Ancient Greeks reach South American Continent

Good catch. I meant far northeastern corner.
No what I'm saying is you should say 'The Ptolemaic Empire' instead of 'The empire' because right now it seems like you are saying the northwestern corner of Akro is Lebanon.
 

Sior

Banned
Prince Madoc of Gwynedd is said to have traveled to the America’s twice in the 600’s.
 
There is a possibility of the Carthiginians doing it, but the Greeks are just as likely. Even though they controlled the Pillars of Hercules, the would've allowed Greek ships through: IIRC, the Carthaginians are Greeks got on rather well (except, perhaps, for those Sicilian Greeks).

I believe they have done tests and the like and have determined that Greek oceangoing craft of antiquity could actually make a Trans-Atlantic voyage. And again, we had Basque fisherman off of Newfoundland in the 1500s using (if I'm not mistaken) rather basic fishing boats.

And even if the Greeks do set up a colony in "The Hesperides" or "Atlantis" or "Amazonia" or whatever they call it, it'll likely soon become its own independent city state. Carthage could make a fortune being the middle man between the Mediterranean states and the ones of the New World. I suppose the West African and Iberian coastlines will become more developed as well, with Gadir becoming increasingly important.
Thanks for the correction. I could have sworn I've read that the Carthaginians restricted Greek access to the Atlantic, thought. Now I just can't remember where the heck I read about that...
 
One issue relating to plausibility of colonies along the west coast of North Africa is the fact that the current and wind along that coast goes consistently from north to south. Until sailing technology develops to the point that ships can tack upwind well enough to return northward up the coast, two-way travel will not be possible. This required OTL the invention of the caravel in the fifteenth century.
 
I'm sorry, but I just don't see how Egypt can be "more wealthy" than the Seleucid Empire, when the latter controls access to the Silk Road in the east.

Egypt's taxpayers were nicely concentrated along a natural highway, making tax collection easy. Even in the Medieval and Early Modern period, the Mamluk Sultans got considerably more revenue from their subjects than the equally despotic Ottomans - and far more than most European Kingdoms, other than city-states.
 
235 BC: Extra resources on hand in the absence of a major war a few years earlier, Ptolemy III commissions an expedition to chart the African coast further west, past the Strait of Gibralter.

Carthage.
Rome.
Punic wars.
Not the sort of people likely to look kindly on foreign intruders (western med was their garden)
 
though this is interesting, I was kind of hoping that this would be a POD where the athenians decide to resettle in italy during the greco persian wars but get kicked out of there and so wind up heading west, only to get blown off course and land in south america. This is cool though.
 
Egypt's taxpayers were nicely concentrated along a natural highway, making tax collection easy. Even in the Medieval and Early Modern period, the Mamluk Sultans got considerably more revenue from their subjects than the equally despotic Ottomans - and far more than most European Kingdoms, other than city-states.

Seleucid Empire in the Third Century BCE. Silk trade, Persian Gulf maratime trade routes. Direct trade with India and Arabia. And of course, the revenue that was collected by temples from Syria to Sogdiana. Does none of this count?
 
Cool thread, I hope you continue.

FYI, Prince Madoc 'supposedly' voyaged to America in 1170, so well after the Vikings.

St. Brendan's legendary journey is said to have happened 512-530 AD; and he did it in a hide boat!!
 
Then there was that one Norwegian who sailed across the Atlantic in some balsa and reed construct (or am I thinking of the Pacific?).

You're thinking of Thor Heyerdahl. He went from Peru to Polynesia on a balsa wood raft (the Kon-Tiki), and later sailed across the Atlantic and along some of the Indian Ocean trade routes in reed boats (Ra 1, which didn't quite make it, Ra 2, and Tigris).

Picking up on other posts, a reconstructed hide boat of a design that may have been available to Brendan was sailed across the Atlantic from Ireland, via the Faeroes and Iceland, by Tim Severin.

Heyerdahl's boats usually followed the prevailing currents. I think at the time under discussion, ships would have been a bit more navigable. If they're not, then they're going to find that getting to South America is a lot easier than getting back.
 
GT313rd, if you don't continue this, I'll make my own timeline about Greeks in South America. And that will kill this idea once and for all.
 
So could the Greeks have visited America early on? There are sources indicating that Asian was extensively extended... could this have misled others to accidently visit America at least?

800px-Claudius_Ptolemy-_The_World.jpg


"he had Asia extending much too far east, which may have been a factor in Columbus's decision to sail west for the Indies. Ptolemy's "Geography" the book that inspired Columbus to attempt his voyage"
 
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