“About 600 B.C. the pharaoh Necho, commissioned a Phoenician navigator to captain a small Egyptian flotilla to sail around Africa from east to west. That this was successfully accomplished there is no doubt; the log of the voyage- itself lasting 3 years- describes turning the southern cape of Africa where upon the sun rose daily on the right side of the ship instead of the left side of the ship. Thus, nearly 2,100 years before Vancouver de Gama, ships manned by an Egyptian crew successfully circumnavigated Africa.” Africa and the Birth of Science and Technology: A Brief Overview. ~ Charles S. Finch III, M.D.