roman rights]].

In 27 BC, [[Augustus]] reorganized Hispania, and the city was included in the new imperial province of ''[[Hispania Tarraconensis]]''.

From the [[Roman Republic|Republican]] era, there was a [[Amphitheatre of Cartagena|Roman amphitheatre]] in the city. However, it was under Augustus that Cartago Nova underwent an ambitious urban and monumental development program, which included the construction of an impressive [[Roman Theatre, Cartagena|Roman theatre]] and a large [[Augusteum and Forum of Roman Cartagena|forum]].

Between the reigns of [[Tiberius]] and [[Claudius]], Hispania Tarraconensis was divided into seven juridical convents, one of which was the ''Conventus Iuridicus Carthaginensis'', with its capital in Cartago Nova.

Beginning in the 2nd century, like other cities of Hispania, the city experienced a slow economic and demographic decline. The entire eastern sector of the city was abandoned, including the forum built in the time of Augustus. The city contracted into the area spanning from the [[Castillo de la Concepción (Cartagena)|Concepción hill]] to El Molinete. One reason for the decline appears to have been depletion of the local mines.