Carteia

Carteia was a Phoenician and Roman town at the head of the Bay of Gibraltar in Spain [1]. It was established at the most northerly point of the bay, next to the town of San Roque, about halfway between the modern cities of Algeciras and Gibraltar, overlooking the sea on elevated ground at the confluence of two rivers [1]. According to Strabo, it was founded around 940 BC as the trading settlement of Kʿrt [1]. Around 190 BC, the town was captured by the Romans [1]. Livy records that in 171 BC, the Roman Senate was petitioned by a group of Romano-Spanish people, the sons of Roman soldiers and Spanish women [1]. The Senate responded by elevating Carteia to the status of a colonia and granting around 4,000 Romano-Spanish people the right to live there and receive a grant of land on a similar basis to Roman colonists [1]. The site of Carteia was rediscovered by a young British Army officer, John Conduitt [1].