Herodotus, 4.42

And so I am astonished by the way some people have delineated the boundaries of Libya, Asia, and Europe; since these lands actually differ quite a bit in size.  In length, Europe stretches out along both the other landmasses, while in width, any attempt to compare it to the others seems futile to me.  For it is clear that Libya is surrounded by water except for where it borders Asia.  The first one we know of to have discovered this fact was Nechos king of Egypt.  After he had stopped excavation work on the canal, which extended from the Nile to the Arabian Gulf, he sent some Phoenicians off on boats with orders to sail around Libya and back through the Pillars of Herakles into the Mediterranean Sea and to return by that route to Egypt.  And so the Phoenicians set out from the Erythraean Sea and sailed the Southern Sea.  Whenever autumn came, they would put in to shore at whatever region of Libya they happened to have reached in order to sow seeds.  There they would wait for the harvest, and after reaping their crops, they would sail on again.  This they did for two years, and in the third, they came around through the Pillars of Herakles and returned to Egypt.  They mentioned something else which I do not find credible, though someone else may: that when they were sailing around Libya, the sun was on their right side as they went.

Wait, so the Phoenicians sailed around Africa in 600 BC?  What the hell?  How come this is the first time I've ever heard about this?  What was the big deal about the Portuguese and the Cape of Good Hope?