Tartessos is the name of the first Western civilization known by the Greeks. This civilization was formed in 600 BC around the Guadalquivir River (called Tartessos at the time) and the present-day cities of Huelva, Seville and San Fernando near the southwest coast of Spain. The civilization of Tartessos (which would have originated in North Africa), had its own language and its own writing before seeing its culture influenced by the Phoenician and Egyptian peoples.
Tartessos
The people Phoenician had even settled in a small part of this region (the present city of Cadiz), which had the effect of stimulating trade among the people of Tartessos, whose lands were rich in copper and silver, and the sailing to other lands. The Tartessians thus subsequently became the first producers of bronze and silver in the Mediterranean.
We do not have data for the people of Tartessos after the year 500 AD, which would be explained by the fact that this people would have been swept away by the people of the City of Carthage because of its alliance with the Greeks. A city would have been rebuilt, and the Roman people also took the name of Tartessos in their maps, but there was finally no trace of this kingdom.
However, it is not certain that there was even before a City of Tartessos in the proper sense, but it is probable that the capital of the people of Tartessos was Turpa (present-day Santa Maria). The Greeks of Elis and of Olympia, however, affirmed that Tartessos, the river in Iberian land which flows into the sea through two mouths, would include between these two mouths a city of the same name. This city is also mentioned in the Bible under the name of Tarshish.
This mystery around the real existence of a City of Tartessos reinforces the possibility that it may be a contender for the famous lost civilization of Atlantis. Indeed, its position in relation to the Tartessos river, was that the city could be invaded by a sudden rise in water. The foundations of this city are therefore currently buried under the quicksand of the region.
