From “Bible History: Old Testament” by Alfred Edersheim, concerning trade between Hiram, king of Tyre, and Solomon:
“The success of this trading adventure may have led to another similar undertaking, in company with the Phoenicians, to Tartessus (Tarshish), the well-known great mercantile emporium on the south coast of Spain. The duration of such an expedition is stated in round numbers as three years; and the trade became so regular that afterwards all the large merchantmen were popularly known as “Tarshish-ships” (comp. 1 Kings 22:48; Psalm 48:7; Isaiah 2:16). The imports from Tarshish consisted of gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks (1 Kings 10:22).”
Solomon reigned from about 970 to 930 B.C.(ie, 10th century B.C.). Thus, Tarshish (in Spain) was already a source of gold and silver in the 10th century B.C.
Tarshish wasn't in Spain, although that is often claimed. What the OT account shows is that Solomon's ships were leaving and returning from his port on Aqaba and circumnavigating Africa.
CaphtorThe island Caphtor is named in the Scriptures. The usual identification is Crete, because the Keftiu bringing presents (vases) to Egyptian pharaohs are thought to be Cretans.
by Immanuel Velikovsky
I prefer Cyprus as the biblical Caphtor and the Egyptian Keftiu.
If Caphtor is not Cyprus, then the Old Testament completely omits reference to this large island close to the Syrian coast. The phonetics of the name also point to Cyprus. Separately I show that Tarshish was the name of Crete.
It seems that the Philistines arrived in Palestine from Caphtor following the catastrophe that brought there the Israelites after their wandering in the Desert.
TarshishReferences to the ships of Tarshish and to a place of that name, in the Old Testament, beginning with the time of Solomon (10th century), to the time of the prophets of the 8th and 7th centuries, make me think that by this designation the Cretan navigators and Crete itself were meant. The Minoan civilization survived until the great catastrophes of the 8th century and it would be strange if it and its maritive activities remained unmentioned in the Old Testament.
by Immanuel Velikovsky
The usual explanation puts Tarshish in Spain, though other identifications are offered, like Tarsus, in Asia Minor. One of the old names for Knossos sounds like Tarshish.
New Light On The Dark Age Of Greece, "Tarshish"...So far we have based our discussion of the identity of Tarshish on Biblical sources; but there also exists an allusion to that land in another source, a cuneiform text found about a hundred years ago at Assur on the Tigris. The text is part of the annals of the Assyrian king Esarhaddon, who ruled over Assyria from -681 to -669. It reads:
by Jan Sammer"All the kingdoms from (the islands) amidst the sea -- from the country of Iadanan and Jaman as far as Tarshishi bowed to my feet and I received heavy tribute."The identities of the first two countries mentioned by Esarhaddon are known: Iadanan is Cyprus and Iaman is the Ionian coast of Asia Minor; the location of Tarshishi, however, became the subject of some debate, for this statement by Esarhaddon is the only time the name appears in any Assyrian text. It was noted that "Tarshishi" has the determinative mãt for "country" in front of it, as do Idanana, or Cyprus and Iaman, or Ionia. The only clue to its location was its being described as a kingdom "amidst the sea", apparently somewhat farther removed from Assyria than either Cyprus or Ionia.
When Esarhaddon's text was first published and transliterated the name was read as "Nu-shi-shi." At that time there were several conjectures as to the identification of this land. The city of Nysa in Caria was one suggestion; another was that the world refers to "nesos" for Peloponnesos. In 1914 D. D. Luckenbill ventured that "Knossos, for Crete, would fit better." Three years later B. Meissner made a fresh examination of the cuneiform tablet and found that the original transliteration of the name had been mistaken, and that "Tar-shi-shi" was the correct reading. The new reading took away Luckenbill's chief reason for his identification; yet he had the right solution, even if he reached it on wrong grounds. More recent scholarship identifies the land of Tarshishi mentioned by Esarhaddon with the city of Tarsus in Cilicia. Had Tarshishi been a city the name would have been preceded by the determinative URU; however, as mentioned above, it has mãt for "country". It is also difficult to see how a place in Cilicia would fit the description "from Iadanana and Iaman as far as Tarshishi." Clearly Tarsisi was farther west than either Cyprus or Ionia. These criteria are filled admirably by Crete.
to assume that trade in silver drove the phoenicians is just foolish.
As you noted, lots of products were involved. In addition to buying, there was selling. It is likely that while trying to sell their stuff, the phonecians were offered silver and that did in fact did increase the trade with sardinia and the trading houses in spain