Calle de Cartagena

The street takes its name from the Murcian port city founded as Qart Hadasht by the Carthaginian general Hasdrubal around 227 BC and taken by Rome in 209 BC as Carthago Nova. It runs between Francisco Silvela and Príncipe de Vergara, crossing the districts of La Guindalera, La Prosperidad and Ciudad Jardín, and forms one of the boundaries of the Colonia Madrid Moderno.

A street named for Cartagena, the Murcian port the Phoenicians founded as Qart Hadasht, “new city,” at the hand of Hasdrubal the Fair around 227 BC. Scipio Africanus conquered it in 209 BC and renamed it Carthago Nova, capital of Roman Hispania Citerior. From that harbour enclave, one of the finest natural shelters on the peninsula, comes the name this Madrid street bears today. Calle de Cartagena runs between Francisco Silvela and Príncipe de Vergara, crossing La Guindalera, La Prosperidad and Ciudad Jardín. It marks one of the boundaries of the Colonia Madrid Moderno, a private development that began around 1888-1890 on land owned by Mariano Santos Pinela. It should not be confused with calle del Conde de Cartagena, in the Niño Jesús district beside the Retiro, which honours the soldier Pablo Morillo, first Count of Cartagena.

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