Panoramic Landmark Of City Alicante In Spain Through The Ruins Of Santa Barbara Castle Castillo De Santa Barbara Royalty-Free Stock Photography

The area around Alicante has been inhabited for over 7000 years. The first tribes of hunter-gatherers moved down gradually from Central Europe between 5000 and 3000 BC. Some of the earliest settlements were made on the slopes of Mount Benacantil. By 1000 BC Greek and Phoenician traders had begun to visit the eastern coast of Spain, establishing small trading ports and introducing the native Iberian tribes to the alphabet, iron, and the pottery wheel. The Carthaginian general Hamilcar Barca established the fortified settlement of Akra Leuké, in the mid-230s BC, which is generally presumed to have been on the site of modern Alicante.