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An overview of Cartagena

Cartagena will host the XV EURIPA Congress of Rural Medicine. Located in the south-east of Spain, in the coastal region of Murcia, the city has witnessed the passage of peoples and cultures in the Mediterranean for centuries and millennia. Each civilisation has left its mark, a legacy that visitors can still trace today. Two key factors have made Cartagena a place of great attraction for different civilisations: its geographical formation as a natural harbour, and its geology, with the presence of nearby mineral deposits.

The origins of Cartagena extend back three millennia and are linked to the ancient Iberian settlement traditionally known as Mastia, a community associated with the Tartessian confederation, which flourished throughout the southern Iberian Peninsula at the same time as many other Mediterranean cultures were emerging. Tartessos and the nascent city of Cartagena coexisted with the Etruscan and Roman civilisations, the Greek city-states, the Late Period of Egypt, and the Phoenician civilisation in the Near East. Both Tartessos and the nearby Iberian settlements have left behind remains that can be visited, among other places, at the Cartagena Municipal Archaeological Museum.

Cartagena is one of the oldest cities in Europe, continuously inhabited since its founding as a Phoenician colony in the south of the Iberian Peninsula. Its purpose was to exploit and trade the metals from nearby mines. Even today, visitors can see the walls of the ancient city founded by the Carthaginian general Hasdrubal in the 3rd century BC. The commercial significance of Punic culture is further illustrated by a unique archaeological discovery at the National Museum of Underwater Archaeology of Cartagena, ARQUA, which houses one of the few Phoenician ships preserved in the world. The museum also contains numerous underwater finds of great historical value, including ancient Greek and Roman vessels and the famous treasure of Nuestra Señora de las Mercedes, sunk near the coast of Cádiz during the Napoleonic Wars.

Carthaginians and Romans vied for control of the western Mediterranean in various conflicts known as the Punic Wars. As a result, Cartagena came under the control of the Roman Republic, became known as Carthago Nova, and reached its urban zenith as a major city of the western Roman Empire. An impressive Roman theatre can be admired in the historic city centre, although its discovery is relatively recent. The theatre was not unearthed until 1988, having been buried for centuries beneath successive Byzantine, Andalusian, medieval, and later settlements. A visit to the museum greatly enhances understanding of both the theatre and the Roman presence in the city: https://teatroromano.cartagena.es

Following the fall of the Roman Empire, Cartagena entered a period of gradual decline that lasted several centuries under successive Byzantine, Visigothic, and Andalusian rule. The city experienced a resurgence under Muslim rule in the 11th and 12th centuries, marked by the construction of a citadel on Mount Concepción and the expansion of the surrounding urban area. After the Christian conquest by King Ferdinand III of Castile in the 13th century, a castle was built on the site of the former citadel, also on Mount Concepción.

Over the following centuries, Cartagena developed into a strategic port for piracy control and for the naval military operations of the Kingdom of Spain, a role that remains evident today. The long-standing presence of the navy has shaped the city’s distinctive character, while its natural harbour has historically provided an ideal refuge for military vessels. Today, Cartagena continues to serve as an important naval base for the Spanish Navy and a major centre for submarine construction. Tourists can visit some of the facilities and the Naval Museum, which houses the prototype of the Isaac Peral submarine, one of the earliest submarines ever designed.

Mining has also played a fundamental role in Cartagena’s history, particularly in the 19th century, when the industrial-scale exploitation of the deposits in the Sierra Minera de Cartagena–La Unión mountains allowed for economic prosperity and led to the emergence of a bourgeois class. This group used its wealth to build grand houses and palaces inspired by modernist architecture, which can still be admired in the streets of Cartagena. Notable examples include the Gran Hotel, the Cartagena Casino and Casa Maestre. Although mining activity has ceased, a significant industrial heritage remains and is well worth visiting: https://fundacionsierraminera.org/mina-matildes