It was established at the most northerly point of the bay, next to the town of San Roque, about halfway between the modern cities of Algeciras and Gibraltar, overlooking the sea on elevated ground at the confluence of two rivers, nowadays called Guadarranque and Cachon.

[clarification needed] The area had much to offer a trader; the hinterland behind Carteia, in the modern south of Andalusia, was rich in wood, cereals, oranges, lemons, lead, iron, copper and silver.

[6] The town's strategic location meant that it played a significant role in the wars between Carthage and the Roman Republic in the 2nd and 3rd centuries BC.

This marked a significant innovation for Rome's overseas colonies; the Carteians were the first outside Italy to receive a civic status known as the Latin Rights, halfway between being a non-citizen provincial and a full Roman citizen.

[3] It grew to become a substantial city which served as a centre for the export of local wines, shipped in amphorae fired in large kilns found on the site, and the manufacture of garum fish sauce.

[8] Carteia acquired a mint, amphitheatre, temples and port, and played a significant role in late Roman Republican affairs.

[10] The site of Carteia was rediscovered by a young British Army officer, John Conduitt, who served in Gibraltar as commissary to the garrison between April 1713 to early 1717.

The coins found here are very beautiful and numerous ... Mr. Kent, of the port-office at Gibraltar, formed a Carteian museum, consisting of medals, pottery, glass, &c.[11]Conduitt communicated his discovery to the Royal Society in London and was invited to read a paper on Carteia on his return to the capital.

[12][13] An early 19th-century writer, the anonymous "Calpensis", described how he had "often walked over the site of Carteia, attracted by the rich variety of broken pieces of marble scattered over the fields.