Gordon, Since northern Africa (Egypt, Carthage, the Phoenicians etc.) was settled before the Roman Empire (3000 BC for Egypt) and had an advanced culture, while Ireland was still a backwater, you must be referring to southern Africa, away from the Mediterranean and including all of sub-Sahara Africa. The people in the Mediterranean didn't venture very far down the western coast. But the eastern coast was explored by the Chinese about 500 BC, and later by the Arabs after 700 AD. What time period are you talking about? I can believe that the Irish may have stumbled on sub-Saharan Africa's west coast when they were more developed since they were more oriented to the Atlantic than the Mediterranean people. But further European exploration didn't occur much until the Portuguese rounded the Cape of Good Hope about 1450 AD (Henry the Navigator). By then, most of East Africa was already Muslim, with an active trade with the Arabs. Gerry