Phoenician circumnavigation of Africa
Periplo fenicio de África
- Date
- c. 600 BCE · confidence low
- Place
- Cape of Good Hope, South Africa (turning point of the voyage)
- Credited to
- Phoenician sailors in the service of Pharaoh Necho II
- Field
- Cosmos & Earth
⚠️ Disputed: the sources disagree.
What was discovered
According to Herodotus, Necho II sent Phoenician sailors to circumnavigate Africa from the Red Sea, returning via the Pillars of Hercules after three years. Herodotus did not believe they had seen the sun to their right (in the north), which today is considered proof of the account's truth.
Historicity debated; single source (Herodotus IV, 42). Coordinates of the Cape of Good Hope as the key geographical location of the supposed voyage. The coasts were already inhabited by African peoples.
What it led to
- The first notion of Africa as a continent surrounded by sea
- The tradition of periploi in Greek geography
- Later attempt by Hanno the Navigator
Built on
- Hanno's periplus of the African Atlantic coastc. 500 BCE
- Phoenician navigation of the Mediterranean
- Necho's canal between the Nile and the Red Sea
Made possible
- Mapping of the known world (Hecataeus)