Muslims' Presence in Pre-Columbian America

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People’s Democratic Republic of Algeria Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research Larbi Ben M’hidi University-Oum El Bouaghi

Faculty of Letters and Languages

Department of English

Muslims’ Presence in Pre-Columbian America

A Mémoire Submitted to the Faculty of Letters and Languages, Department of

English in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of

Master in Anglo American Studies.

By: ZERARA Zina Supervisor: Dr. MAAMERI Fatima

Board of Examiners:

Dr. MAAMERI Fatima, Supervisor

Mrs. GHENNAM Fatima, Member

2016-2017

Abstract

The Western world had always been in a stand where it rejected the influence of

Muslims and Islam on its history to the point that it disregarded the Golden Age of the

Islamic civilisation and denied Islamic science. The impact of Muslims on the early history of America is absolutely absent from the western canon. However, Muslims and Islam were a part of pre-Columbian America and had a great influence on it, even though it is controversial. Muslims were in the Americas before the arrival of

Christopher Columbus; they were trading and marrying with the Natives. The most important thing is that Muslims did not ever try or intend to conquer or exploit the land or the people of America. Through using the historical descriptive and analytical approaches, this research explores the significant impact of Muslims and Africans on early American history, particularly the pre-Colombian era. It also conveys a more accurate framework about the Islamic and African contact with the Americas. In addition, it rejects the myth that Europeans and their descendants constructed world civilization without the influence of Muslims or Africans. This research concludes that

Muslims from Spain and West Africa reached the Americas five hundred years before

Columbus.

Key words: Pre-Columbian America – Muslims – Africans.

Abstract

Le monde occidental était toujours dans une position où il a rejeté l'influence des musulmans et d'Islam sur son histoire au point qu'il a ignoré l'âge d'or de la civilisation Islamique et a nié la science et l'apprentissage islamiques. L’effet des

Musulmans sur l'histoire ancienne de l'Amérique est absolument absent de leur canon.

Cependant, les Musulmans et l'Islam faisaient partie de l'Amérique précolombienne et ont eu une grande influence sur ce sujet, même s'il est controversé. Les Musulmans

étaient dans les Amériques avant l'arrivée de Christophe Colomb; Ils se négocient et se marient avec les indigènes. La chose la plus importante est que les Musulmans n'ont jamais tenté ou ont l'intention de conquérir ou d'exploiter la terre ou les peuples d'Amérique. En utilisant les approches descriptives et analytiques historiques, cette recherche explore l'impact important des Musulmans et des Africains sur l'histoire américaine précoce, en particulier l'époque pré-Colombienne. Elle transmet également un cadre plus précis sur le contact Islamique et Africain avec les Amériques. En outre, elle rejette le mythe selon lequel les Européens et leurs descendants ont construit la civilisation mondiale sans l'influence des Musulmans ou des Africains. Cette recherche conclut que les musulmans d'Espagne et d'Afrique de l'Ouest ont atteint les

Amériques cinq cents ans avant Columbus.

ملخص

كان العالم الغربي دائما في موقف رفض فيه تأثير المسلمين واإلسالم على تاريخه إلى حد أنه تجاهل العصر

الذهبي للحضارة اإلسالمية ونفى العلوم اإلسالمية. تأثير المسلمين على التاريخ المبكر ألمريكا هو غائب تماما

من إنتاجـهـم األدبي. ومع ذلك، كان المسلمون واإلسالم جزءا من أمريكا ما قبل كولومبس وكان لهـم تأثير كبير

على ذلك، على الرغم من أنه ال زال مثيرا للجدل. كان المسلمون في األمريكتين قبل وصول كريستوفر كولومبس

كانوا يتاجرون ويتزوجون مع المواطنين األصليين. والشيء األكثر أهمية هو أن المسلمين لم يحاولوا أو ينوو

االستيالء على األرض أو شعب أمريكا. من خالل استخدام المنهج الوصفي والتحليلي التاريخي، يستكشف هذا

البحث األثر الكبير للمسلمين واألفارقة في التاريخ األمريكي المبكر، وخاصة عصر ما قبل الكولومبي. كما أنه

ينقل إطارا أكثر دقة حول االتصال اإلسالمي واألفريقي مع األمريكتين. باإلضافة إلى ذلك فإنه يرفض أسطورة

أن األوروبيين وأحفادهم شيدوا الحضارة العالمية دون تأثير المسلمين أو األفارقة. ويخلص هذا البحث إلى أن

المسلمين من إسبانيا وغرب أفريقيا وصلوا إلى األمريكتين خمسمائة سنة قبل كولومبس.

Dedication

To the memory of my father,

A gentle soul who taught me to trust in Allah and believe in hard work.

To my mother,

For being my first teacher.

To my sister,

For supporting and encouraging me to believe in myself.

Acknowledgments

I would like to express appreciation to my Mémoire supervisor Dr. Maameri

Fatima for reading my drafts and her valuable comments on this Mémoire. In addition,

I wish to thank the members of my family: my mother, my sister and brothers for providing me with unfailing support throughout my years of study. Finally, I want to acknowledge the help and the support of my friends Guerfa A., Lamraoui M., Berhail

W. and Tichati I. at the University of Larbi Ben M’hidi and also for providing me with the reliable sources. This accomplishment would not have been possible without all of them.

Thank you.

iii

List of Figures

1. Peri Reis Map of 1513………………………………………………….28

2. An Olmec Head Sculpture ………………………………………..……44

3. Excavation of a Thousand-Year-Old Olmec Site Near Veracruz in

1940……………………………………………………………………..47

4. Olmec Head Sculpture...... 48

5. Olmec Monument from Tres Zapotes, Mexico (c. 1100)...... 48

Table of contents

Abstract

Dedication…………………………………………………………………………. i

Acknowledgements……………………………………………………………….. ii

List of Figures ………………………………………………………………iii

Table of contents ………………………………………………………………..... iv

General Introduction

Chapter I: Pre-Columbian Trans-Oceanic Contact

Introduction

I. Pre-Columbian America ………………………………………………………5

II. Pre-Columbian Trans-Oceanic Contact: A Brief History of Contradictory

Theories ………………………………………………………………….9

III. The ‘New World’: Coining the Term……………………………………….12

IV. Biological Evidences of Pre-Columbian Trans-oceanic Contact.....…….....14

Conclusion………………………………………………………………………17

Chapter II: Muslims’ Presence in the New World

Introduction

I. Islamic Navigation from the 9th to the 15th Centuries…………………….…19

II. Literary Evidences about Muslims in America …...... 21

III. The Islamic Legacy in the New World …………………………………....31

Conclusion ...... …...32

Chapter III: African Presence in Pre-Columbian America

Introduction

I. African Muslims’ Expeditions (The Mandinka Voyages)…………………..35

II. The Olmec Heads and Skeletal Proofs …………………………………...…41

III. The Witness of Early European Explorers ……………………………..…..51

Conclusion………………………………………………………………………55

General Conclusions……………………………………………………..…....57

Endnotes……………………………………………………………………….59

List of Works Cited………………………………………………………...….61

General Introduction

The prehistory of the Americas starts with the people migrating to these areas during the Ice Age. By 9000 B.C., they spread widely throughout the Americas. Those people were the Paleo-Indians who are the ancestors of the Native Americans; their culture is usually called the archaic period. The change of climate led them to move from hunter-gatherer towards agriculture. Agriculture was used widely throughout the

Americas in which they cultivated more than 100 different crops. The most accepted theory says that they reached the Americas across the Bering Strait. They brought with them their cultural characteristic that later advanced and became civilizations as

Olmec, Inka, Maya, Aztec and others which stretched throughout the Americas.

Archaeologists found that Central America and the regions that now consist of Peru,

Ecuador and Andean highlands were the major advanced societies in the Americas these regions, with so many cultural achievements in a way or another it resembles those of the Old World.

These people had been believed to be isolated from the people of the Old

World until the European Age of discovery. Generally, it is thought that the New

World came to be known after the famous journey of Columbus in 1492. Later, he was followed by conquerors and settlers who claimed New World. Columbus is the credited one for the discovery of the whole American continent with its population, culture and the existing great civilizations. One should ask this question: How someone could ever discover an already populated land with enormous civilization?

The land belongs to the indigenous population and taking advantage of it is considered colonization and not a discovery of an already inhabited land.

However, it is argued that the claimed New World was not completely isolated from the Old World. A number of theories had emerged about the pre-Columbian contact between the two worlds. Various scholars claimed that the Irish, Mongols,

Norse, Welsh and others succeeded to reach the Americas in one time or another.

Traditionally, history had been taught and viewed from a Eurocentric point of view.

The reason behind that is that the Europeans for almost five hundred years had controlled the content of education, textbooks and even religious teachings, by which they allow us to know only what they want us to know and grasp and might obscure the truth. As it is mentioned above, the claimed contact theories with the Americas is supported and argued only by Europeans; what if there were also other civilizations that succeeded to reach the Americas and completely were completely ignored and hidden from the rest of the world.

This study focuses on the theory of Muslims contact with the Americas in the pre-Columbian Era. Perhaps it is one of the most debatable one due to the Eurocentric view, which might obscure the truth. However, recently there were some findings that may indicate an error in the translation of history. All of them are accurate but they are hard to prove because most of them had been destroyed by European explorers; this leads to hypothesize that Muslims reached the Americas at least five hundred years before Columbus. The most important issue in this study is the impact of

Muslims as explorers and traders on early American history and precisely the pre-

Columbian one. In addition, this study focuses on the African presence in the pre-

Columbian Era and the impact they had on the indigenous civilization.

The long-term goal of this research is to explore the significant impact of

Muslims and Africans on early American history (Pre-Colombian era). Also, it aims to convey an original and correct framework about the Islamic and African contact with the Americas and trace its historical development through time. The questions that this study aims to answer are three: Did Muslims and Africans succeeded to reach the

Western Hemisphere in the pre-Columbian era? What are the evidences? Did Muslims and Africans contribute to New World civilization or only Europeans?

The primary sources used in this study are a book by the Arab historian and geographer Al Masudi entitled The Weadow of Gold and Mines of Gems, and a presidential speech by President Tyyib Erdogan of Turkey. In the first document, Al

Masudi mentions a jouney by an Arab explorer named Al Khashkhash ibn Aswad in the Atlantic Ocean, where he reached an unknown land and returned with alot of treasures. The second document is the speech by the President Erdogan at the closing ceremony of the first Latin American Muslim leaders’ summit in Istanbul on

November 15, 2004. Erdogan articulated that America was discovered by Muslims and not by Christopher Columbus. The majority of the secondary sources used in this study are either books or articles by Muslim scholars and western one also. Generally, they deal with the different archaeological, cultural, and linguistic evidences that show the established contact between Muslims, Africans and the Americas in order to reach the intended point of this study that is the impact of Muslim on early American history. It is noticeable that most of the scholars and archaeologists have a common perception, which is the presence of Muslims in the Americas at least five hundred years before Columbus. However, only a few materials and sources are let for the world to know. Therefore, the study of the Muslim presence in indigenous America and its impact on it requires an open atmosphere for scholars and researchers to dig

4 deep in the history and allow the whole world know about it. Finally, the MLA ninth edition is used to cite the sources that are used in this research.

Depending on the historical descriptive and analytical approaches, this research is divided in three chapters. The first chapter presents an overview about the pre-Columbian Era. It deals with the prehistoric population, their origins, ways of life and the different civilizations they founded. Also, it deals with the transoceanic contact between the Old World and the New World. It provides a brief history about the various western theories about contact with the Americas. After that, it deals with the western version of the story of discovering the Americas by Columbus and the impact they had on indigenous population and land. The last point in the first chapter tackles the biological evidences for pre-Columbian contact, which proved to be transferred from both ways intentionally.

The second chapter deals with the Muslims presence in the Americas in the pre- Columbian Era. The first point deals with the Islamic navigation from the 9th century to the 15th century, which proved to be the most developed and sophisticated one and had a great impact on western navigation as well. The second point tackles the literary evidences about Muslims in America then it deals with the Muslims’ presence in the Americas with different sources that supports the claim.

The third chapter deals with the African presence in the New World. It tackles the expeditions that were made by Africans to New World. Also, it deals with the archaeological proofs which are found in different parts of the Americas as skeletal and monuments made by the Olmecs. Last, it deals with African Muslims voyages as the Mandingo who were the witnesses of early European explorers.

Chapter 1:

Pre-Columbian Trans-Oceanic Contact

Introduction

Before the 16th century, the Europeans had long thought that the world consisted only of Afro-Eurasia (Africa, Europe and Asia). The American continent remained an unknown part of the world until they explored the “New World”. In many ways, the Pre-Columbian Era without any doubt carried many of the greatest civilizations on earth. Those civilizations and cultures stretched from the north of the

Americas to the south, as those of the Mayas and the Aztecs. Since the American continent was separate from and unknown to the Old World, the question about the indigenous inhabitants had been raised since it became known. Thus, different theories about the origins of its first humans, along with various theories of Pre-

Columbian contacts between the eastern and the western hemisphere emerged. Most of the speculating theories lack finite proofs and evidences .Yet, that scientists found biological evidences for Pre-Columbian contacts between the old and the new world, which proved to be transferred from both sides intentionally and not through natural forces.

I. Pre-Columbian America

The term ‘Pre-Columbian’ refers to a period in the Americas prior to the arrival and settlement of Europeans. It derives from the name of the Italian explorer

Christopher Columbus, who is credited for the discovery of the New World although

6 it is not accurate. The Americas were densely populated than Europe before Columbus arrived; it is estimated that the population of the Americas was about 112 million inhabitants, while Europe was estimated to have about 77 to 80 million at that same time. Moreover, it is estimated that 25 million of the Americas’ population had lived in Central Mexico, which is more than two and a half times larger than that of both

Spain and Portugal’ populations in Columbus’ time (Kuiper 9).

In 1930, archaeological evidence provided clear indication of the presence prehistory humans in the Americas. Archaeologists found tools approximately dating back to 13,000 years old near Clovis, New Mexico, in addition to the unearthed site at

Monte Verde, Chile that goes back to 12,800 years ago. The Clovis1 were regarded to be the first humans of the Americas and the ancestors of most of the population.

According to another theory, “the first people who came to the what is called the New

World were from Asia they traveled from Siberia to Alaska during the Ice Age, perhaps as early as 50,000 years ago” (Fingerhut 1). The earlier inhabitants reached the Americas by crossing the Bering Strait2 on an ice bridge that existed once; it connected Alaska and Siberia and it had been created by lower sea levels during the

Ice Age. These people were called the Paleo- Indians3; their descendents spread across

North and South America (Kuiper 10).

However, late in the 20th Century, new evidences of even earlier inhabitants were found, which challenged the previous theories about the early inhabitants of the

Americas. Archaeologists found tools at Tlapacoya, near Mexico City dated at about

23,000 years old; other tools uncovered near Puebla, Mexico dated at about 24,000 years old. These discoveries in Mexico mean that the inhabitants of the Americas

“were living and thriving at a time when Northern Europe was still covered by ice sheets”(Kuiper 10). Those areas of Central America are referred to as Mesoamerica.

Mesoamerica is a term applied to the region of Mexico and Central America that existed once and was civilized before the Spanish arrival. At many levels,

American Indians of this area were the most advanced native people of the Western

Hemisphere. On the north, the region extend from the Gulf Coast of Mexico to modern Tampico, while in the south it extended from the North-western Honduras to the pacific shore in El Salvador. Thus, Mesoamerica includes half of Mexico, El

Salvador, parts of Honduras and all of Guatemala and Belize (Kuiper 15).

The early inhabitants of Mesoamerica lived in a different environment from the one that exists today. The temperature was much lower and the high lands were covered by wet grassland where the Paleo-Indians lived hunter-gatherer life styles. By

65,000 B.C., the people of Mexico depended on agriculture. They farmed and harvested crops, by 5,000 B.C. they grew corn (maize) and after 3,500 B.C. beans.

The formative period (1500 BC -100 AD), witnessed the formation of villages, then cities; at that time, different civilization on the Americas started to appear (Kuiper 10).

The Olmec civilisation is considered to be the first greatest civilization in

Mesoamerica. Its people are best known for their big human head sculptures, extensive trade networks, complex religion, and great ceremonial centres. The

Zapotec civilization also emerged at this formative period. It was the first in

Mesoamerica to develop writing and a calendar. Another civilization that emerged at that period was the Mayan civilization. The Mayan-speaking people appeared in the valley of Guatemala City; they constructed cities and roads in addition to ceremonial and political centres such as Tikal that worked as a political, religious and trade

8 centres. Those centres were remarkable for their towering pyramids that are considered the tallest structure ever built by Mesoamericans. Till the end of the formative period, this civilization had an advanced architecture. The Mayan civilization disappeared by 900 AD but its people are still living in Central America

(Kuiper 10-11).

Another remarkable pre-Columbian civilisation was that of the Aztecs, which was formed in 1426 nearby Mexico City. It has a complex social and political organization as it was divided into three social classes: the nobles, the commoners and the serfs. Each class of these had also numerous sub-classes. Its capital Tenochtitlan covered more than 13 square Kilometres with about 200,000 inhabitants. The Aztec empire collapsed when the Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortez conquered it in 1521

(Kuiper 12).

The great Inca civilisation flourished in the American south. This region is situated, along the Pacific Ocean where the Andes rise. The Inca overcame the harsh climate and difficult terrain to develop some remarkable cultures. There were permanent fishing villages, ceremonial buildings and pyramids. Crops were cultivated by 3000 BC and pottery appeared by 2000 BC. By the 13th Century, they reached

Peru. The Inca are famous with their great empire and technology, as using the heddle loom for weaving cloths. Textile had an important role since they used cloths to pay soldiers and woven cloths for burial and sacrifices. By 1532, the Inca Empire stretched to west central Argentina, central Chile and northern Ecuador. It is estimated to have 12 million people who spoke more than 20 languages. This Empire was defeated by the Spanish conqueror Francisco Pizarro, who kidnapped and executed the

Incan leader and enjoyed the spoils of war for years; by this, the Incan empire came to its end (Kuiper 13).

II. Pre-Columbian Trans-Oceanic Contact: A Brief History of

Contradictory Theories

The debate over the discovery of the New World has been for many scholars a case of different contradictory theories. If someone is asked “who discovered

America?” the obvious answer would be “Christopher Columbus.” The term discovery in this context means the first to reach the Western Hemisphere. Since

1492, controversy about who were the aboriginal inhabitants of the Americas has endured as various scholars claimed that the Mongols, the Phoenicians, the Chinese, the Irish, the Norse and the Welsh, and others succeeded to reach the Americas in one time or another before Columbus.

The Tartars or Mongols are theorized of migrating from the Old World to the

New World through the Bering Strait. This theory is supported by physical resemblance between the first migrants and the Mongols. The latest discovery of evidences that is related to the first humans of the Americas were those of 1961 in

American Falls, Idaho. They uncovered bones of a large bison punched with wooden spears, along with pelvic (hip) bones cut with a sharp tool. The Carbon-14 revealed that the remains dated to greater than 30,000 or possibly 43,000 years ago. The probability that the earliest of these people were of Mongolian origins is based on some reasons, basically their physical resemblance with those of Mongolia and other parts of Central Asia and their universal practice of scalping the heads of their enemies (Delish 5,11,13).

The Phoenician theory of the discovery of America is also raised despite the fact that there are no histories or literature of Phoenician survival. From 1200 BC till

145 BC, the Phoenicians were a dominant power in the Mediterranean Sea; they sailed on large distances estimated to more than one hundred miles in twenty four hours.

Their early expedition to the Americas is mentioned in a book written between the second and the sixth centuries AD entitled On Marvelous Things Heard. Another story about the discovery was told by Diodorus of Sicily in the first century BC, he revealed that ten ships sailed from the port of Ezion-geber at the Gulf of Aqaba (the

Red Sea); one of these ships deviated due to a tempest on the coast of western Africa and landed on an island, they were the first to discover it. Some scholars support the theory that they crossed the Atlantic and reached Brazil:

The Mayas and their shadowy forbears, the 01mees, wrote in

hieroglyphic symbols [and] built flat-topped pyramids.... Their carvings

and figurines include aristocratic Mediterranean looking priests or

kings, with high-bridged noses, full beards, conical helmets, and

pointed, upturned shoes, remarkably akin to Phoenician figures on

Assyrian basre1iefs. (qtd. in Delish 22)

Many archaeological evidences were found that supported the Phoenician theory; the latest was in Pennsylvania in the site of Beistlines. Many of ironstones found there were marked with alphabetic letters which proved to be Phoenician letters. However, some scholars believe that those inscriptions were fake and no longer valid for a

Phoenician Atlantic crossing (Delish 18-33; Collins 10).

Despite the lack of knowledge and controversy, scholars still content that the

Chinese may have discovered America. This theory is based on a story of a Buddhist

11 monk named Hoei-shin in the late fifth century, in which Hoei claimed that he had reached a land he called Fu-sang that lays 20,000 Chinese miles from China. It is though that he may have reached western America, probably Mexico. However, many scholars have rejected this theory since they asserted that the Chinese at that time did not know east from south and asserted that this story is fabricated by a priest.

Depending solely on this claim, the theory of the Chinese discovery of the Americas before Columbus is not valid (Delish 37, 39, 49).

The Norse theory was the most debatable one due to the amount of the written materials about it. Stories that circulated in Europe say that the Scandinavian explorers found Vinland (Newfoundland) around 1000 AD and made quite a few attempts to colonize it. The origins of this theory came from the Icelandic sagas, i.e.: medieval Icelandic narratives repeated orally for two centuries before being recoded.

The Vinland stories are about an expedition of thirty men and possibly a woman led by Leif, son of Erik the Red, who went to explore lands on the west (Collins 9).

The original documents of the three sagas about the discovery are lost; in addition, most of the archaeological evidences of the Norse settlements in the

Americas turned to be not decisive. Despite this, this theory is supported by some other evidences as the uncovered buildings in the Americas were identical to those in

Iceland and Greenland and there was no proof that those buildings were of Eskimos or

Indians. The date of the discovery that is told in the saga, matches with the 14-carboon dating of some artefact found in the in the Americas, which go back to little before or after 1000AD. This theory seems to be valid (Delish 72, 78, 97; Collins 9).

III. The ‘New World’: Coining the Term

The Western Hemisphere is a geographical term that refers to the western half of the earth. It comprises North and Latin America with their surrounding waters. For

Europeans of the Age of Exploration who had thought that the world consisted only of

Europe, Asia and Africa, this part of the earth came to be known as the ‘New World’, in order to distinguish it from the Old World (Afro-Eurasia). This term was first coined by the Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci (1454 -1512) in a letter written in

1503 to Lorenzo di Pier Francesco de' Medici (1463-1503), who published it (in Latin) in 1503- 1504 under the title Mundus Novus. He “explored the Northern Coast of

South America, and concluded that Columbus’ Indies were not the Asiatic Indies but were the ‘New World.’ ” In1497, he wanted the discovery to be credited for him.

Vespucci's letter contains arguably the first explicit articulation in print of the hypothesis that the lands discovered by European navigators to the west were not the edges of Asia, as asserted by Christopher Columbus, but rather an entirely different continent the "New World" (Jenkins 338).

In the view of many historians, Columbus’ first expedition to the Western

Hemisphere marked a complete break with the “ignorance and isolation of the Middle

Ages” and a step towards the “Renaissance.” During the age of discovery, Europeans considered the Italian mariner Christopher Columbus to be the first to put foot in the

New World. In August 1492, he sailed from Palos, Spain in command of three ships: the Nina, the Pinta and the Santa Maria. His goal was to find a trade road to India by sailing westward of the Atlantic. On 12 October 1492, he landed in the West Indies where he thought it was Asia. In March 1493, after returning to Europe, he wrote a letter to Gabriel Sanxis, the treasurer of the rulers King Ferdinand II and Queen

Isabella I reporting what he found. The letter’s common title is “Letter to Raphael

Sanxis” or “the First Letter of Columbus” (Bonhomme 617).

Columbus started planning his expeditions in 1480’s by gathering charts, maps and papers documenting interviews with sailors who had ventured in the Atlantic

Ocean. In addition, “[h]is own travels to West Africa provided him with firsthand information about the Atlantic currents.” In 1487, Columbus started to seek supporters for his voyage in the Atlantic. At first, he sought the support of the King of Portugal

John II, but the latter refused. Then, he sought the support of King Ferdinand II of

Aragon and Queen Isabella I of Castile and Leon. However, they turned him down too as they were busy in the re-conquest of the region of Grenada from Spanish Muslims

(Bonhomme 618).

The fall of Grenada, the last Muslim city in Spain, coincided with the first voyage of Christopher Columbus when King Ferdinand II and Queen Isabella I agreed to support his expedition. On 3 August 1492 he sailed to the west from Palos de la

Frontera and on 12 October, he reached a shore its inhabitants called

“Guanahani.”Later, he landed on the Bahamas but it is not clear whether he landed on

San Salvador or Walting Island, “an island ‘discovered’ by Columbus despite the fact it was well populated and had been in fact discovered by others thousands of years earlier” (Stannard 93). Few weeks later, Columbus explored other regions mainly

Cuba and Hispaniola before going back to Spain as a hero. In the years that followed, he made three other voyages to the so called the New World (Bonhomme 618, 696;

Stannard 93 ).

Many historians agree that the colonization of the New World began on the island of Hispaniola. “Columbus' second voyage was the true beginning of the

invasion of the Americas” (Stannard 95); he brought with him fifteen hundred men and established settlements on Hispaniola as La Isabella and Nueva (rebuilt as Santa

Dominigo), which is considered as the oldest permanent European settlement in the

New World. Europeans started expeditions to the west coast in 1513 and conquests in the south. In Mexico, they invaded the Aztec Empire under Hernan Cortez in 1519 and in 1532 the Incas were defeated under Fransisco Pizarro in the battle of Cajamarca in addition to the conquest of Peru (Bonhomme 869; Stannard 95).

It is estimated that in 1500’s there was about a quarter million Spaniards settled in the New World. They had devastating effects on indigenous inhabitants.

Moreover, according to some estimation, 90% of the indigenous population in Mexico declined while in Peru it estimated that the population declined from about six millions to one and a half million. The legacy of Columbus was also one of slavery and diseases carried by Europeans to which indigenous population had no immunity.

“According to some historians, the population of Hispaniola dropped from approximately one million to thirty thousand within twenty years after Columbus’ arrival, and as early as 1502 African slaves were being imported to replace the shrinking labor population” ( Bonhomme 624). The invasion and destruction of the

New World was launched “the Spanish were to perpetrate against the native peoples they confronted.… After all, Columbus had seized and kidnapped Indian men, women, and children throughout his first voyage” ( Stannard 94).

IV. Biological Evidences of Pre-Columbian Trans-Oceanic Contact

It is generally accepted that Christopher Columbus was the first known

European to step in the Americas through his famous expedition of 1492; however, scientific studies show evidences about Pre-Columbian trans-oceanic contacts

15 between the Eastern and the Western hemisphere. It is proved that connections between the New World and the Old World existed before 1492. About one hundred species of plants that existed in both the western and eastern hemispheres before

Columbus’ voyage had been examined. The proof comes from archeology, historical and linguistic sources: “this distribution could not have been due merely to natural transfer mechanisms, nor can it be explained by early human migrations to the New

World via the Bering Strait route” (Sorenson and Johannessen 1). It is argued that the only explanation for these findings is intended voyages from both directions; for example, a theory for the origin of the “maize” (corn) which is supposed to have originated in Mesoamerica is suggested:

Jeffreys (1953, 965–6) pointed out the discovery by archaeologists of

potsherds decorated by rolling a maize cob over wet clay, at Ife,

Nigeria. Regarding the questioned date: Ife is traditionally supposed to

have been founded by a wave of immigrants from the East between AD

600 and 1000…. Five theories of the origin of maize are summarized.

Re. Africa: Portuguese introduction on the west coast early in the 16th

century is mentioned, “though there is said to be some evidence of a

prior introduction.” Some maize-cob decorated Potsherds have been

found in West Africa, which are believed to date several centuries

before Columbus landed in the New World in 1492. This and certain

other evidences point to the introduction of maize into Africa through

Arab/African contacts with the Americas in the beginning of AD 900.

(Sorenson and Johannessen 169)

In addition, it is stated that the Schist soma, an infection with adult male and female worms living within mesenteric or vesicle veins of the host over a life span of many years, originated in the Old World. It is believed that it was in the New World before Columbus. In the light of this, questions should be raised about whether and how it reached the Americas. Three major species cause the three human diseases: S. mansoni4, S. haematobium5, and S. japonicum6. Four other species are of importance only in limited areas: S. mansoni is found in Africa, Arabia, and eastern South

America, S. haematobium is found in Africa and the Middle East, and S. japonicum is found in China and Indonesia. None of the species is indigenous to North America.

“Some of the infections introduced by Africans already occurred in the New World in pre-Columbian time”, and Schist somas is one of them (Sorenson and Johannessen

188).

Also, it is recorded that the American cotton was transferred to the Old World in the Pre-Columbian Era. Historical documents from the Cape Verde Islands show that G. hirsutum ( a cotton specie), belonging to the Mexican species, had apparently reached the Guinea Coast of Africa by means of some unrecorded voyage, before

Columbus’ first voyage. Cape Verdean records report that cotton arrived there from

West Africa some 25 years prior to 1492. Remnants of that cotton turned out to have the American tetraploid genetic structure. It is believed that Arab sailors may have carried G. barbadense from the Americas to Africa perhaps along with corn (Sorenson and Johannessen 11).

Tobacco is another plant which originated in the Americas and was transferred to the Eastern Hemisphere before the influence of the Iberian impacts. Its presence there may be due to the Arabs too. At this point, it is claimed that forms of the word

17 tubaq are found in Semitic and Sanskrit. Those words used for tobacco and pipea are from Arabic regions (Sorenson and Johannessen 136).

Another evidence for the transoceanic contact is the penetration of the Tunga penetrans7 disease (caused by the nigua) from the New World to the Old World. This disease which originated in Central America is found in Africa. For Karash, this disease is native to Brazil. This organism made a sudden intrusion into Africa. More historical evidence found in Africa showed up definitely that a pre-Columbian voyage was responsible. According to chronicles, “a caravan of Mansa Musa in Touat (In-

Salah) (in the center of modern Algeria) was attacked by a strange disease. People suffered in their feet by a foot-penetrating parasite/flea (considered here to be Pulex penetrans)” (Sorenson and Johannessen 194).

Conclusion

24,000 years ago, when the Northern parts of Europe were covered by miles of ice sheets, the indigenous inhabitants of the Americas were breathing and flourishing.

The first Americans came through the Bering Strait from Asia about 30,000 years ago, they were gatherers and hunters. Over a period of 15,000 years, they spread to Central and South America. Due to the development of agriculture, the native inhabitants established settlements and villages and sparked innovations. Organized cultures and

Empires flourished to make great civilizations. During the middle Ages, Europeans explored the Western Hemisphere and came across the Americas and defined it as a

‘new world’, a term which they invented. Since then, different theories emerged about when it was discovered and by whom. The question that should be raised is that what if there were other theories that were not examined or ignored? Biological evidences

18 showed that there is a probability of Arabs and Africans’ contact with the western hemisphere in the Pre-Columbian Era. If so, why such facts are hidden or ignored.

Chapter 2:

Pre-Columbian Muslims in the Americas

Introduction

So many sources advocate the claims about the presence of Muslims in pre-

Columbian America. One of reasons that led the Muslims to reach far lands as the

Indian Ocean was due to their navigational development. Since Muslims were the pioneers in the science of navigation, it allowed them to discover new lands. The other reason was the force to spread Islam in new territories. Muslims from Spain sailed in the Atlantic Ocean to flee from persecution, adventures or trade.

I. Islamic Navigation from the 9th to the 15th Centuries

Muslims were the pioneers in the development of political geography, mathematical geography, and cartography8. Geography was a principal to Muslims because they knew the importance and the need for locating places and destinations.

When Muslims got in touch with the Africans, they developed their maritime practices since they already were maritime traders either for economic needs or only by tradition, to the point they became proficient in the science of travel, trade and conquest (Rashad 69).

Ivan Van Sertima places this argument in a better historical perspective. The sail used in the Spanish and Portuguese travels came from the Arabs. Also, the astrolabe (an instrument used to determine the latitude by the sun’ latitude) was developed by the Arabs. The notion that Africa had no knowledge of the sea, no

20 mariners, never made boats and its empires were limited by its deserts is wrong and should be dismissed. Conversely, “Africans were navigating the Atlantic before

Columbus and Christ. They had moved up to the North Atlantic to Ireland, capturing part of that country in a very early period” (Rashad 69).

The real age of Islamic navigation was during the caliphate of Uthman ibn

Affan. Many port cities on the Indian Ocean, the Persian Gulf, the Arab red and the

Mediterranean seas flourished during the Umayyad and the Abbasid periods too

“During the Umyyad period, the first naval bases in North Africa were established”

(Al- Hassan 21). The Islamic societies contributed significantly to the art of navigation, their contribution to the Mediterranean is reflected in the introduction of the lateen sail, nautical instruments, and manuals of seafaring. One of the oldest navigational manuals is the Kitab al-Fawaid fi Usul ‘ilm al-Bahr wa-l- Qawa’idè

(895/ 1490), by Ahmad ibn Majid in, along with the works of Sulayman ibn

Muhammad al-Mahdi (917/ 1511). Another navigational instrument that was introduced by Muslims is the Astorlab which shows the position of the stars. The third nautical instrument was the Compass, which was known among Muslim seafarers before the tenth century. Moreover, Muslims mastered Astrology and the science of navigation (Al- Hassan 21). The majority of the Muslims’ works about the science of navigation were translated to Latin, through which European commercial ships could sail to the Canary Islands and other destination along the African coasts (Meri 556).

During the period of the Fatimid caliphate in North Africa (909/1171), “Arab-

Muslims naval power reached its zenith” as their naval fleets were commanded by professional sailors (Al-Hassan 220). Islamic navigation in the Indian ocean, the

Persian gulf and the Red Sea is referred to as Arab navigation “ because the known

21 sailing instruction and literary works describing methods of navigation are in Arabic”

(Selin 1735). During the seventh century, there was navigation between the Middle

East and China; in 748, there was a Persian settlement in Hainan and a mixed Arab

Persian colony in Canton in the eighth and ninth centuries (Selin 1736).

II. Literary Evidences about Muslims in America

Various evidences put forward that Muslims from West Africa and Spain arrived to the Americas at least five hundred years before Christopher Columbus. The president Tyyib Erdogan of Turkey asserts at the closing ceremony of the first Latin

American Muslim leaders’ summit in Istanbul on November 15, 2004 that America was discovered by Muslims and not by Christopher Columbus. He asserts that Islam met Latin America in the 12th century exactly in 1178, when Muslim sailors reached the Americas. He speaks of a mosque in Cuba coast that was mentioned in Columbus memories. This mosque was seen by European explorers on top of a mountain in

Cuba, which denotes that “the religion was wide spread” and Columbus memories is a proof for that (“America was Discovered by Muslims” 00:00/ 3:43) .As an example, it is documented that during the rule of the Ummayad Caliph Abdul-Rahman III (929-

961) Muslims of African origins sailed into the “Ocean of Darkness and fog” ( the

Atlantic Ocean) from the port of Debla (Palos) in Spain. After making a journey in the

Atlantic Ocean, they came back with a lot of treasures from a “strange and curious

Island.” “It is evident that people from a Muslim origin are known to have accompanied Columbus and subsequent Spanish explorers to the New World.... Many references on the Muslims’ arrival to the Americas are available” (Mroueh par. 4).

Collins asserts that Muslims could have been candidates for crossing the

Atlantic since they “controlled a bulk” on what was known by then. The distance

22 between the Muslims’ territory and the America’s shores were less than “sixteen nautical miles.” In addition, Collins points out that “several medieval Arabic sources suggest that Muslim explorers may have traveled in expeditions across the Atlantic

Ocean to the Americas between the 9th and the 14th Centuries” (8). He says that “the earliest of these Muslim navigators were Muslims from Africa who sailed westward from the Spanish port of Delba, navigating to the Americas and returning with fabulous treasures. He further adds that those experiments and voyages made by

Muslims were technically possible (Collins 8).

In an interview with Jerald Dirks, an American author and psychologist, in the

Deen Show, Dirks states that the story of Muslims in the Americas is important.

Dirks says that “we Muslims have been here with Columbus in 1492 and yes we

Muslims even though little controversial long before Christopher Columbus ever thought of coming to America.” (“Muslims discovered the Americas before

Columbus” 06:26/ 06:38). There are a lot of Muslim voyages to the Americas before

Columbus. The earliest of them was Khashkhash ibn Said ibn Aswad who sailed from

Spain in the 889 CE. He sailed west of the Atlantic and discovered a new land, and then he sailed back to Andalusia. Quick points out that about one hundred years later,

Ibn Farruk “landed in February 999 CE in Gando (Great Canary), he visited King

Guanariga and continued his journey westwards till he found islands”. Mroueh points out that:

a Muslim historian Abu Bakr Ibn Umar Al-Gutiyya narrated that during

the reign of the Muslim caliph of Spain, Hisham II (976-1009CE),

another Muslim navigator, Ibn Farrukh, from Granada, sailed from

Kadesh (February 999CE) into the Atlantic, landed in Gando (Great

Canary islands) visiting King Guanariga, and continued westward

where he saw and named two islands, Capraria and Pluitana. He arrived

back in Spain in May 999 CE. (par. 8)

The New World was not isolated from the Old World as many historians and scientist wanted us to accept as true. Individuals from both parts were travelling great distances, exchanged knowledge and products:

Long before Columbus became aware of the possibility of land in the

west, Muslims, among other people, had made contact with the

Americas and had already left an impression on the Native culture.

Knowledge, agricultural products, livestock, metals, and other

commercial items were exchanged between the two worlds. Evidence

leading to establishing the presence of Muslims in ancient America

comes from a number of sculptures, oral traditions, eye-witness reports,

artifacts, Arabic documents, coins, and inscriptions. In Meso-American

art, we see Africans and Semites in positions of power and prestige,

especially in trading communities of Mexico. (Quick par.7)

There were some other evidences that support the claims of Muslim historians, like the coins that were found south of the Caribbean, as reported by Cyrus Gordon in his work “In before Columbus.” This report shows that amass of Mediterranean coins that had many copies were discovered off the coast of Venezuela. Those coins were

Roman coins nearly from the reign of Augustus 4th century CE; in addition, two coins were Arabic coins from the 8th century CE. “It is the latter that gives us the terminus a quo [time] of the collection as a whole (which cannot be earlier than the latest coins in the collection). Roman coins continued in use as currency into the medieval times. A

Moorish ship perhaps from Spain or North Africa, seems to have crossed the Atlantic around 800 CE” (qtd. in Quick par. 9).

The previous report adds more credibility to the reports that were recorded by the Muslim historians and geographers about Muslims navigators in the Atlantic. As in Muruj adh-Dhahab wa Ma’adin al-Jawhar (The Meadows of Gold and Mines of

Gems) written by the Muslim historian, geographer, philosopher, and natural scientist

Abul Hassan Ali ibn al-Hussain ibn Ali al-Masudi around 956 CE. In this book he wrote about a young man named Khashkhash in Saeed ibn Aswad who was from

Cortoba who crossed the Atlantic Ocean. He intermingled with people from the

Americas and came back in 889 CE Al Masudi in this book wrote:

Some people feel that this ocean is the source of all oceans and in it

there have been many strange happenings. We have reported some of

them in our book Akhbar az-Zaman. Adventurers have penetrated it at

the risk of their lives, some returning safely, others perishing in the

attempt. One such man was an in habitant of Andalusia named

Khashkhash. He was a young man of Cordoba who gathered a group of

young men and went on a voyage on this ocean. After a long time, he

returned with a fabulous booty. Every Spaniard (Andalusian) knows his

story. (Al Masudi 138)

Another narration is made by Abu Abd Allah Muhammad al-Idrisi (1090-

1180), in his book Kitab al-Mamalik wa-l-Masalik written in the 12th century. The

Arab geographer and physician reports in his book about a journey of group of seafarers in the Atlantic Ocean who reached the isles of the Americas:

A group of seafarers sailed into the sea of darkness and fog (the

Atlantic Ocean) from Lisbon in order to discover what was in it and to

what extent were its limits. They were a party of eight and they took a

boat which was loaded with supplies to last them for months. They

sailed for eleven days until they reached turbulent waters with great

waves and little light. They thought that they would perish so they

turned their boat southward and travelled for twelve days. They finally

reached an island that had people and civilization but they were

captured and chained for three days. On the fourth day, a translator

came speaking the Arabic language! He translated for the King and

asked them about their mission. They informed him about themselves,

then they were returned to their confinement. When the westerly wind

began to blow they were put in a canoe blindfolded, and brought to

land after three days sailing. They were left on the shore with their

hands tied behind their backs. When the next day came another tribe

appeared, freeing them and informing them that between them and their

lands was a journey of two months. (qtd. in Quick par.3 and Ahmad

922 )

This amazing historical document describes the contact between Muslims and Native

Americans and more significantly “it also describes travel between islands, probably the Bahamas chain or the Lesser Antilles.” Quick argues that those islanders had developed the ability to speak Arabic, a language that cannot be mastered by a single contact. They must have been regularly visited by Arabic speaking Muslim merchants or adventurers, or they had lived in Muslim territory.”(Quick par.11)

Quick adds one of the most important evidences that shows the credibility of

Muslims navigators which is a map made in March 1513 by Piri Muhyi’d-Din Reis

(1465- 1554). Piri Reis was a famous Ottoman navigator and a map maker, his most famous work is the Piri Reis map and Kitab-i Bahriye (Book of Sea or Book of

Maritime Matters). The Piri Reis map “was discovered in 1929 by Bey Halil Ethem, director general of the Topkapi Serai (Library) in Istanbul (McIntosh 8). The map contained an inscription written in Arabic hand writing which might be Piri’s; it says

“this map is drawn by the poor man Piri son of Haji Mehemt and the nephew of

Kemal Reis – may Allah have mercy on both of them- in the town of Geliblou, in the month of Muharam of the year 919”(McIntosh 15).

This map contained among other legends the following note; “This chapter explains how this map has been made. Such a map nobody owns at present. By the hands of this poor man it has been composed and now elaborated” (Quick). This map is the most beautiful and interesting map to have survived from the Age of

Discoveries. Gregory McIntosh who is a professional engineer and a long time member of the Society for the History of Discoveries relates that:

Many claims have been made concerning this map; that it is the oldest

map of the Americas that it is the most accurate map made in the

sixteenth century. Some showed the ability of the map maker to

measure and perform spherical trigonometry calculations centuries

ahead of its time, that it provides evidence of a worldwide seafaring

civilization sailed in the Mediterranean and fought the enemies. (5, 6)

What is most important about this study, however, is that this map is one of the most conclusive pieces of hard evidence to show the validity of Muslim exploration in the Western hemisphere:

Piri Re’is, a Turkish navigator, wrote that he used twenty source-maps,

among them eight maps dating from the time of Alexander the Great,

an Arab map of India, four Portuguese maps of the Indian Ocean and

China, and a map by Columbus of the western area. But Piri’s map

contains information that could not have been known by Columbus. It

contains the correct relative longitude across Africa, and across the

Atlantic, all the way from the meridian of Alexandria, Egypt, to Brazil.

The mid-Atlantic islands are shown with remarkable accuracy. The

Cape Verde islands, Madeira Islands, and the Azores are shown in

perfect longitude. The Canary Islands are off by one degree latitude.

The Andes are shown on this map of 1513 CE. The Andes were not

“discovered” by Europeans until 1527 CE with the coming of Pizarro.

The Atrato River (in present day Columbia) is shown for a distance of

300 miles from the sea. Its eastward bend at latitude 5 degrees north is

correct. The Amazon is shown twice, once on the equator of the main

grid and once on the equator of the small grid. The island of Marajo is

shown at the mouth of the Amazon, but this island was not officially

discovered by Europeans until 1543 CE. Someone must have travelled

throughout the upper part of the South America exploring rivers and

recording information. (qtd. in Quick)

Fig.1 Reis Map of 1513

Source: img.theepochtimes.com/n3/eet-content/uploads/2014/12/28/Piri-Reis.jpg

Furthermore, Quick relates in his article another map made in 1559 CE by the

Turkish map-maker Haji Ahmed that supports the validity of Muslim presence in early

America:

Muslims had led the world in Astronomy, Mathematics, Chemistry,

Medicine, History, Geography, Navigation, etc. for hundreds of years

before the 16th century, and Haji Ahmed followed in their footsteps.

The Eastern Hemisphere, on his map, is poorly done and probably was

based on the sources of Ptolemy. The Western side, however, was

mapped so well that it is hard to believe that anyone could have drawn

this map who did not have access to maps of people well-travelled in

the Americas. The shapes of North and South America are surprisingly

modern, especially the western coasts. Their drawing on a highly

sophisticated spherical projection puts the map about two centuries

ahead of the cartography of that time. (Quick par.10)

Moreover, Quick argues that another map of Florida which is based on a

French expedition in 1564 exhibits the contact of Muslim with the New World in its early time. This map shows names of places that derived from the Islamic regions, which demonstrates an earlier Muslim settlement. Those three names are: “Mayarca

(Majorca), Cadica (Cadiz), [and] Marracou (Marrakesh).” If there was no contact between the Islamic world, precisely North Africans and Andalusian Muslims, and the

American in its early time how could this names have been used by people in the

Americas (Quick par. 11).

Many scholars doubted the navigational ability of the Muslims and Africans to encounter the Americas in the pre-Columbian Era. Some argued that it was difficult at that time to cross the Atlantic Sea. However, Quick states that:

In 1969 CE, the Scandinavian scientist, Thor Heyerdahl crossed the

Atlantic for the second time, starting from the North African port, Safi,

and arriving in Barbados, West Indies. His craft was made by Africans

of indigenous papyrus, thereby proving that not only could North

African or West African sailors have crossed the Atlantic Ocean, but

that even the ancient Egyptians could have done so. It is now well

known that the currents coming off the Iberian Peninsula and western

coastline of Africa will take a ship easily into the Caribbean or to the

east coast of South America (present day Brazil). (par. 11)

Islam was a crucial reason for exploration and discovery. So many Arabic sources put an emphasis on the fact that the force of spreading the religion asserts the

Muslims discovery of the Americas. Frederick William Dame states that “the term

Islam and Muslims are inseparable and thus as messengers of Allah they made geographical discoveries. Therefore, not only did Muslims discover the New World,

Islam was a part of the discovery as well. The Muslim (Islam) assertions of discovering the New World are listed in a chronological order” (51).

Barry Fell states that in addition to the Vikings who landed in the Northern part of America, there were people who landed also in the Americas from North

Africans (Berbers), Phoenicians, Arabs-Iberians and Arabs. Fell says that:

The Pima people of the American Southwest possessed a vocabulary

that contained words of Kufic Arabic origin…. Dr. Fell also uncovered

an early rock carving (undated) in Inyo county, California”, with the

inscription Yasus ben Maria (Jesus Son of Marry). Only Arab scholars

attested that this is the correct translation of the inscription. Dr. Fell

also claims that he had discovered he existence of Muslim (Libyan

Muslim) schools in Nevada, Colorado, New Mexico, and Indiana

dating back to 700-800 which taught arithmetic, agricultural sciences,

geometry, etc. However, Islamic schooling consisted in the study of the

Koran, Mohammad’s life, and sharia law. Interest in science only began

in the eleventh and the twelfth centuries. (qtd. in Dame 52)

According to Fell in two of his books America B. C.: Ancient Settlers in the

New World, Saga America and Bronze Age America, the first people who came to

America were not necessarily white people. However, they were a mixture of North

Africans (Berbers), Phoenicians, Iberians (Moors), and even Arabs. In addition, he continues to acknowledge that a group from the Iberian Peninsula crossed the Atlantic

Ocean. This group of people crossed it via the Canary Islands with the trade winds, approximately 3000 years ago and started to colonize America. They settled along the

New England coast, where they instituted villages, temples and even druidic circles.

After that a group of Phoenicians traders and others from Spain followed them. He states that they spoke Punic and wrote in a script called Iberian. Moreover, he points out that some of those people who were from the Iberian Peninsula and also were

Egyptians reside in the Northern part of America and became part of the

Abenaki/Micmac Indians. When Columbus landed on Haiti, in his second journey, the

Natives presented a spear to him, which they called “guanin”; which they said it come from black people of land across the Ocean. Some claim that the word “guanin” have an Arabic origins “ghinaa”, which means “wealth” (Dame 53).

III. The Islamic Legacy in the New World

Several sources advocate Muslims’ expeditions in the Atlantic Ocean between the 9th and the 15th Centuries. Denman Collins in his book Anomalistic History states that:

From 632 to 1258, the Islamic empire may have been the most

powerful and cultured domain in the world. The empire grew from a

loose confederation of desert tribes into one of the largest empires in

the history of the world, surpassing the Roman Empire at its peak.

Before the western world’s renaissance, Muslims had made great

advances in sciences that literally took centuries for the west to catch

up. Their study of the universe only intensified their curiosity of the

unknown. It’s been reported that Muslims in West Africa were so

intrigued by the mysteries of the legendary Atlantic Ocean, that

sometimes in the first millennium they began exploratory expedition in

and about its mysterious waters. Early evidence of these travels is

sketchy, but there are those who believe they crossed the Atlantic by

988 CE. (Collins 8)

Nadia B. Ahmad in her article “The Islamic Influence in (Pre-) Colonial and

Early America: A Historico-Legal Snapshot”, talks about the pre-Columbian presence of Africans and Muslims in the Americas, she says that:

Multiple sources of evidence suggest that Muslims from Spain and

West Africa arrived in the Americas at least five centuries before

Columbus, which is plausible given their level of education and

expertise in navigation” 922. In the 12th century, Al-Sharif al-Idrisi

(1097-1155), an Arab geographer, reported on the journey of a group of

North African seamen who reached the Americas. (922-933)

Nadia Ahmad says that this historical report “describes travel between

Islands, possibly the Bahamas chain or the Lesser Antilles, showing the inter-

American exchange of Islamic culture and Arabic language. The islanders had acquired the ability to speak Arabic, a language that cannot be mastered through a single contact”, which denotes that “Arabic- speaking Muslim merchants or adventurers must have regularly visited the locals or the locals had lived in Muslim territory.” In addition, those coins which belong to the Mediterranean were found in

“the southern Caribbean region off the coast of Venezuela, serves to validate reports by historians and geographers regarding the journeying of Muslim explorers across

33 the Atlantic.” Moreover, she states that there is “ample evidences suggest that people of Muslim origin accompanied Colón [Columbus] and subsequent Spanish explorers to the New World” (933).

Modern scholarships proved that Muslim were in America before the arrival of Columbus. Among Columbus’s crew there were Muslims too. Islam is not new in

America, as many historians and some Christian evangelists would have us believe”

(Sodiq 432). Islam came to America very early, even before Columbus (Haddad 22).

Several studies had emerged asserting the contribution of Arabs and Muslims of

African descent to North and South America before Columbus’s “discovery”.

Furthermore, Columbus’ journey to the New World might have been inspired by an earlier voyage of eight Arab soldiers who sailed toward Lisbon (128). The Arab geographer al-Idrisi documents the voyage of eight Arabs, but most historians reject the claim that the Muslims were in America before Columbus. However, it cannot be denied that Spain was ruled by the Moors for about seven hundred years. Louis de

Torre was possibly used as a translator for communicating with the Native American

Indians before Columbus arrived. He was a Moorish Spanish speaking who converted to Christianity after the fall of Grenada. In 1492, Columbus chose him as his primary translator, and he might be the first man of Islamic culture who set foot in North

America during the Columbian Era (Rashad 128, 129).

Several scholars as T. B Irving, Kofi Vangara, Clyde Ahmad Winters, Ivan

Van Sertima., Philip Curtin, John Ralph Willis and Joao José Reis now agree that

African Muslims (Moors and Manding) came to the Americas at least 180 years before Columbus arrival. These scholars presented evidences from sculptures, articrafts, eyewitness accounts, oral traditions and inscriptions (Rashad 31). Those

34 presented evidences show that Muslim navigators from Africa and Spain reached the

New World. The latter is supported by Arab coins found off the coast of South

America dating back to 800 CE, over time these voyages involved 2,400 ships. When those Muslims reached the Americas they established trading posts. In addition, they introduced the gold trade to the West Africans, also the art of alloying gold with copper and silver. Moreover, they introduced the cotton trade and the art of making cotton into the Americas. Significantly, those Muslims demonstrated their Islamic behaviour in the New World. Many of them tried to name or rename places in the new world after some places in West Africa which were ruled by Mali Emperors (32).

Conclusion

Western literature had always rejected the influence of Muslims and Islam as religion on its history to the point it disregarded the Golden Age of the Islamic civilisation and denied that Islamic science and learning ever existed. The impact of

Muslims on the early history of America is absolutely absent from their western writings. However, Muslims and Islam were a part of pre-Columbian America and had a great influence on it, even though it is controversial. Muslims were in the

Americas before the arrival of Christopher Columbus; they were trading and marrying with the Natives. The most important thing is that Muslims did not try or intended to conquer or exploit the land or the people of America.

Chapter 3:

African Presence in Pre-Columbian America

Introduction

Many researchers acknowledged that Africans were present in different parts of ancient America long before the arrival of Columbus. This claim had been alive since the days of Columbus, when he suggested that black men probably from Guinea had preceded him. Some other scholars stated that even Columbus knew about the

New World when he was in Guinea. The claim that black Africans were present in ancient America is supported by several proofs that are still in existence for everybody to see. Those proofs come from linguistic, religious, cultural and eye witness elements that cannot be denied. The Islamic civilization had a great impact on the region of

West Mali, genuinely African Muslims made contact with the Americas hundreds of years before Columbus.

I. African Muslims Expeditions ( The Mandinka Voyages)

Under the guidance of Mansa Abubakari Muhammad, who preceded Mansa

Musa in the 13th Century, African Muslim explorers travelled around some parts of the Americas, among which what is now known as the United States today. Different inscriptions show that they settled in the New World and brought with them animals.

Moreover, “these African Muslims interacted so well with native American Indians that often the two groups became assimilated from a cultural and linguistic stand point throughout the Americas and the United States, African Muslims traded, socialized, intermarried and converted Native Americans” (Rashad 32). It is also acknowledged

36 that Christopher Columbus knew about the New World from African Muslims. In addition, it is documented that the Spanish had acquainted that African Muslims do exist in the Americas. Likewise, the Portuguese explorer Vasco de Garma ( 1469-

1524) “ is said to have received information about the West Indies from an African

Muslim named Ahmad Majid whom he met along the west coast of Africa”. Rashad also mentions in his book that some scholars said that the “people of Mali sent trading expeditions to America and made cultural contributions to the New World in the pre-

Columbian times…. African Muslims made a profound mark on American history”

(Rashad 32; Sertima 22).

Talking about the Muslims in history, Rashad mentions the suggestion of Basil

Davidson:

[T]hat many maritime merchants were learnedmen of Islam who

follows a tradition of voyaging up and down to the New World. These

African Muslim traders established harmonious relations with the

indigenous population (Indians), who subsequently influenced their

familial acceptance of the African traders when they voluntarily and

involuntarily took up residence in the New World.... those seafaring

people were from the Mali and Songhai Empires and that they

subsequently succeeded in establishing colonies throughout the

Americas ( Rashad 36).

Leo Wiener, a Harvard scholar, published three volume works about the

Arabic-Mandingo influence in the New World which caused an unrestrained furore among academicians in the 1920’s. As a philologist he traced back the important contributions of Arab-African to America. However Weiner attributed the influence

37 on the American civilisation only to the Arab culture which was carried by Africans,

“assumes that the great Mali empire of Medieval West Africa owed all its refinements, even its animist ritual and magic, to the Arab Islamic civilization. The Mandingo came to America before Columbus , he declares, but carrying another man’s cultural baggage. He sees the Negro- African as conductor of Islamic cultural electricity”

(Sertima 30). What was missing is that the Islamic belief of the Africans was the contributing force that stroke whom they ever congregated (Rashad 37; Sertima 30).

The work of Wiener is highly valuable in this subject regarding to his finding in his book:

The presence of Negroes with their trading masters in America before

Columbus is proved by the representation of Negroes in American

sculpture and design, by the occurrence of a black nation at Darien

early in the XVI century, but more specifically by Columbus’ emphatic

reference to Negro traders from Guinea, who trafficked in gold alloy,

guanine, of precisely the same composition and bearing the same name,

frequently referred to by early writers in Africa. (qtd. in Rashad 37)

According to Wiener too, there were different ways by which Negroes spread into the Americas, one of which is through the Southern East coast (Caribs), reached through the West Indies. The other one is the North and reached as far as Canada. The heyday of their cultural influence was by the Negro colony in Mexico who may had a role in establishing the city of Mexico. Starting from Mexico their influence spread to the neighbouring tribes to reach Peru.

The access and diffusion of the Africans into the Americas was not by chance

and random, in this Dr. Wiener argues that it was systematic. His judgement

comes from the survival of the Arabic words in a Malink or Sonink form in the

Americas and mostly in the Caribs and the Aztecs, the influence proceeded

almost exclusively from the Mandingoes, either the ancestors of the present

Malinkes, or a tribe in which the Soninke language had not yet completely

separated from its Malinke affinities. (qtd. in Rashad 38)

Furthermore, Wiener states that the American language has its roots or at least was deeply influenced by the Arabic and Mande. As an example, “Just as in Mande, so throughout America, the Arabic ‘halal’, in forms derives from Boli, represents the idea of the spirit or anything related to religion or medicine. In America too, the bolitgi, the masters of the boli, appears as boratio and many forms linguistically derived from this”. A detailed examination of the archaeological remains in Western

Sudan coupled a philological study of the Arab influences in Africa that match with other elements that exist in the civilization of the Americas. In addition, he traces back the roots of the African languages to Arabic language. Meanwhile, he states that a form of Islamic worship was practiced in Mexico (qtd. in Rashad 38).

After landing in Haiti in his second journey, Columbus suggested that black

Africans were there before him to the New World; since then, many researchers investigated this claim. Columbus wrote in his “Journal of the Second Voyage” that the Natives presented to him a spear which they said it came from black people came from a land far across the Atlantic. The spears were tipped with a yellow metal that the natives called “guanin”. Columbus brought some of this spearheads back to Spain where they consisted of 18 parts gold 56.25%, 6 partssilver18.75% and 8 parts copper

25%. It turns out that this is the same ratio that the people of Guinea used in their spears. Arabs claims that the word ‘ghinaa’ which means wealth. In the Susu, the language spoken by the coastal Susu ethnic groupe, the word ‘guiné’ means woman.

When a group of European arrived on the coast, they met some women washing clothes in an estuary. The women indicated to the men that they were women. The

European misunderstood and thought the women were referring to a geographic area; they subsequently used the word Guinea to describe coastal West Africa. The truth of the matter is that the Arab word comes from the West African words, as Wiener states that “it has already been shown that both “cibe” and “guanine”, which are of a stone are Mandingo words ... when the Negroes and Arawaks came to Florida, they naturally brought with them the new amulet par excellence” (Dame 73; The African

United Front par. 3; Wiener 178).

On the third journey of Columbus to the New World on 1498, he landed on

Trinidad. Some of his crew found natives in the southern part of the continent using colourful handkerchiefs of woven cotton. Columbus noticed that these handkerchiefs look as the hair-dresses and loin clothes of Guinea and referred to them as

‘Almayzars’. The latter means in Arabic wrapper, cover or skirting which was the cloths of the Moors imported from West Africa (Guinea) into Morocco, Spain and

Portugal. Also Hernando Cortez described the Indian women dress as “long veil” and of Indian men as “breechcloths painted in the style of the Moorish draperies. In addition, Fernando Columbus notices the similarity between the hammocks of the

Natives’ children and those of North Africa (Dame 73).

The Islamic Empire of Mali witnessed one of the most important voyages of

Muslim merchants. When Mansa Musa, was in his way to Makkah in 1324 CE, he told the ruler of Cairo that Abu Bakari, his predecessor, had undertaken two expeditions into the Atlantic Ocean in order to discover its limits. Shihab ad-Din al-

Umari, a famous Arab geographer, in his Masalik al-Absar fi Mamalik al-Amsar,

40 reported that the sultan Musa said that Abu Bakkari had two hundred ships filled with men and another two hundred ships filled with gold, water and supplies enough for a year. They were ordered to return only if they reach the limits of the ocean, or when the supply ends. After a long time only one ship returned, they reported that they encountered a violent current which it was as a river. Their ship was the last one and did not enter the current, but the other sailed on and disappeared. The emperor of Mali did not believe the story, so he prepared two thousands vessels and accompanied his men to a journey in the ocean, in which he disappeared also. The current they faced was either the North Equatorial or the Antiles current, in which both of them would take the fleet to the Americas’ shores (Winters).

A study of inscription found in Brazil, Peru and the United States, in addition to linguistic, cultural and archaeological finds, show confirmation of the presence of these Mandinka9 Muslims in the early Americas. The Mandinka people made contact with Brazil, which it was the closest land to the Guinean coast. They used it as a station for exploration of the Americas, until they reached Central America. Those inscriptions were taken from very old cities and stone tablets, which were at first written in the Vai and related Manding scripts (Winters).

From Brazil, these Muslim voyagers went to the west and the north. They moved from Brazil to Lake Titicaca (in present day Bolivia) where they were attacked, in which many of them were murdered. The expeditions of South American reached the Pacific coast. Under the Mansa’s instructions, the Mandinka travelers explored Central America and parts of the United States. This is evident from linguistic proofs that were found throughout the United States, especially in the surrounding area of the Mississippi River which they must have used as central

41 watercourse for exploring America. In Four cave, Arizona, they left inscriptions which show that the Mandinka explorers also brought a number of elephants to America with them (Winters).

The Garifuna People – Descendants of the Early Mandinka

Another part of the stolen pre-Columbian legacy that has been coming to light in the past few years is the origin of the Garifuna people, sometimes known as Black

Caribs. The Carib people are usually identified with the Native (Indian) group that populates parts of South America and the Caribbean. It is from their name that we derive the word “Caribbean”. P.V. Ramos in an article that appeared in the Daily

Clarion of Belize, Central America, on November 5, 1946, wrote: “When Columbus discovered the West Indies about the year 1493 CE, he found there a race of white people (i.e. half breeds) with woolly hair whom he called Caribs. They were seafaring hunters and tillers of the soil, peaceful and united. They hated aggression. Their religion was Mohammedanism (Islam) and their language presumably Arabic” ( qtd. in Quick par. 5).

II. The Olmecs Heads and Skeletal Proofs

There is a number of scientists and scholars who have acknowledged primitive skulls and skeletons of Black people of the “Austro-Negrito type”, dating back to as early as 56,000 years ago, throughout the New World. This appears to be substantiated by more recent discoveries. One of the world’s most prominent craniologists9, Andrzej Wiercinski, in 1972, sustains the claim of African presence in the Americas in the pre-Columbian Era by skeletal evidences from different Olmec sites. Wiercinki revealed to the 41 Congress of Americanists in Mexico in September

1974 that African skulls had been discovered at Olmec sites in Tlatilco10 Cerro de las

Mesas 10and Monte Alban11. Those skeletons that he found were equivalent to those of West African type. He discovered that 13.5% of skeletons from Tlatico and 4.5 % of skeletons from Cerro de las Mesas were Africoid. Although many researchers refused the fact that Africans were among the Olmecs, Constace and Wierciniki reports that skeletal remains of Africans have been found in Mexico (Winters; Sertima

33).

Some scholars agreed that these people were Africans or Negroes with the so called Caucasian features” resulting from genetic shift and microevolution

(evolutionary change within a species or small group of organisms, especially over a short period). This means that 26.9% of the crania, the hard bone case that gives an animal's or human’s head its shape and protects the brain, found at Tlatico and 9.1% of the crania found at Cerro de las Mesas were of African origin. In the same context, the historian Fredirick Peterson, states that: “[w]e can trace the progress of man in

Mexico without noting any definite Old World influence during this period (1000-650

B.C.) except a strong Negroid substratum connected with the Magicians [Olmecs].” In

February 1975, a team from the Smithsonian Institute reported the discovery of two

Negroid male skeletons in a grave in the U.S. Virgin Islands. Scientific analysis of the surrounding soil suggests that the skeletons date back to about 1250 A.D (Winters).

Moreover, many contemporary Mayan and Amerindian groups show African characteristics and DNA. Many researchers found that the Mayan people have an

African Y chromosome; this is why the faces of the contemporary Amerindians are bloated. Wiercinski concludes by stating that the Olmec people came from Saharan

Africa 3200 years ago. They came by boats in twelve migration waves. Those original

Olmecs formed the foundation of the Olmec people. In addition, the skeletal evidences explain the African tribes that were found in Mexico and Mesoamerica when Columbus arrived at the Americas. Moreover, it is more evident that the Olmecs used an African writing to carve their monuments and artifacts. This means that the

Africans were a prominent part of the Olmec population. During the pre-classic period the Mayans disguised the pyramids and the head sculptures there were made originally by the Olmecs (Winters unnubered).

Finally, any objective examination of these confirmations evidently demonstrates that Black people achieved the Americas thousands of years before

Columbus. However, in the words of Sertima, “proof of contact is only half of the story. What is the significance of this meeting of Africans and Native Americans?

What cultural impact did the outsiders have on American civilization?” This means that the influence of the African explorers on the New World entirely was pervasive and lasting. In this brief examination, however, we are limiting ourselves to “a particular geographic region (the Gulf of Mexico), a particular culture complex or civilization (known as Olmecs), and a particular period of history (948-680 B.C.)”

(qtd. in The African United Front par. 17).

According to Michael Coe, the world’s leading authority on Olmec culture,

“[t]here is not the slightest doubt that all later civilizations in Mesoamerica, whether

Mexican or Mayan, rest ultimately on an Olmec base.” Van Sertima adds: “The

Olmec civilization was formative and seminal: it was to touch all others on this continent, directly or indirectly.” A number of the Olmec sculptures portraying human beings are so decidedly Negroid that many scholars long thought that the indigenous

Olmec culture itself was of Black origin. The original Olmecs were Native Americans

44 who were very probably occupied and acculturated by Africans who settled their homeland (Sertima 35).

Fig. 2 An Olmec Head Sculpture

Source: noirg.org/articles/the-black-presence-in-america-before-columbus

Even though the eye witnessed accounts of Europeans were preeminent evidences of the black presence in the Americas before Columbus, they are certainly not the only one. Jonathan Leonard, a specialist on early Mexico, wrote that “reports had come from this coastal region [the Mexican gulf coast] of gigantic heads with

Negroid features” (qtd. in The African United Front par. 5). The earliest of these heads were exposed in Veracrus in 1862 by Jose Melgar. He wrote two articles about this head, while describing it he wrote “what astonished me was the Ethiopic [Black

African] type which it represents. I reflected that there had undoubtedly been Blacks in this country and this had been in the first epoch of the world” (qtd. in The African

United Front par. 6). Melgar as well discovered other enormous stone heads in various places in Mexico as well as sacred sites like La Venta and Tres Zapotes in southern

Mexico. Its measures are ranging up to 11.15 feet in height and weighing 30 to 40 tons. These sculptures in the main portray helmeted Black men with big eyes, broad fleshy noses and full lips (par. 6).

Those Olmec sculptures come into sight to characterize emperors who ruled large provinces in Mesoamerica for the period of the Olmecs. Several Mexican scholars agreed with Melgar’s argument that Black people inhabited the New World, predominantly Mexico, in ancient times. Riva Palacio, a historian wrote, “In a very ancient epoch, or before the existence of the Otomies [native Americans] or better yet invading them, the Black race occupied our territory…. This race brought its religious ideas and its own cult” (par.7). Author C.C. Marquez, inserts that “[s]everal isolated but concordant facts permit the conjecture that before the formation and development of the three great ethnographic groups…a great part of America was occupied by [the]

Negroid type” (par. 8). On many respects, “and this is not a superficial or a passing phenomenon, but a presence of so deep that it left indelible marks on pre-Columbian civilisations” ( Abarry 506).

Furthermore, Nicholas Leon, Historian, was of an analogous estimation:

The oldest inhabitants of Mexico, according to some, were Negroes,

and according to others, the Otomies. The existence of Negroes and

giants is commonly believed by nearly all the races of our soil…

Several archaeological objects found in various locations demonstrate

their existence… Memories of them in the most ancient traditions

induce us to believe that the Negroes were the first inhabitants of

Mexico. (qtd. in The African United Front par.8)

Various arguments from different scholars have the same opinion concerning the relation between Mexico and Africa. Amongst Orozco y Berra, a historian, declared in his History of the Conquest of Mexico, that there was, indisputably, a noteworthy, uncompleted, and close pre-Columbian connection between Mexicans and Africans. In addition to Mexican scholars, so many others have explained the enormous stone heads in expressions similar to those of Melgar. Chief among them was the American Olmec specialist Matthew Stirling. He wrote: “Cleared of the surrounding earth, it [the colossal head] presented an awe-inspiring spectacle. Despite its great size, the workmanship is delicate and sure, its proportions perfect… The features are bold and amazingly negroid in character.” Another authority, Selden

Rodman European journalist and Olmec specialist, stalks about the “…colossal

‘Negroid’ heads…”, Walter Hanf, describes “carved colossal heads with Negroid features, deformed and close-shaven skulls, blunt noses, and protruding lips.” Author and anthropologist Sharon McKern states that the colossal heads are “inescapably

Negroid.” Nicholas Cheetham, historian, writes of the “exaggeratedly Negroid features” of the stone heads (The Africain United Front par.8).

For many years the Diego Rivera Museum of Mexico housed the Alexander von Wuthenau, professor of Art History at Mexico City College from 1939-1965,

Collection of remarkable figurines depicting Black priests, chiefs, dancers, wrestlers, drummers, and others across the social spectrum. According to Von Wuthenau:

[t]he startling fact is that in all parts of Mexico, from Campeche in the

east to the southeast of Guerrero, and from Chiapas, next to the

Guatemalan border, to the Panuco River in the Huasteca region (north

of Veracruz) archeological pieces representing Negro or Negroid

people have been found, especially in archaic or pre-classic sites. This

also holds true for large sections of Mesoamerica and far into South

America – Panama, Columbia, Ecuador, and Peru. (qtd. in African

United Front)

An examination of this artwork, wrote Van Sertima “reveals the unmistakable combination of the kinky hair, broad nose, generous lips, frequency of prognathism

(projecting jaws), occasional goatee beard, and sometimes distinctly African ear pendants, hairstyles, tattoo markings, and coloration” (qtd. in African United Front).

Fig. 3 Excavation of a thousand-year-old Olmec site near Veracruz in 1940.

Source: noirg.org/articles/the-black-presence-in-america-before-columbus

Fig. 4 Olmec head sculpture

Source: noirg.org/articles/the-black-presence-in-america-before-columbus

Fig. 5 Olmec monument from Tres Zapotes, Mexico (c. 1100 B.C.)

Source: noirg.org/articles/the-black-presence-in-america-before-columbus

Wiener in his book provided several evidences for the Mande presence in the

Americas before Columbus. In 1920, he discovered Mande writing at Tuxtla before the era of Columbus. The Olmecs mastered the art of making figural representation

(making head sculptures), where the huge head sculpture can be found in the coast of

Mexico ( as in Tres Zapotes, La Venta and San Loren) measuring 4,70 to 9,85 from the crown to the chin. He states that “these stone heads are unmistakably black, and they are still there for all to see. They date several centuries back, to the time of the black Olmec civilization in Mexico.… the huge stone heads have ketele carps”( battle helmets) on them depicting the blacks as belonging to the upper echelon of society and not slaves. Those battle helmets were used widely by the original black Egyptians and Nubians (originated in Sudan and Egypt) at that time (Fleischer unnumbered).

A study of the Olmec civilization exposes elements that are similar to the ritual traits and methods in the Egypto-Nubian world of the same period. These cultural similarities powerfully put forward that there was contact between the ancient

Africans from the Nile Valley and the Olmecs. These shared elements are those adopted by the monarchies in both civilizations. They comprise the next: The double crown, the royal flail, the sacred boat or ceremonial bark of the kings, the religious value of the color purple and its special use among priests and people of high rank; the artificial beard, feathered fans and the parasol or ceremonial umbrella. In an oral tradition recorded in the Titulo Coyoi, a major document of the Maya, the parasol is specifically mentioned as having been brought to the New World by foreigners who traveled by sea from the east. The Indian scholar, Rafique Jairazbhoy, has studied the ancient Egyptians and the Olmecs in great detail and has pointed to many other ritual parallels between the two groups. ( The African United Front par.7)

Van Sertima contends that “a small but significant number of men and a few women, in a fleet protected by a military force, moved west down the Mediterranean toward North Africa in the period 948-680 B.C…and got caught in the pull of one of the westward currents off the North African coast, either through storm or navigational error,” and were carried across the Atlantic to the New World. (Van

Sertima 45). Other scholars argue that several navigators sailed to the Americas from

West Africa when the medieval empires of Ghana, Mali and Songhay flourished in that region. In light of the vast evidence available of an African presence in ancient

America, why is this information virtually unknown to the general public? Speaking specifically about the African influence on the Olmec culture, historian Zecharia

Sitchin provides this view:

It is an embarrassing enigma, because it challenges scholars and

prideful nationalists to explain how people from Africa could have

come to the New World not hundreds but thousands of years before

Columbus, and how they could have developed, seemingly overnight,

the Mother Civilization of Mesoamerica. To acknowledge the Olmecs

and their civilization as the Mother Civilization of Mesoamerica means

to acknowledge that they preceded that of the Mayans and Aztecs,

whose heritage the Spaniards tried to eradicate and Mexicans today are

proud of. (qtd. in African United Front)

In a world accustomed to suppressing, distorting, ignoring or denying the achievements of Black Africans it is difficult to accept the historical paradigm shift mandated by the evidence presented here. For, whether we accept the facts or not,

Jairazbhoy appears to have been right when he wrote: “The black began his career in

America not as slave but as master. (qtd. in African United Front pars. 10)

III. The Witness of Early European Explorers

In 1920, a renowned American historian and linguist, Leo Weiner of Harvard

University, wrote a controversial book entitled Africa and the Discovery of America.

He tried to prove in it that Columbus was well aware of the African and the Muslim presence in the Americas. He based his argument on linguistic, agricultural, and cultural proofs that he made in his study of the Native people of America and in the writings of the early European explorers. This early twentieth century work came as a surprise to many of the historians of America, but, on examination of the actual writings of the European explorers, clear proof of their understanding is revealed.

Weiner showed, that the early Mandinka not only penetrated Central and North

America, but inter-married with the Iroquois and Algonquian people. He wrote:

“There were several foci [ways] from which the Negro traders spread in the two

Americas. The eastern part of South America, where the Caribs are mentioned, seems to have been reached by them from the West Indies. Another stream, possibly from the same focus, radiated to the north along roads marked by the presence of mounds and reached as far as Canada (Quick par. 5).

Ferdinand, the son of Columbus, reported in his book on the life of Columbus that his father saw black men when he arrived to the Americas in a region now called

Honduras. Moreover, about a dozen of other European explorers saw black men when they reached the Western Hemisphere. Among them was Vasco Nunez de Balboa who, in September 1513, also saw black men in a region now called Panama. Those black men were captured by the Native Americans. MucNutt states that: “Balboa

52 asked the Indians whence they got them [the Black people], but they could not tell, nor did they know more than this, that men of this colour were living nearby and they were constantly waging war with them. These were the first Negroes that had been seen in the Indies” (qtd. in The African United Front par. 4). Peter Martyr, a European historian of the New World states that those black men who were seen by Balboa and his companions were shipwrecked Africans who were refuge in the mountains.

Moreover, a group of seventeen black men were shipwrecked in Ecuador became governors of an entire province of Native Americans (Sertima 37, 38).

John Henrick Clarke states that Leo Wiener in his book Africa and the

Discovery of America points out, that when Columbus reached the New World he found dark skinned people in the Caribbean Islands trading with Indians. Columbus supposed that they were from Guinea (West Africa) (qtd. in Fleischer unnumbred ).

The general belief that Christopher Columbus discovered the American continent is false. He points that “blacks were, however, the first peoples in the Americas and they laid the foundation of Meso American civilization…. The Mayan civilization that preceded the Olmec worshipped the African Quetzacoatl the greatest of the Mexican

Messiahs. He was not white as claimed by Spanish friars.” The head of Quetzacoatl is preserved in the museum of the Trocadero, Paris. Its features are undeniable, where some scholars claim that it was an Egyptian god. There were also other black gods worshipped by Natives as Ekchuan, Yalahau, Ixtiltik and Nahualpili (Fleischer).

Archeologists have discovered the remains of the Olmec civilization on the

East coast of Mexico complete with calendar system (with African elements), in addition to hieroglyphics and religious complexes. Flischer relates that these Olmecs were blacks and they were called the ‘rubber people’ … the Olmec civilization was in fact the mother of the Americas. They were the combination of ancient black

Egyptian, Phoenicians or cannanites( also black), Mandikas and other Africans.”

Additionally, the Olmecs had a great impact of the neighboring civilization and also on those which preceded it (Fleischer).

Columbus had recorded the fact that Africans were trading with the Americas.

In The Narrative of the Third Voyage, he wrote:

Certain principal inhabitants of the island of Santiago came to see him,

and they said that to the south-west of the island of Huego, which is

one of the Cape Verde, distant twelve league from this, may be seen an

island, and that the King Don Juan was greatly inclined to send to make

discoveries to the south-west and that canoes had been found which

start from the coasts of Guinea and navigate to the west with

merchandise. (qtd. in Quick par.5)

To the south-west, near the Nicaraguan border at Tegulcigalpa, another group of Blacks were reported, possibly by Columbus. They were known as “Jaras and

Guabas”. These names appear to be the same as Jarra in Gambia, and Diara in Senegal and Mali. Which represent a very ancient clan and territorial designation among the

Mandinka Sarakoles. Kangala, one of the ancient capitals of Mali kings has frequently been shortened to Ka-ba; furthermore, Niani, another famous Malian capital, sometimes called Mali, after the empire, contained a district within its walls called

“Niani Kaba”. The use of these names area is another part of the legacy left by the early explorers. Both Kaba and Diara are still in use in West Africa and Central

America today.

Some of the Muslim Africans of Honduras called themselves “Al-mamys” prior to the coming of the Spanish to Central America. They were probably related to the Africans seen by Ferdinand Columbus, or the Jaras and Guabas of Tegulcigapla.

Giles Cauvet in Les Berberes de l’Amerique, while making an ethnographic comparison between African and America, stated: “…a tribe of Almamys inhabited

Honduras….having preceded by a little the arrival of Columbus there” (qtd. in Quick sec.5). He also added that the title Almamy does not antedate the 12thcentury of our era, which is the earliest date the black Africa Muslims would have been conveyed to the American Isthmus. In the Manding language “Almamy” was the designation of

“Al-Imamu”, from the Arabic “Al-Imam”, the leader of the prayer or in some cases, the chief of the community.

Linguistic research has uncovered a number of words having an Arabic or

West African root which are found in the Native languages of the Caribbean and

North America. The following are a few of the similarities:

Antilean (American) Mandinka Mandinka

Goanna, caona, Ghana (Arabic Ghani) Gold

guani, guanine Kane, Kani, Kanine,

Ghanin

Nucay, nozay Nucay, nozay Metal iron or

gold jewelry

Tuob, tumbaga Tuob, tumbaga Gold, a gold weight,

A King’s title

Fig. 6: Words having an Arabic or West African Root

Just as the trade in cotton goods was important in the Muslim World, they were also employed as a currency in the Caribbean and Central America. The consistent surprise at, and the testimony of the European explorers to, the remarkable similarity between the designs and the usage is just another proof of the connection of the two worlds.

Conclusion

The examination of a number of archeological, cultural and linguistic evidences attests to an unquestionable African Muslim contact with the New World in pre-Columbian America. The African presence in pre-Columbian America is proven by the representation of black men in the Olmec monuments as the head stones that typically show Negroe features that can easily be recognized. It was not just a mere contact; however, African Muslims had a profound impact on the people and the civilizations that existed at that time as the Olmec civilization. Moreover, those black

Africans became part of Americas’ civilization and took with them their religion, culture, language, and they spread throughout the Americas from the South to the

North.

General Conclusion

The fact that Muslims and Africans Muslims reached the Americas was hidden for a long time; this was due the Eurocentric thinking. Europeans for almost five hundred years controlled what the rest of the world should and should not know. In addition, they credited all the sciences and knowledge for them and nothing for their counterparts to glorify or even know about it. What is more shocking is to hide the history of a people and not letting them to know about. For a long time, Christopher

Columbus is credited for discovering the Americas; however, logically speaking, it is not even possible to discover an already inhabited land where its people were living.

Moreover, western literature glorifies a discovery that never happened in the first place. What is important here is the contact that had been between Muslim from different parts of the world as Spain North Africa and West Africa, which it never indented to be colonization; however, it was hidden and ignored.

This research concludes that Muslims from Spain and West Africa reached the

Americas in the pre-Columbian era and had a great impact on the indigenous population. They spread throughout the Caribbean, Central, South and North

American territories, including Canada, where they were trading and intermarrying with the Iroquois and Algonquin Indians. Archaeological and linguistic evidences support this. In addition, the African Muslims had a great impact on the Olmec civilization that considered to be the mother of the American civilization. Finally,

Muslims and Africans had a great influence on early American history despite the fact that it is denied, which needs to be well taught and glorified. Moreover, there are some

58 evidences that indicate a contact between the Moors of North Africa and Berbers and the Americas. This needs to be further researched and known.

Endnotes

1 The Clovis culture is a prehistoric Paleo-Indian culture, named for distinct stone tools found near Clovis, New Mexico, in the 1920s and 1930s. The Clovis culture appears around 11,500–11,000 B. C. Archaeologists' most precise determinations at present suggest that this radiocarbon age is equal to roughly 13,200 to 12,900 calendar years ago. Clovis people are considered to be the ancestors of most of the indigenous cultures of the Americas.

2 It is a popular model for migrating to the New World. This theory was first proposed in 1590 by José de Acosta and had been widely accepted in the 1930’s. The land bridge theory proposes that people migrated from Siberia t Alaska across this bridge.

3 Paleo-Indian is a classification term given to the first peoples who entered, and subsequently inhabited, the Americas during the final glacial episodes . The prefix

"paleo” means "old" or "ancient."

4 Schistosoma mansoni: a significant parasite of humans, a trematode that is one of the major agents of the disease schistosomiasis.

5 Schistosoma haematobium: an important digenetic trematode, and is found in Africa and the Middle East.

6 Schistosoma japonicum: is an important parasite. It has a very wide host range, infecting at least 31 species of wild mammals.

7 Tunga penetrans: is a parasitic insect found in most tropical and sub-tropical climates. It is native to Central and South America, and has been inadvertently introduced by humans to sub-Saharan Africa.

8 Cartography: is the study and practice of making maps.

Combining science, aesthetics, and technique.

9Craniologist: Specialised in craniology, the scientific study of the characteristics of the skull, such as size and shape, especially in humans.

10 Tlatilco was a large pre-Columbian village in the Valley of Mexico situated near the modern-day town of the same name in the Mexican Federal District. It was one of the first chiefdom centers to arise in the Valley, flourishing on the western shore of Lake

Texcoco during the Middle, between the years of 1200 BCE and 200 BCE.

11Cerro de las Mesas: meaning "hill of the altars" in Spanish, is an archaeological site in the Mexican state of Veracruz, in theMixtequilla area of the Papaloapan

River basin. It was a prominent regional center from 600 BCE to 900 CE, and a regional capital from 300 CE to 600 CE.

12 Monte Alban: is a large pre-Columbian archaeological site.

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