Circumafrican expedition

its not true, but Ive heard it as well though I dotn remember who its credited too.  trading expeditions via naval force where common in Egypt, especially in the red sea but I dont know about say, going the other direction.

I wouldnt think it would be too early. The Egyptians from what i understand didnt even know the beginnings of their great Nile.
What an exciting expedition for an egyptian to go around Afrika!

Okay guys, I ran across the same mention of a Pharaoh contracting a fleet of ships to sail from the Egyptian Red Sea, and find access back into the Mediteranean Sea.  Through fairly throrough research, I have discovered more details on this topic.  Let's paint you a picture:

It's the 7th Century BC, Egypt.  Pharaohs of the time began easing their import trade restrictions with their neighbors--the Phoenicians and Greeks, both of whom were becoming maritime experts.  The exact dates of the voyage in question were during the reign of the Pharaoh Necho (610-593 BC).  Here is an excerpt I pulled from a prime tertiary source, which in turn quotes Herodotus:

"Africa, except where it borders Asia, is clearly surrounded by water.  Necho, pharaoh of Egypt, was the first we know of to demonstrate this.  When he left off digging the canal between the Nile and the Red Sea, he sent out a naval expedition manned by Phoenicians...Each autumn they put in at wgatever point of Africa they happened to be sailing by, sowed the soil, stayed there until harvest time, reaped the grain, and sailed on; so that two years went by and in the third they [entered] the Pillars of Hercules (Straits of Girbralter) and made it back to Egypt.  And they reported things I cannot believe, though others might, namely, that the sun was on their right side as the sailed around the southern stint of their voyage."

Of course, Herodotus' main objection is in the last three lines of the above quote.  Anyone who has ever been on the south side of the equator knows that if they are walking west, the sun will be on their right.  Herodotus, had only ever observed the sun from the angle and latitude of the Mediteranean and thus his issue is resolved.  Below please find a brief list of references on this topic.  Most classicists that know anything about ancient maritime exploration would agree that this is an actual event in history.  I would tend to agree....

1.) Casson, Lionel.  The Ancient Mariners, 2nd edition.  Princeton University Press.  pg. 119-126.  1991

2.)  Carpenter,Rhys.  Beyond the Pillars of Heracles--The classical world seen through the eyes of its discoverers.  Deacorte Press, 1966.

Other explorers of interest in the period are Pytheas the Greek, Cyzicus, Hanno of Carthage and Himilco of Carthage.  Some might even argue that the Legend of Jason and the Argonaughts is based on factual events that ocurred in the Black Sea during the Greek Dark Age.

By the way I have more references on the subject of ancient mariners, so let me know if you want more....

I've not found any CREDIBLE sources that offer valid scientific or historic evidence to support arguements that Phoenicians EVER reached the New World.  It isn't out of the relm of reality that either Phoenicians/Carthaginians reached as far as Britanny (NW France), and possibly as far afield as the Casstrides islands (ancient name of Britian that translates to the 'tin islands'), in particular Cornwall.  I would highly doubt they either needed to or ever attempted to sail any further.  My main reason was that it was not economically gainful to venture further than the sources of tin and secondary sources of gold, silver, and copper.  The most important natural resource in this period was TIN, which is the primary ingredient in forging bronze.  This was the main reason for Phoenician colonization in Iberia, where silver and tin were plentiful in both the south central and northwestern parts of that penninsula.  The search and procurement of tin was the economic force that led Mediteranean civilization along its course until the advent of iron.

Triremes aren't seaworthy on the open Atlantic.  All those holes in the sides for the oars make them too easy to capsize in a storm.  Look at how many ships the Romans lost to bad weather in the Punic Wars!

I agree with Pytheas that the Phoenicians/Carthaginians probably made it to Britain, but the only account I trust of anyone going farther in such a vessel is that of the original Pytheas.  He talked about reaching a place called Ultima Thule, which was either Iceland or Norway.  I'm inclined to believe it was Norway, because it was inhabited; we have no evidence of anyone living on Iceland before some Irish monks arrived.

The part I find funny about the adventure of Pytheas is that while he was sailing up the coast of Britain, every time he spotted a new tribe he would drop anchor and go meet them.  When he got home, he announced that his greatest discovery was two fermented drinks that were popular in the British Isles:  beer and mead.  You know what you would call it if you went on that kind of fact-finding journey in the UK today?  A pub crawl!

Well, the first europeans to sail around Africa were the portuguese, with Vasco da Gama reaching India in 1499/1500, establishing a strong lusitanian foothold (with a few successful vice-roys like Afonso de Albuquerque) and taking over the spice trade for the next century or so.

Sorry Pytheas. My mistake.

Not only that, but the Vikins didn't sail the open Atlantic.  They "island hopped" from Iceland to Greenland to the Canadian coastline.