10-20-2007, 09:40 PM
Quote:I wonder about the Romans/Phoenicians crossing the Atlantic. They'd be moving at a latitude most likely between 30 and 45 degrees, and it gets pretty stormy down that way, not to mention being a pretty long way to go without fresh water.There is another scenario: those Phoenicians were sailing along the coast of western Africa. There were several Phoenician colonies out there, and gold was bought at the estuary of the river Senegal. It is easy to get caught by the North Equatorial Current (map); it is essentially how Colombus did the trick and how Cabral landed in Brasil. Any ship trying to return to the Old World, must have attempted to move to the north first, to get out of the NE Current. In this way, it may have reached Florida and the Virginias. The sailors must have suffered from water shortage and deficient food, but crossing the Ocean is not impossible. Thor Heyerdal did a similar trip in 1970 (more...).
