Cartagena (ancient Carthago Nova), city and seaport in southern Spain, in Murcia Province, on the Mediterranean Sea, near the city of Murcia. Lead, iron, copper, zinc, and sulfur are mined in the surrounding region. The principal exports of Cartagena are metallic ores, hydraulically compressed esparto grass, olive oil, wine, and fried fruits; imports include machinery, coal, coke, lumber, and codfish. Smelters are the principal industrial establishments in the city. Others include glass works and factories for the manufacture of esparto-grass fabrics. Cartagena is encircled by mountains and is a principal naval base of Spain. Its fortifications include forts and other military and naval installations. The city contains the remains of old walls, a castle probably constructed in Carthaginian times, and a church that was formerly a 13th-century cathedral.
Cartagena is on a site selected, after 228 BC, by the Carthaginian general Hasdrubal. When captured by the Roman general Publius Cornelius Scipio Africanus in 209 BC, the city was a flourishing port exporting gold and silver mined in the surrounding region. Sacked by the Goths in AD425, Cartagena was restored and improved by the Moors during their occupation of Spain. A possession of the kings of Aragón from 1269, it was later included in the kingdom of Spain. It served as a naval base for the Republicans in the Spanish Civil War (1936-1939). Population (1998 estimate) 175,628.Microsoft® Encarta® Online Encyclopedia 2001
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