Phoenicians Crafts and Trading
The Phoenicians were a people of ancient times. Phoenicians inhabited the areas on the eastern side of the Mediterranean Sea coast. ... The history of the Phoenicians is entwined with the history of other peoples starting with the ancient Egyptians. The Phoenicians were a people of trade and of crafts. ... The Phoenicians’ livelihood was based around their crafts and trade. The Phoenicians’ coastal location, as well as their general dexterity, allowed the Phoenician people to earn their place in history as the first society that thrived on a trading economy. The Phoenician government, or lack thereof, greatly contributed to the Phoenicians’ ability to trade freely with many nations and societies. The Phoenicians were able to freely interact with the Greek speaking population and, thus, the Phoenicians were able to expand their trading throughout the Mediterranean region. ... The Phoenicians had very elaborate merchant ships. ... The Phoenicians were also very skilled navigators. ... It is rumored that the Phoenicians’ first attempts at navigation were done in a raft when they explored the region around the Persian Gulf. The Mediterranean Sea was used more by the Phoenicians than it was by the Greeks. ... When their first boats were built and ready to be used, the Phoenicians were very timid and they would anchor their ships on the beach at nightfall and would not begin their navigations again until dawn. The Phoenicians began to explore at nighttime and explore further out from the coastline of the Mediterranean Sea. This expanded navigation began to occur when the Phoenicians discovered Polaris, or the North Star. Also, the Phoenicians were very skilled navigators because they developed a method of calculating their rate of sailing that is unknown to us today. The Phoenicians also made secret maps for navigation that they hid from their enemies and potential trading competitors. The Phoenicians traded with a wide variety of people and societies. The Phoenicians began dealing with the Libyan and Tunisian coastal areas when they would have to make sheltering anchorages from storms. The Phoenicians traded extensively with the African coasts. The Phoenicians wanted to obtain ivory, lion skins, leopard skins, deer skins, and gold from the African coast.