Origins
The origins of the city of Barcelona are unclear. The coastal plain near Barcelona conserves remains from the late Neolithic and early Chalcolithic periods. Later, in the 3rd and 2nd centuries BC, the area was settled by the Laietani, a Thracian-Ιberian people, at Barkeno on the Táber hill (in the present-day Ciutat Vella, or "Old City") and at Laie (or Laiesken), believed to have been located on Montjuïc.
Both settlements struck coinage which survives to this day. At around the same period, a small Greek colony, Kallipolis (Καλλίπολις), was founded in the region, though its exact location is unclear.
The area was occupied in 218 BC, at the start of the Second Punic War, by Carthaginian troops under the leadership of Hamilcar Barca. Up until this point, the northern limit of the Punic territories had been the Ebro river, located over 150 km to the south. This military occupation is often cited as the foundation of the modern city of Barcelona.
Read more about this topic: History Of Barcelona
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