Oct 14, 2013 - Columbus, the Phoenicians and historical revisionism by John Martin

Back in the day, when I was a dockworker down at the Port of Los Angeles, a Tunisian co-worker once told me that his people, the Carthaginians hit North America way before Columbus. In a respectful way, I simply brushed it off, perfectly content with believing Leif Ericson, the Norseman had actually landed in North America nearly 500 before Columbus. In March of this year CNN ran a story explicitly stating that Phoenician sailors actually navigated their way to North America 2000 years prior to Columbus. This amazing revelation hit me like a herd of stampeding buffalo, my Tunisian friend was, for all intent and purpose, absolutely correct.

The ancient Phoenicians were prolific maritime voyagers, they were among the first to used celestial navigation to chart their courses at night, using the north star Polaris as an astronavigational point of reference. In the CNN report, a former Royal Naval Officer, Philip Beale described the Phoenician Navy as more than able seamen, perfectly capable of sailing from North Africa across the Atlantic to the Western Hemisphere. Beale is going to walk the walk by building another Ancient Phoenician ship designed to exact specifications from a Phoenician galley found in the Western Mediterranean. Beale’s first replicant Phoenician vessel sailed around the continent of Africa from Syria, Beale followed a course based upon the writings of Greek historian Herodotus who described how the Phoenicians circumnavigated Africa in 600BC.

The preponderance of evidence supporting the Phoenician transatlantic crossing 2000 years before Columbus is mounting. Dr. Mark McMenamin, a tenured professor of geology at Mount Holyoke college presents what could be the archeological smoking gun that will blow the classical, old world Columbian fallacy of “discovery” into oblivion. Dr. McMenamin, who holds a Bachelors of Science degree in Geology from Stanford University as well as a Ph.D. from UC Santa Barbara, has established a fascinating new thesis examining computer enhanced images of Phoenician gold coins minted in the ancient city of Carthage, located in the country of Tunisia, between 350BC and 320BC.

The gold coins show a horse standing above what could possibly turnout be the oldest map of the world. The ancient Phoenician map interpreted on the coins depict North Africa, Europe, the British Isles, the Middle East and a large land mass representing the Americas. Conclusive, compelling signs pointing towards the Ancient masters of the seas, the Phoenicians as the first non-Native, non-Indigenous civilization to visit North America. The first century BC historian, Diodorus of Sicily also documented Phoenician maritime exploits, “In the deep off Africa is an island of considerable size, fruitful, much of it mountainous. Through it flow navigable rivers. The Phoenicians had discovered by accident after having planted many colonies throughout Africa.” Island of considerable size? We Natives simply call it Turtle Island. Our home.

Why is the Phoenician-Turtle Island connection significant to the Native American Community? Because it shatters the long held euro-centric historical dogma mainstream scholars have embraced and preached as gospel. The same scholars who perpetuated the Columbus myth. Once it was proven the Vikings rowed upon our shores hundreds of years before Columbus hard line ethnocentric academics all jumped into Leif Ericson’s boat. Historians will be reticent to accept the Phoenician-North American connection. They know the Phoenicians originated from Lebanon, a Middle Eastern country, the Arab world has been vilified by Western Civilization. Imagine the glorious irony if an ancient civilization like the Phoenicians, a magnificent Middle Eastern people, were the legitimate “discoverers” of America. Its time for historical revisionism. Time to purge the residual Columbus effect. Post-Columbian systematic massacre and displacement is very much alive in South America. The Indigenous tribes of Brazil’s Javari Valley are currently fighting huge, government sponsored oil exploitation on their lands. Honor them on “Columbus Day” for their valiant struggle against Post-Columbian tyranny. Express your right to engage in peaceful civil disobedience in your counter-protest of a day that commemorates a homicidal maniac.

Indigenous peoples have always been the unequivocal aboriginal inhabitants of North, South and Central America since the beginning of time. From a purely Native American perspective, discovery is over-rated, discovery is analogous to cultural rape. Discovery, as it applies to Native Americans, is an horrific, penetrative, violent act. Remember this on “Columbus Day” and don’t forget to give a massive, gratuitous shout out to the Phoenicians. Wopila!