Carthage Punic Port and Museum history

This ancient superpower built its reputation on its mastery of the seas and the ancient Port of Carthage would have once held over two hundred of the most powerful warships of the time.

Originally destroyed after the Roman capture of the city in 146BC, it was later revived by the Romans themselves to serve the growing commercial needs of the now-Roman city of Carthage.

According to ancient sources, the commercial harbour was in the shape of a rectangle measuring 456 meters by 356 meters, linked with the sea by a channel 20 meters wide. The naval harbour to the north, which was surrounded by a high wall, had a diameter of 325 meters. A channel giving it direct access to the sea was constructed only during the Third Punic War. The naval harbour alone had moorings for some 220 vessels, both along the landward side and around the island.

The ports were filled in by Scipio after Carthage’s destruction in 146 BC, but in the 2nd century AD the Romans reinvented the islet as a circular forum, with two temples, and used the port to house their merchant fleet, which shipped wheat to Rome. Rises in the sea level meant the quay walls had to be raised several times. By the end of the 6th century, the harbour had fallen into disuse.

Carthage Punic Port and Museum today

Today, only the shape of these legendary ports, the coveted basis of Carthage’s power and prosperity, remains.

There are a handful of remains and ruins on the site as well as the small Punic Port Museum which has a number of models that reconstruct what the Punic Port would have looked like in its prime.

Getting to Carthage Punic Port and Museum

The port is a 30 minute drive from Tunis Carthage International Airport. Carthage Hannibal train station is a 20 minute walk away.

History of the Port of Hamburg

Founded on 7 May 1189 by Frederick I, the port is almost as old as the history of Hamburg itself. Located at a strategic location near the mouth of the River Elbe, the Port of Hamburg become the most important trading centre in the region, and was able to maintain its own tax and customs regulations for a time.

During the age of the Hanseatic League from the 13th-16th centuries, Hamburg was considered second only to the port and city of Lübeck in terms of its position as a central trading point for sea-borne trade. Following the emergence of transatlantic trade, Hamburg became Central Europe’s main port and hub for transatlantic travel for centuries, and the leading German port of trade by 1871.

The Free Port, established on 15 October 1888, enabled traders to ship and store goods without going through customs, further enhancing Hamburg’s position in sea trade with neighbouring countries. During this time, the Speicherstadt warehouse complex was built (1880s) as part of the free port and to cope with the growing quantity of goods stored in the port.

Hamburg shipyards lost fleets during both World Wars. During the Second World War, forced labourers and concentration camp prisoners were deployed in the port, and the port suffered tremendous war damage, with 90% of quayside sheds destroyed and two-thirds of all warehouses made unfit for use.

During Germany’s partition (1945-1990), the port lost much of its hinterland and consequently many of its trading connections. However, since closer European integration, the port has gained strength, and is one of the world’s largest and busiest sea ports.

Port of Hamburg today

Today, the port is primarily a container port, with China its most important trading partner. It receives around 8,000 ship calls per year, almost 300 berths and has a total of 43 kilometers of quay for seagoing vessels. It receives more than 2,300 freight trains per week and has 4 state-of-the-art container terminals, 3 cruise terminals and around 50 facilities that specialise in handling bulk cargoes. There are about 7,300 logistics companies based in the city itself.

The port is also one of Hamburg’s largest attractions, both as a port but also as a backdrop for modern culture and the port’s history, with various museum ships, musical theaters, bars, restaurants and hotels.

Getting to the Port of Hamburg

Although clearly easiest by boat(!) there are various sites to see around the port area that can be accessed easily by walking from the city itself. The Speicherstadt warehouse complex, a large wharf area of 350,000 m² floor area is on the northern shore of the River Elbe. It remains the largest warehouse district in the world and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

The port also has a harbour museum and sites such as the St. Pauli Landungsbrücken, the Old Elbe Tunnel and the fish market.

Toulon National Maritime Museum history

Toulon has long been home to a naval base and the Toulon National Maritime Museum is housed in a former naval arsenal, one of the city’s few remnants to have survived World War Two.

The ‘modern’ history of the port began when Louis XII built his Tour Royale at Toulon in 1514. A naval arsenal and shipyard were built in 1599, and small sheltered harbour, the Veille Darse, was built in 1604–1610 to protect ships from the wind and sea. The shipyard was greatly enlarged by Cardinal Richelieu, who wished to make France into a Mediterranean naval power.

In 1680, Jean-Baptiste Colbert, Secretary of State of the Navy and Controller of Finance of King Louis XIV, began building a much larger port, called the Darse Vauban or the Darse Neuve, and shipyard, designed by his commissioner of fortifications, Vauban. In 1697, Vauban built the impressive corderie, a building designed to make ropes. A triumphal gate (now the Museum of the Navy) was added to the Arsenal in 1738.

The Arsenal port was enlarged still further in the 19th century and the 20th century. The construction of the arsenal du Mourillon began at the start of the 18th century, as an extension of the major Toulon arsenal on the roadstead’s east coast. Until the 20th century this extension held stores for the wood to build the French Navy. From the late 19th century it was this shipyard that built France’s first ironclad frigates then the world’s first modern submarines.

The Arsenal was badly damaged by Allied bombing in World War Two, but since has been reconstructed and modernised. It has eleven drydocks for ship repair, the two largest of which are 422 metres by 40 metres. The Arsenal is still the principal military port of France, the home port of the aircraft carrier Charles de Gaulle, France’s attack submarine squadron, and the other ships of the French Mediterranean fleet.

The Arsenal is not open to the public, but the Naval Museum at its entrance has a remarkable collection of enormous ship models from the 18th century, used to train the heir to the throne in seamanship, as well as other naval memorabilia. The building of the Corderie can be seen beside the road nearby. Boat tours depart regularly from the waterfront, and allow visitors to have a good look at ships of the French fleet.

Toulon National Maritime Museum today

Building on its rich collections, inherited know-how men’s arsenal since the second half of the 17th century, the museum offers an educational and attractive accessible to all human and technical history.

Inside the Toulon National Maritime Museum, visitors can learn about the development of this historic port and the events which have taken place there, including the 1793 recapture of the port from the British by Napoleon Bonaparte.

There are also a series of models of old ships as well as real ones, some dating back to the seventeenth century. Among the must made since 2010 is a space dedicated to Vauban and the first arsenal, the galleys at Toulon with a reconstruction of the Hospital of the prison, the Franco-Russian alliance and diplomatic gifts, a focus on the Navy in the World War Two and today’s Navy developed the first floor around submarines and aircraft carriers.

Workshops and tours are also available.

Getting to Toulon National Maritime Museum

The address of the museum is Place Monsenergue, Quai de Norfolk, 83000 Toulon, France.

From Toulon SNCF station, you can reach the Toulon National Maritime Museum by foot in 15 minutes. From the Place de la Liberté, it will take you 10 minutes.

If travelling by bus, routes 7, 23, 40 and U (University) will take you to Préfecture Maritime bus stop, just outside the museum.

The nearest available parking is at Place d’Armes or Place de la Liberté.