Neolithic settlements in western North Africa date from around 6000 BC. Semi-nomadic Berber clans established a foothold in the region at the end of the second millennium BC. Phoenician and Carthaginian merchants founded coastal settlements in northern Morocco from around 500 BC. In the following centuries, Roman traders established bases, including Tangier and Volubilis. Roman influence increased after the fall of Carthage in 146 BC and endured until the 5th century AD, when the region was attacked by the Vandals in AD 429 and Byzantines in AD 533.