He was defeated by Scipio Africanus in the Battle of Zama in 202 BC and Carthage sued for peace. The successful Roman invasion of the Carthaginian homeland in Africa in 204 BC led to Hannibal's recall from Italy. There was also extensive fighting in Iberia (modern Spain and Portugal) on Sicily on Sardinia and in North Africa. This expedition enjoyed considerable early success, notably in the large victories of the Trebia, Lake Trasimene and Cannae in 217 and 216 BC. The Second Punic War began in 218 BC and witnessed Hannibal's crossing of the Alps and invasion of mainland Italy. The end of the war also sparked a significant, but unsuccessful, mutiny and rebellion within the Carthaginian Empire referred to as the Mercenary War. The action of taking control of Sicily had further entrenched Rome's position as a superpower in the Mediterranean and the world as a whole. By the terms of the peace treaty, Carthage paid large war reparations to Rome and Sicily fell to Roman control-thus becoming the first Roman province. The conflict lasted for 23 years and caused substantial materiel and human losses on both sides the Carthaginians were ultimately defeated by the Romans in 241 BC. Carthage was the dominant power of the western Mediterranean at the time, and had an extensive maritime empire meanwhile, Rome was a rapidly expanding state that had a powerful army but a weak navy. The conflict began because Rome's imperial ambitions had been interfering with Carthage's ownership claims of the island of Sicily. The fighting, which consisted predominantly of naval warfare, largely took place on the waters of the Mediterranean surrounding Sicily. It was regarded as "the longest and most severely contested war in history" by the Ancient Greek historian Polybius. The First Punic War broke out on the island of Sicily in 264 BC. The Punic Wars were a series of wars between 264 and 146 BC that were fought between Rome and Carthage.
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