In Antiquity, a silver-rich region located in what is presently Andalucia, around the Guadalquivir and Río Tinto rivers. The wealth of Tartessos created a number of El Dorado-like myths. In the 9th century BCE, the Phoenicians founded Gadir (present-day Cádiz) nearby, and the resulting boom in trade increased the flow of silver bullion from the mines of Tartessos.
Until the end of the 7th century BCE, Tartessos was largely an independent entity, but it was thereafter incorporated into the growing Punic hegemony in the Iberian Peninsula. After the Punic Wars, it fell under Roman control.