The Etruscans lived in what is modern Tuscany in the area bounded by the Tiber and Arno rivers, the Apennines and the Tyrrhenian Sea. The Etruscan economy was based on agriculture, trade, and mineral resources. The Etruscans learnt a lot from the Greeks and the Phoenicians- things that the Latins, living around Rome didn’t know how to do yet.
The Etruscans built cities with stone walls. Each autonomous city was originally ruled by a powerful, wealthy king and had a sacred boundary. Etruscan homes were mud-brick, with timber on stone foundations. They built big stone temples and huge statues. They dug canals and ditches to bring water to their fields. They had organized governments with kings. Soon, some of the other people in Italy began to copy the Etruscan ways, and the Etruscans heavily influenced early Rome.