The Carthaginians, also known as the Western Phoenicians or the Punics, were a Semitic group in North Africa; they lived in many Southern Italian island countries like Malta and parts of Iberia, whereas The Moors, who were an Islamic people, controlled Sicily, Hispania, and Northwest Africa. Most attest the group name Moor to be a Phoenician word of Hebrew origin; they weren't niggers; they were desert-dwelling people, much like Arabs.