Summary

The story of Captain Philip Beale’s expedition conveys a particular interest in regard to the Phoenician's regular maritime routes or to their exploratory endeavors.

The ‘Phoenicia’ is a genuine model of a former Phoenician trading ship. It was built on an island off the coast of Syria according to the original techniques and materials that the Phoenicians once used. The purpose was to verify how the Phoenicians were able to navigate on their established trading routes, or perhaps to prove that they might have accomplished even greater achievements.

The former endeavors of the ‘Phoenicia’

'Phoenicia' at sea

Captain Beale’s first expedition demonstrated that the Phoenicians had been able to circumnavigate Africa from the Red Sea. According to Herodotus (c. 484 - c. 425 BC), Pharaoh Necho II (reign 610-595 BC) commissioned the Phoenicians to sail around the African continent and reach the Pillars of Heracles, where the Phoenicians had already established settlements in Cádiz, Spain (1104 BC) or Lixus, Morocco (12th century BC).

By doing so, the ‘Phoenicia’ proved it was also possible to sail back from the Gulf of Guinea. This sector refers to another questionable expedition led by Hanno the Great (6th or 5th century BC), a Carthaginian navigator in command of an armada of ships (Herodotus & Pliny the Elder). Although it seemed feasible to sail southwards, some argued that to sail back north would nearly be impossible due to the strong Atlantic currents. The ‘Phoenicia’ proved the opposite. 

From the straits of Gibraltar, the ‘Phoenicia’ made the route to the south of England. The Phoenicians used this trading route to collect tin out from Cornwall. Meanwhile, the ‘Phoenicia’ underwent some repairs before sailing back to Cádiz, with even a side trip to Carthagena before heading to the Punic port of Carthage.

I happened to be in Tunis when the official reception was being held. The time had come to launch another major expedition across the Atlantic. This, of course, justifies the name of the expedition: ‘Phoenicians before Columbus’.

It may sound a dubious endeavor at first. Yet, there are testimonies that the Phoenicians might have had both the capabilities and the boldness to cross the Atlantic two thousand years before Columbus. Some scholars demonstrated that the existing proofs - including the Paraiba stone in Brazil - were all hoaxes. So, of course, the expedition does not prove anything in regard to the possibility. However, it shows that it was credible that the Phoenicians could have sailed across the Atlantic by using the Tradewinds. But this raises also a few more questions. Did they have any clues of an existing continent? What kind of exploration would it have been? Was this a one-way voyage? If, they had returned, did they make use of the Gulf Stream to sail back towards better-known areas?

The Phoenicians before Columbus expedition opens new doors. It may trigger new archaeological discoveries linked to the Phoenicians now that we know that such navigation is effectively possible. 

So far the ‘Phoenicia’ has revealed that the reported maritime routes associated with the Phoenicians, or their African counterpart, the Punics, had been all technically acknowledgeable. Sailing from Cadix to Essaouira was a well-established fact, as the Moroccan coast was already a trading area from Lixus, in the north, to Agadir, in the south. The Canary Islands were too. The Guanches lived there. They arrived from the Moroccan coast a long time before the Phoenicians in Prehistory. From Tunisia to the Canaries, the whole area was the domain of Amazigh peoples (also known as the Berbers).  The Carthaginians are known as the Punics because they are a mix of Phoenicians and Numidians. Linguistically, it facilitated communication as the Phoenicians were reported to include Berber interpreters aboard their ships.

Christian Sorand

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