The trading pattern of Carthage in her early history was oriented toward the eastern Mediterranean, where she found ready markets for the raw materials brought from Africa and the Iberian peninsula. The famous city of Tartessus (Tarshish of the Old Testament) located on the Atlantic coast of Iberia was a great competitor for Carthage, and in concert with her Celt allies Carthage destroyed the famous city and took over the lucrative trade in the Atlantic seaboard. When the homeland (Phoenicia proper) fell to invaders, Carthage took advantage of the situation and expanded her trade, as well as taking control of the now isolated sister colonies such as Utica, Agadir (Gades, modern Cadiz) and Tingis, even though many had been established longer, and in some cases re-established colonies where Tyrian colonies had failed, such as those planted on the Atlantic coast of Africa by Hanno (about 510 B.C.) Carthage may have been saved from conquest by her mother city of Tyre. When the Persian Great King, having conquered Tyre, decided to extend his conquest to include Carthage, he 'drafted' the Tyrian fleet to do the job. The people of Tyre refused to sail against their children. Later on, Carthage and Persia entered into an agreement, with Carthage sending a token tribute annually. By the time Xerxes invaded Greece, the two were allies, and Carthage launched a huge army against Syracuse, resulting in the disastrous defeat at Himera in 480 B.C. at the hands of the Syracusans.

The wars with the western Greeks hindered trade with the eastern Mediterranean ports, but Carthage found ready markets in the west, and kept a stranglehold on the Pillars of Hercules, with her warships having standing orders to sink any foreign vessel they found outside on sight. The port city of Massilia, (modern Marseilles, France) a colony of Greeks that contested with Carthage repeatedly, took advantage of the situation (the war with Syracuse tying down most of the Carthaginian fleet) and sent off Pytheas to discover the source of tin, a metal needed for the production of bronze. Pytheas managed to slip past the Carthaginians and found the source, the "tin islands" which are the British isles. After the accession of Alexander the Great, Carthage renewed trade with the eastern Mediterranean ports, and this influence can be seen in her artwork, pottery, and in their religious practices, adopting several Greek gods.

The wars with the Greeks finally ended with Carthage largely successful, and in control of most of western Sicily, all of Sardinia and Corsica as well as many smaller islands including Malta. Sicily was to be the cause of the first war with Rome, with whom Carthage had friendly relations up til that time, even allying with Rome against King Pyrrhus of Epirus. Polybius, a Greek historian of the second century B.C., stated that the Romans broke their treaty with Carthage and sent troops to Sicily in great part due to greed, the tantalizing idea of bringing the riches of Carthage to Rome was a tremendous enticement.

Carthage was fairly advanced in agriculture and was a net exporter of grains, and famous for her horses, which strongly resemble the Arabian horses of today. Mago wrote a 28 volume treatise on agriculture and soil conservation, which was so highly valued by the Romans that they ordered it translated into Latin for their own use after the fall of Carthage in 146 B.C. They practiced irrigation and crop rotation, possibly learned from their contacts with Egypt and other near eastern countries. After the disastrous loss of the Second Punic war with Rome (202 B.C.), Hannibal was elected Shophet (or Suffete, a post very similar to the Judge-Kings of Israel), and pushed through a number of government reforms, and placed renewed emphasis on agriculture which was highly successful, allowing Carthage to pay her heavy war indemnity to Rome and recover her wealth, in spite of the loss of her empire. Legend has it that the Romans went so far as to salt the earth of Carthage after her utter destruction to prevent her rising again.

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