00:00 The Phoenician civilization, focused on commerce and trade, ruled over the Mediterranean until they were eventually conquered by more powerful neighbors, and their origins are somewhat mysterious.

01:49 The Phoenicians emerged as a fully mature civilization after the Bronze Age Collapse and became a prominent trading and commercial power in the Mediterranean.

03:33 The Phoenicians were skilled sailors and traders who established colonies and became centers of trade and manufacturing, known for their production of bronze, glass, and advanced ships.

05:12 The Phoenicians were known for their development of the emphora, large-scale production of wine, textiles, and their monopoly on purple dye, which they created from a sea snail found along the coast of Lebanon and became known as Tyrian purple. They also established a network of colonies throughout the southern Mediterranean, including Cyprus, Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica, Mallorca, and various locations in North Africa, Spain, Portugal, and France, with minimal violent competition from the Greeks.

06:50 The Phoenician colonies were generally small, with Tyre becoming the dominant city-state, and Carthage eventually growing into a power of its own; the Phoenicians developed their own alphabet, which was later adopted by the Greeks and Romans; and the Phoenicians were known for their peculiar religious practice of child sacrifice.

08:30 The Phoenicians were skilled seafarers and may have reached as far as the Canary Islands and Great Britain, but there is speculation about whether they made it to the Azores or even the Americas; they were eventually conquered by larger empires, including the Assyrians, Babylonians, Persians, and Alexander the Great.

10:10 The Phoenician civilization came to an end after the Romans conquered the Levant and Phoenicia in 62 BC, but their descendants can still be found in Lebanon, Cyprus, Spain, and Portugal, and many of their ancient settlements are still inhabited today.