Discoverers Web: The First Explorers

The First Explorers

Of course people have always been exploring. Ever since humans have an idea of their environment, they will have tried to see what was on the other side of that bush, that river, that mountain range, the horizon. However, little is known of these explorations, since no trace has been left of them, except perhaps in some ancient mythological tales. And in the fact that through times, man has spread out over almost every part of the world. It is now assumed that humans came from East Africa, and from there spread out over Asia and Europe. Australia and America were populated much later, although archaeologists are still debating the exact date. The last parts of the earth to be populated were New Zealand, Iceland and Greenland, between 800 and 1000 AD.

Apart from the spread of humans, prehistoric voyages of discovery can also be derived from the patterns of trade. Objects from one part of the world are sometimes found at places that are far away. Of course, whether this means that the region of origin and the region of finding knew of each other, or whether they were gradually dispersed through many traders, cannot be discerned. Still, it is for example clear that already in the fourth millennium BC there were trade routes connecting Mesopotamia with the Indus valley, with the island of Bahrayn being an important waystation.

The history (as opposed to the prehistory) of exploration starts around 2600 BC, when an Egyptian expedition is sent to Byblos, in current-day Lebanon, to get cedarwood. It is the first sea voyage of which a written report has been found.

The Egyptians also made voyages in other directions. Most famous are their expeditions to a country named Punt. It was a country that was reached by sailing through the Red Sea. It has been placed anywhere on the East-African coast, upto Mozambique, as well as in Arabia and India. Currently, the most likely place seems to be Somalia, but this is still under much discussion. The oldest known expedition to Punt was that of pharaoh Sahure around 2500, the most famous one that of Queen Hatshepshut, led by a man called Nehsi.

On the Mediterranean, the Egyptians were not the most important traders of these ages. This honour came to the Minoans from Crete. They had a trading empire that spread out at least from Greece to Egypt and the Lebanon. But around 1550, a large volcanic explosion on the island of Thera destroyed the Minoan civilization. The palaces were rebuilt, but Crete did not regain its power, and after 1400, Crete even had to bow to the Mycenaeans of mainland Greece. After 1200, its role as main trading power on the Mediterranean was taken over by Phoenicia.

Related subjects

General Links

Prehistoric explorers: America

Egypt

Minoan Crete

The explorers:

Harkhuf (also known as Herkhuf, Egypt)
ca. 2270: Makes several trading voyages southward, into what is now Sudan.
Walter B. Emery: Explorations of Herkhuf
Harkhuf: The Inscription of Harkhuf
Mark Millmore: Pepi II and the Dwarf

Hatshepsut (also known as Hatsheput, Egypt, reign 1503-1482)
1492: Sends an expedition southward to Punt.
J. Gaster, A. Harmon, L. Kerestes: Hatshepsut
Thinkquest: Explorers Database: Hatseput
Jane Karlson, Laura Kuster, Kara Bettin: Hatshepsut, Queen of Egypt
artsales.com: The Ships of Antiquity: Hatshepsut's expedition to Punt
Erik Philippus: Hatshepsut's Ship
Texas A&M University: Queen Hatshepsut's expedition to the Land of Punt: The first oceanographic cruise?
Excite: Web Site Guide: Queen Hatsheput (many more links)

Necho II (Egypt)
ca. 600: Sends out a Phoenician fleet which sails around Africa, from the Red Sea to the Mediterranean.
see Phoenicia and Carthage

Nehsi (Egypt)
1492: Leader of the expedition sent out by Queen Hatshepsut to Punt.
For links, see Hatshepsut

Sahure (Egypt, reign 2458-2446)
ca. 2450: Sends the oldest known expedition to Punt.
The Ancient Egypt site: Sahure