The mainland Greeks had begun their colonization efforts in the western Mediterranean with the founding of Naxos and Cumae in Sicily and Italy respectively, and by 650 BCE, Phoenicians in Sicily have retreated to the western part of the island.
The Carthaginian colonization of Ibiza, the first recorded independent action by the Phoenician city, takes place around this time.
Phoenician settlers establish a port—Ibossim (from the Phoenician iboshim dedicated to the god of the music and dance, Bes)—in the Balearic Islands in 654 BCE; it will be later known to Romans as "Ebusus."
The Greeks, who come to Ibiza during the time of the Phoenicians, are the first to call the two islands of Ibiza and Formentera the Pityûssai ("pine-covered islands").
