Cartagena has been inhabited for over two millennia, being founded around 227 BC[3] by the Carthaginian military leader Hasdrubal the Fair[4] as Qart Hadasht (Phoenician: 𐤒𐤓𐤕𐤟𐤇𐤃𐤔𐤕 QRT𐤟ḤDŠT; meaning "New Town"), the same name as the original city of Carthage.

[6] The confluence of civilizations, its strategic harbor, and the influence of the local mining industry have led to a unique historic, architectural and artistic heritage.

The Cartagena region can be viewed as a great plain inclined slightly in the direction NW-SE, bordered at the north and the northwest by pre-coastal mountain ranges (Carrascoy, El Puerto, Los Villares, Columbares and Escalona), and at the south and southwest by coastal mountain ranges (El Algarrobo, La Muela, Pelayo, Gorda, La Fausilla y Minera, with its last spurs in Cape Palos).

[15] The districts are:[16] Despite the intense mining, tourist and industrial exploitation that the area has suffered for centuries, the territory around Cartagena city hosts an extraordinary natural wealth and diversity, with a large number of botanical endemic species.

A number of surprising Ibero-African species, which are found only in southern Spain (mostly in the provinces of Murcia and Almería) and North Africa.

[21][22] There is evidence of the presence of individuals belonging to the genus Homo in the cave Cueva Victoria 1,300,000 years ago.

[31][32] There were also remains of Neanderthals belonging to the Mousterian culture in the Cueva Bermeja, which is located in the southwestern quarter of the municipality.

The archaeological site is located in the Cerro del Gorguel (hill) and in it remains of a characteristic Neolithic hamlet were discovered.

[33][36] The reasons for the dearth of human presence and structures in this municipality during the Neolithic period were the lack of rainfall and the absence of water courses.

[37] The Argaric civilization inhabited the southeast of the Iberian Peninsula (Región de Murcia and Almería) during the Bronze Age.

Possessing one of the best harbors in the Western Mediterranean, it was re-founded by the Carthaginian general Hasdrubal in 228 BC as Qart Hadasht ("New City"), a name identical to Carthage, for the purpose of serving as a stepping-off point for the conquest of Spain.

In 298 AD, Diocletian constituted a new Roman province in Hispania called Carthaginensis and settled the capital in this city.

It was known also for the production of garum, a fermented fish sauce, and for esparto grass[43] which granted it a new name, Cartago Spartaria.

It was occupied successively by the Vandals (409–425), the Visigoths (425–551 and 624–714) and the Eastern Romans (551–624), who made it the capital of Spania (the Byzantine Empire's westernmost province).

In 1270, Alfonso created the Order of Santa María de España for the naval defense of the Crown of Castile and established its headquarters in Cartagena.

In 1296, Cartagena was briefly annexed to the Crown of Aragon, but returned to Castile by the Treaty of Elx in 1305, which fixed the final boundary between the kingdoms of Valencia and Murcia.

[53] The city saw its industrial activity increase during the 1950s, resulting in greater prosperity and this trend continued until a general decline in manufacturing throughout Europe in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

[54] It is also capital of the maritime province of Cartagena, which was granted by the Royal Decree of 5 October 1607 under the reign of Philip III.

This spot, which is a valley, is located in a district named Escombreras that is placed in the south of the municipality and of 5–10 km from the main locality by its west.

It is one of several projects to energize the tourist possibilities of this potential major cultural destination,[72] frequently neglected by the mass-tourism, due to the proximity of several holiday resorts, and the refinery and other industrial development, which gave a bad reputation to the city because of pollution; these last have now fortunately been eradicated.

Although there are some ruins from the Carthaginian period, like the remains of the Punic rampart (built in 227 BC with the foundation of the city), most of its oldest monuments date from the time of the Roman Empire when Cartagena flourished.

[73] The Roman Amphitheatre (1st century AD) was sited where the now-abandoned Bullring was built, but only some of the surrounding walls and part of the rooms under the stands are still visible.

Besides the Roman heritage, archaeological sights include the remains of the Santa María la Vieja Cathedral, which was irreversibly destroyed during the Spanish Civil War.

[73] The Concepción Castle (now Centre for the Interpretation of the History of Cartagena) was reconstructed in the 13th century using large structures from the Amphitheatre.

[73] The Campus Muralla del Mar, an old military hospital, was one of the first works carried out after the transformation of the city into the main Spanish naval base in the Mediterranean, and is now the seat of the Polytechnic University.

Among the Baroque or Neo-classical Churches in Cartagena are El Carmen, Santo Domingo and Santa Maria de Gracia.

[76] Cartagena is home to numerous Art Nouveau buildings from the early 20th century, when a bourgeoisie settled in the city due to the growth of the local mining industry.

[80] Other attractions include the Lift-Gangway near the former Bullring and the Concepción Hill, the Regional Assembly (the Parliament of the Region of Murcia) whose facade includes architectural influences from the Renaissance while maintaining a modernist air (typical in the Levant), and the Carmen Conde-Antonio Moliner Museum that reconstructs the atmosphere in which these poets from Cartagena created some of their most important works.

Cartagena holds the distinction of being the Spanish city with the most beaches (10) certified "Q for Quality" by the ICTE (Instituto para la Calidad Turística Española).

A special education centre can be found in the district El Plan, that is in the east of the western half of Cartagena.