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The Phoenicians were a Semitic people who inhabited the coast of the Eastern Mediterranean, in what is now Lebanon, but they may also have inhabited parts of modern Syria and LebanonIsreal. Archaeological evidence indicates that they were related to the Canaanites. The Phoenicians emerged in history about 1800 BC, during the Early Bronze Age. They occupied a narrow strip of land coast and they were surrounded by stronger kingdoms and Empires <ref> Moscati, Sabatino The World of the Phoenicians (NY: Frederick A. Praeger, 1995, p. 34) </ref>. This forced them to become highly urbanized and to become seafarers and merchants, to survive. The main cities most important urban centers in Phoenicia were Tyre, Sidon, Arwad, Berytus, and Byblos. It appears that Initially monarchies over time they developed complex political systems. The cities were often rivals’ but often cooperated on maritime and trading matters and often sometimes formed a league of city-states. At times one urban center would dominate the others as was the case with Tyre, which dominated Phoenicia in the 9th century BC. The wealth of the cities meant that they were often targeted by predatory kings. The Phoenicians came under the sway of the Pharaohs until about 1250 BC. The invasions of the Sea-peoples led to the collapse of the Egyptian Empire. This led to the economic and cultural flourishing of the Phoenicians. Based on the archaeological evidence, it seems that there was a great deal of continuity in Phoenician society and culture, but they also absorbed Babylonian and Egyptian influences <ref> Moscati, p 14</ref>. The urban population in Phoenicia exploded in the 9th and 8th centuries BC. They had already established a number of trading posts from Spain to the Levant, which they then expanded into colonies. In 814 BC, colonists from Tyre settled in what became Carthage, during the reign of King Pygmalion. The kings of Tyre were able to establish an informal empire that included all of the Phoenician colonies in the Mediterranean. The Phoenicians remained the dominant sea power in the Levant even under pressure from when they became the vassals of the neo-Assyrian Empire. However, the rise Persians of the Persian Empire was to deal with a blow to end the golden age of Phoenicia especially after the fall capture of Tyre in 585 BC, by Cyrus the Great. The Despite this, the Phoenicians remained wealthy and remained maritime powers, because they had a great deal of autonomy, even under Persian domination. The decline of the Phoenicians was gradual, and they eventually lost all their autonomy in the aftermath of the conquests of Alexander the Great. They became Hellenized, over the years they lost their cultural and religious identity<ref> Moscati, p 14</ref>.