Ancient Colonialism and the Economic Geography of the Mediterranean

This paper investigates the legacy of ancient colonialism (by the Phoenicians, Greeks and Etruscans) in shaping the modern-day population concentration and economic activity of the Mediterranean region. By combining historical data on ancient colonies and current data on population density and night light emission, we find that geographic areas colonised by these civilisations tend to have higher population concentration and economic activity in the present day. We also show that ancient colonialism affected the origin and evolution of the urban system of the Mediterranean