If, then, the Phoenicians held them, it must have been altogether for the sake of their harbours.
The colonies of the Mediterranean have now been, all of them, noticed, excepting those which lay upon the south coast of Spain.

Of these the most important were Malaca (now Malaga), Sex or Sexti, and Abdera (now Adra).

Malaca is said by Strabo to have been "Phoenician in its plan,"[5147] Abdera is expressly declared by him to have been "a Phoenician settlement,"[5148] while Sexti has coins which connect it with early Phoenician legends.[5149] The mountain range above Malaca was anciently rich in gold-mines;[5150] Sexti was famous for its salt-pans;[5151] Abdera lay in the neighbourhood of productive silver-mines.[5152] These were afterwards worked from Carthagena, which was a late Carthaginian colony, founded by Asdrubal, the uncle of Hannibal.

Malaga and Carthagena (i.e.New-Town) had well-sheltered harbours; but the ports of Sexti and Abdera were indifferent.
Outside the Straits of Gibraltar, on the shores of the Atlantic, were two further sets of Phoenician colonies, situated respectively in Africa and in Spain.

The most important of those in Africa were Tingis (now Tangiers) and Lixus (now Chemmish), but besides these there were a vast number of staples ({emporia}) without names,[5153] spread along the coast as far as Cape Non, opposite the Canary Islands.