Born c. 1520 B.C., Egypt
Died c. 1468 B.C., Egypt
Ancient Egypt was a civilization ruled by pharaohs: rulers who were believed to be half-men and half-gods. They lived in incredible luxury in palaces and temples that were filled with exotic goods from other lands. These precious possessions were also buried with the pharaohs in their grand tombs, to be enjoyed in the afterworld. Overseas voyages were necessary to bring such riches—ivory, gold and silver, feathers and animal skins, incense and spices—to the desert kingdom.
Records of ancient Egyptian sea journeys are scarce. It is known that shipbuilders had to bring in wood from other countries to make large, heavy, seagoing ships. (For their river boats, they used tightly woven reeds taken from the Nile’s papyrus plant.) From ancient carvings, we know that the boats had flat hulls and square sails, which were used only when traveling with the direction of the wind. Otherwise, standing oarsmen—slaves—rowed the vessels along.
One place that Egyptian sailors visited often was the Land of Punt. Besides trading for gold and ivory there, they could obtain the incense and myrrh that were used to prepare the bodies of their dead. While scholars today are not exactly sure where the Land of Punt was located, most think that it was near what is now Somalia, the easternmost country on the African continent. The kingdom may also have included parts of southwestern Arabia and Ethiopia.
Trading between Egypt and the Land of Punt stopped for some two hundred years when a people called the Hyksos overtook the land of the pharaohs. It resumed when the intruders were defeated and Hatshepsut became queen. The daughter of Thutmose I (c. 1525–c. 1512 B.C.), a pharaoh of the XVIII (18th) dynasty, she was the first woman to rule Egypt. She took the throne when her husband and half-brother, Thutmose II, died in 1504 B.C. She dressed herself in the traditional clothing of an Egyptian pharaoh.
Hatshepsut ruled Egypt for many years. During that time there were no wars, and the kingdom regained some of its wealth and power. The queen set about building new monuments and temples around the holy cities of Luxor, Karnak, and Thebes. In order to get the rich materials needed for these projects, she sent trade expeditions to far-off places.
Hatshepsut was especially interested in reopening trade relations with the Land of Punt. The queen reported that she had had a vision of the god Amon-Ra, who had told her to plant myrrh trees from Punt on the terraces of the temple she was building in his honor at Deir al-Bahri, in western Thebes. Egyptians believed in many deities (gods) and Amon-Ra was the greatest of these; it was through the pharaohs that deities communicated their wishes. Thus, Hatshepsut was spurred to organize an expedition at once, and to appoint her treasurer, a nobleman named Nehsi, to lead it. Many large ships were loaded with Egyptian goods to trade: pottery, cosmetics, finely made linen, and cotton cloth. The boats may have been carried across the desert from the caravan town of Coptos (modern-day Kuft)—on the east bank of the Nile—to the Red Sea. But some scholars believe that the expedition reached the Red Sea by way of a canal connected with the Nile. Pharaoh Sesostris II (who died in 1878 B.C.) had created one four hundred years earlier, and it is possible that Hatshepsut had it reexcavated. The fleet set off in about 1492 B.C. It has been estimated that its voyage to the Land of Punt took between fourteen months and three years.
Details of the expedition were recorded, and later retold in the form of hieroglyphics (a pictorial system of writing) and colored reliefs (carvings on a flat surface) that were painted on the walls of the temple of Deir al-Bahri. One scene shows the Egyptian fleet anchored after reaching its destination, and another portrays the surprise of the natives, whose last contact with the Egyptians had been long ago. The travelers presented gifts to King Perehu and Queen Eti of Punt and a banquet was given in the Egyptians’ honor. Then the trading of goods began.
The boats of the Egyptian fleet eventually became heavy with riches. The sailors returned with gold and silver, ivory and exotic woods, incenses and spices, and wild animals like baboons and a panther. They also brought back thirty-one young myrrh trees, each in a wooden tub. Some natives of Punt also made the journey back to Egypt.
Nehsi and his crew were joyously welcomed when they returned. Hatshepsut was so pleased with the great success of the expedition that she declared a two-day holiday. Her sailors marched in a parade through the streets, showing off some of the riches from the Land of Punt. There were speeches and lavish banquets. It was later recorded on the temple wall that “such a treasure was never brought for any pharaoh who has ruled since the beginning.”
Hatshepsut planted the fragrant myrrh trees on the terraces of the temple of Deir al-Bahri, which can still be visited today. The pictures that cover the temple walls are the first-known illustrated account of travel and exploration—and of a long sea journey—in history. During her reign, other overseas expeditions took place that restored the flow of trade into Egypt. This would stop, however, upon Hatshepsut’s death in about 1468 B.C., when her stepson and successor, Thutmose III, would begin a series of military campaigns to expand the Egyptian empire into the Euphrates River valley. Nearly one thousand years would pass before Egyptian explorers would again travel the seas.
Marshall Cavendish Illustrated Encyclopedia of Discovery and Exploration. Volume 1: The First Explorers, written by Felix Barker and Anthea Barker. Freeport, NY: Marshall Cavendish, 1990.
Simon, Charnan. The World’s Great Explorers: Explorers of the Ancient World. Chicago: Children’s Press, 1990.
Waldman, Carl and Alan Wexler. Who Was Who in World Exploration. New York: Facts on File, 1992.
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