Abstract: Settler colonial praxis and the racecraft it engendered profoundly shaped the Carthaginian state, its society, and imperial trajectory. Perched against the geographic span of the Maghreb and the demographic heft of native Libyan and Numidian populations, Carthage exerted a tenuous dominance over its African hinterland. Peculiar aspects of Carthage’s mythic self-definition and constitutional system owed less to the city’s supposed commercial orientation than to its settler colonial legacy. Pathologies inherent to the settler colonial project manifested themselves in moments of crisis, contributing to Carthage’s defeat and the creation of an indigenous Numidian state.