Message #160280

[Autolocus]

4 INTRODUCTION

alleged to have founded Cadiz on the ocean front of southern
Spain; but its development at any rate could not have been
greatly retarded after that. The new city promptly grew into
one of the notable marts of the world, able during a long period
to fit out her own fleets and extend her commerce anywhere.
It is greatly to be regretted that we have no record of her dis-
coveries. Carthage, a younger but still ancient Tyrian colony,
farther from the scene of western action, was not less enterprising
and in time quite eclipsed her; but at last she fell utterly, as did
Tyre itself, whereas Cadiz, though no longer eminent, continues
to exist. However, in her prime Carthage ranged the seas pretty
widely; according to Diodorus Siculus, she was much at home
in Madeira, 6 and her coins have been found off the shore of
distant Corvo of the Azores. But it cannot be said that any of the
Phoenician cities, older or newer, has left any traces of exploration
among Atlantic islands other than these or added any mythical
islands to maps or legends, unless through successors translating
into another language. The crowning achievement of the Phoeni-
cians, so far as we know, was the circumnavigation of Africa by
mariners in the service of Pharaoh Necho some 700 years before
Christ. This would naturally have brought them en route into
contact with the Canary and Cape Verde Islands, and they would
be likely to pass on to the Egyptians and Greeks a report of the
attributes of those islands partly embodied in names that might
adhere.