Cartagena is a lovely small city (about 220,000 inhabitants), with broad avenues and many squares and parks. It is located on a beautiful protected bay in the coastal mountains along the Mediterranean. The bay has defined its history and still defines its present. A refurbished waterfront centers at the Plaza del Ayuntamiento (city hall), which turns into a pedestrian shopping and restaurant district leading back from the water up to the Plaza de España, where all roads come together. The weather is sunny and mild, with ocean breezes keeping the air fresh.
The Old Town of Cartagena is defined by five small hills (Molinete, Monte Sacro, Monte de San José, Despeñaperros, and la Concepción, where the castle stands). In earlier times, an inner bay or estuary surrounded the hills on the west; as it dried up, the "New Town" was built on its site, starting at the Plaza de España and heading inland.
Cartagena lies within the Spanish province of Murcia (between Andalucia and Valencia provinces), and its municipality extends some thirty miles along the coast and inland to encompass a very fertile agricultural plain. Its heart, however, is the city and its port. There is mining in the mountains nearby, which would suggest early settlement, but all reports are that Cartagena was founded in 229 b.c. by Carthagineans (Phoenicians) led by a general Asdrúbal, who wanted the natural defensive port for his empire. He named it Qart Hadasht (say it quickly). The Romans took it soon after, renaming it Cartago Nova.
Some research finds that Asdrúbal probably built on top of a Tartessian city named Mastia, populated by the same Iberian tribe that founded Sevilla/Betis back some three thousand years. It is curious that Cartagena itself doesn't talk about that earlier history. The German archaeologist Adolf Schulten, who was a significant player in the development of modern archaeology in Spain, proposed the theory, but it would seem that no archaeological remains to support it have been unearthed. Still, Cartagena is a place begging for archaeological research. For example, the five hills within the center city are each topped with layers of walls and buildings, but only one -- the castle -- has been spiffed up as a museum. Two of the others are designated as parks, but have not been developed. The other two seem to be unpaved, unregulated public parking zones.
