Could Carthage Have Known About the Cape Verde Islands?

The ancient city-state of Carthage, located in what is now Tunisia, was a powerful maritime civilization with a vast trading network in the Mediterranean and beyond. It is plausible that Carthaginian sailors and traders had knowledge of some distant islands in the Atlantic, such as the Cape Verde Islands, although no direct historical evidence confirms this.

Geographical Context and Historical Evidence

The Cape Verde Islands are located off the west coast of Africa, and Carthaginians were known to have explored and traded along the African coast. However, the extent of their exploration into the Atlantic Ocean remains uncertain. There are no surviving Carthaginian records or maps that provide specific information about their knowledge of these islands. Moreover, the islands were likely inhabited or visited by various peoples and civilizations over the centuries, including Phoenicians and later European explorers.

Technical and Practical Barriers

It is important to note that ships of the classical era were not equipped for long ocean voyages and could not navigate the vast expanses of open sea. They would mostly stay within sight of land, except where they knew or suspected that land was nearby, based on signs such as birds indicating the presence of land on the horizon.

For example, an account of an Egyptian-sponsored Phoenician voyage around Africa describes the sailors as coasting along the coast. The Cape Verde islands are far off the horizon from the coast of Africa, making it unlikely that human habitation or Carthaginian knowledge of these islands could have been documented in the limited historical records available.

Historical Accounts and Reconstructions

There is an account of some exploration by Hanno the Navigator, a Carthaginian explorer of the fifth century BC, who is best known for his naval exploration of the western coast of Africa. According to a Greek text seemingly derived from an original Carthaginian report, Hanno and his crew sailed westward along the African coast, eventually reaching areas that were far enough offshore to potentially encounter the Cape Verde Islands.

However, the Cape Verde Islands are approximately 385 miles (620 kilometers) off the coast of Africa, which would have been too far for any signs of habitation to be visible from the mainland or from ships within sight of it. By comparison, the Canary Islands, located only 100 km from the coast of Morocco, were inhabited long ago, while Madeira, 500 km from the nearest land, was not inhabited until the modern era.

Conclusion

While it is possible that Carthage may have had some knowledge of the Cape Verde Islands, the lack of direct evidence and the practical limitations of classical-era navigation make it unlikely that there is conclusive evidence supporting this. The survival of Roman destruction of Carthaginian texts, as mentioned in historical accounts, also adds to the uncertainty.