What did Carthaginians trade and with whom? How does this support the fact that they had a significant trading economy?

The Carthaginians traded a variety of goods.  One of their most important goods was purple dye.  This dye was valuable because purple was the color favored by royalty.  This dye came from the crushed shells of a Murex, a saltwater snail.  They also traded colorful glass, including glass beads.  They traded more common goods from that region, such as fish paste and olive oil.  They traded metals such as silver, copper, and tin.  Tin was...

The Carthaginians traded a variety of goods.  One of their most important goods was purple dye.  This dye was valuable because purple was the color favored by royalty.  This dye came from the crushed shells of a Murex, a saltwater snail.  They also traded colorful glass, including glass beads.  They traded more common goods from that region, such as fish paste and olive oil.  They traded metals such as silver, copper, and tin.  Tin was an important metal for the Carthaginians to trade because it was used for making bronze, and they held a monopoly on it. 

Once loaded with goods, the ships belonging to the Carthaginians stopped at most of the major ports of the time.  Traders bought and sold goods with the Celts and the Gauls in western Europe.  Carthage's merchants did a great deal of trade at various ports on the Iberian Peninsula.  They even traveled to the interior of Africa to trade with the Berbers, the Ethiopians, and others.  They went as far away as southeast Asia.  Particularly ambitious traders like Hano the Navigator and Hamilco the Navigator traveled to even more faraway places, such as the Ivory Coast and the eastern Atlantic Ocean (what is now England).  

The Carthaginians were able to have a significant trading economy because of their location on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea.  They had easy access by ship to many ports in Europe and Africa.  They traded a variety of goods, and their economy centered on trade.