In the absence of very definite records the earliest history of Spanish commerce and industry remains a subject for speculation and inference. As far back as twenty and thirty centuries before Christ, some manner of trade and commerce seems to have existed in what is at the present date the Spanish peninsula.' There is, however, nothing approaching definiteness in this regard until nearly ten centuries before the Christian era, when it was recorded that King Solomon's "ships went to Tarshish . ... every three years once . . . bringing old and silver.' 2 The same chronicle speaks of another king of Judea who for some iniquity was by the act of God frustrated in his plans of an expedition to Tarshish.3 But perhaps of greater importance were the Phoenician merchants who first opened the trade of the Mediterranean sea and visited the Spanish provinces most frequently.4 They are said to have taken possession of what is now western Andalusia in the tenth century B.C., and there is little doubt of their having explored the coasts of the Spanish peninsula during the later centuries. It is true that the Phoenician merchants of this period were primarily engaged in piracy, but they were not satisfied by capturing men and merchandise only. They established trading-posts and warehouses at Algeciras, Malaga, Cadiz, and Seville and named the peninsula Span or Spania, which means hidden.5 The Phoenicians, like the agents of the Judean rulers, visited the shores of Spain for the gold, silver, copper, and tin that were found there. According to Diodorus it was this abundance of gold and silver that furnished Carthage with the sinews of war against Rome at a later period.6 But the precious metals were by no means the sole products of Spain. Wine, wool, cloth, and