Little is known of the origins of this group of traders, though their roots are in the eastern Mediterranean. Driven by the desire to acquire new and more cost-effective sources of raw materials and to sell their products to markets other than in their homeland, the Phoenicians covered enormous distances. They were among the first to trace routes to the western Mediterranean and beyond the Pillars of Hercules (the Straits of Gibraltar) toward the Atlantic coasts of Africa and Europe.

At the end of the seventh century B.C., the Egyptian Pharaoh Necho commissioned Phoenician sailors to sail around the continent of Africa. Herodotus, a Greek traveler and geographer, described this journey two hundred years later in his History, written sometime in the 5th century B.C. "We know it Africa to be washed on all sides by the sea, except where it is attached to Asia." "On [the sailors'] return," Herodotus continues, "they declared that in sailing round Libya they had the sun on their right hand," or were sailing north and east. This statement, which those early voyagers of the 7th century B.C. could not have made up, indicates that the Phoenician sailors did indeed circumnavigate the continent of Africa, well before any European.

Archaeologists have discovered that the Phoenicians used coastal and deep-water routes for both trade and voyages of discovery. Coastal sailors only sailed during the day, from one village to another, always keeping land in sight. Deep-water sailors took routes farther away from the coastline but still kept sight of land. When sailing at night, sailors kept their ship in the right direction by observing constellations and the North Star, or what the ancient world called the "Phoenician Star."

Himlico
In the fifth century B.C. Himilco, also a Carthaginian, traveled from this seat of the Phoenician empire through the Straits of Gibraltar around the western coasts of Spain and France and continued until he reached the islands around the southern coast of England and the area known to the Phoenicians as "Tin-Land." The tin trade at this time was controlled by the people living in the area that is now France. Using Himilco's sea route from Carthage to England through the Straits of Gibraltar, the Phoenicians were able to trade for tin directly.

  See a map showing Himilco's voyage.

Hanno
Hanno, a native of Carthage, a main Phoenician trading port, explored the western coast of Africa around 500 B.C. His coastal route took him from the Straits of Gibraltar (the Pillars of Hercules) around the western coast of Africa to modern Sierra Leone, and, when supplies ran low, returned to Carthage the way he came. Hanno wrote an account of his travels that survives in its Greek translation. In the account, Hanno mentions that the Phoenician travelers established colonies along the African coast.

  See a map showing Hanno's route.

ancient world
egypt | phoenicians | greece | china | polynesia | arab explorers