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Friday, October 14, 2022

Update on the Phoenicia's Atlantic voyage

BIBLE HISTORY DAILY: Phoenicians Sailing to the New World. Did Phoenicians beat Christopher Columbus to the Americas by thousands of years? (Jonathan Laden).

I noted this BHD essay back in October of 2019. It dealt with a new expedition of the Good Ship Phoenicia in the direction of the Americas to try to establish that such a voyage was possible in an ancient Phoenician ship.

I had not heard the result of the expedition until now. The updated essay reports:

The Phoenicia, after 39 days at sea, did in fact reach the Dominican Republic on December 31st, 2019. Even if the actual Phoenicians never reached the Americas, the journey demonstrates their impressive boat-building skills, and their capability to have done so. There is good reason they were famous mariners.
Follow the link above for background on this story, the earlier voyage of the Phoenicia around Africa, and the whole question of whether the Phoenicians reached the New World.

The short answer to the question is, their boats were physically capable of making the journey. It is possible that they did. But there is no positive evidence that they ever got that far. Supposed Phoenician (and ancient Hebrew) inscriptions in the New World have not been credibly authenticated.

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