By James Donahue

Throughout South America the ancient civilizations had contact with white skinned god figures that, according to legend, came to them from across the ocean from the east. They included the feathered serpent god Kulkulcan as he was known to the Mayans, Quetzalcoatl to the Aztecs, and such names as Xolotl, Tlaloc and Tezcatlipoca as he was identified by other tribes throughout the continent.

The Mayans also had legends of a white god Itzamna who came from the ocean, lived among them and taught them. Another Mayan story told of the arrival of 20 men, the chief among them was Colcolcan. All had long beards and their heads were bear, and they wore flowing robes and sandal shoes. Colcolcan (or Kulkulcan?) instructed the people in the arts.

The Quinamdes, located west of the Maya, told of being conquered by another white man, Votan, who built the City of Palenque and established the Xibalba empire. He taught the people how to cultivate maize and cotton and it is said he invented hieroglyphics.

The legends of the white god figures have puzzled archaeologists for years, but recent discoveries have given clues to the origin of these strange white skinned visitors who, because of their great knowledge, superior fighting ability and advanced culture, became a major influence in the religious and social life of the South American and Middle American tribes they came in contact with.

Among the more startling discoveries:

Some 3,000 feet up on a vertical wall of rock near Rio de Janeiro was found an inscription that, when translated, reads: “Tyre, Phoenicia, Badezir, Firstborn of Jethbaal.” The petroglyph is dated to the middle of the ninth century B.C.

Also in Brazil, near Parahyba, another inscription was translated. It reads: “We are sons of Canaan from Sidon, the city of the king. Commerce has cast us on this distant shore, a land of mountains. We set (sacrificed) a youth for the exalted gods and goddesses in the nineteenth year of Hiram, our mighty king. We embarked from Ezion-Geber into the Red Sea and voyaged with ten ships. We were at sea together for two years around the land belonging to Ham (Africa) but were separated by a storm and were no longer with our companions. So we have come here, twelve men and three women, on a shore which I, the Admiral, control. But auspiciously may the gods and goddesses favor us!”

At Chichen Itza, on Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula, scuba divers recovered a wood and wax doll on which was found Roman script. Roman coins have been unearthed in Venezuela and Roman pottery was found by archaeologists in Mexico.

The Phoenicians, who were indeed Canaanites, were an ancient seafaring civilization located along the Mediterranean coast in the regions now known as Lebanon, Syria and Israel. The Phoenicians prospered between 1550 and 300 BC, building ships known as galleys to conduct trade primarily along the Mediterranean coast, but also reaching out along Europe and Africa.

From the evidence found in South America, the Phoenicians conducted explorations that took them too South America, if not beyond.