Image I (Left): Above is a painting of a Tuscarora soldier (South Carolina).
Image II (Right): Painting of Black Native Americans (BNA) of San Francisco by Jean Franquelin. There were over 100 Black Native American tribes in present-day California when the Spanish arrived.
“Pre-Columbian contact between Africa and America in the later half of the fifteenth century has also been proven by another aspect of the cotton evidence. There were Haitian reports of large boats from Guinea trading with them before Columbus. These reports would seem to be supported by evidence that these African-Atlantic traders, on one of their return voyages about the year 1462, brought back a species of New World cotton with them and introduced it into the Cape Verde Islands.” – Dr. Ivan Van Sertima, author of They Came Before Columbus: The African Presence in Ancient America
There is a long history of African civilizations in ancient America, and many of these ancient civilizations were founded by African people from West and East Africa. Chinese records make it clear that the Axumites (i.e., Ethiopians) from the Axum Empire made long voyages in the Pacific and Indian Oceans, and probably landed in sparsely populated areas in the present-day Peru-Ecuador region of South America. In this area, the Axumites would have met little resistance from the local Amerindian (i.e., Native Americans) groups who saw them as giants because of their greater height.
On the authority of Dr. Clyde Winters, author of African Empires in Ancient America, much has been written about the Olmecs of Mesoamerica (Central America) and the medieval Mandinka (Mali, West Africa) voyages to the American continent, but little is known about the other Black explorers who settled the “New World” in pre-Columbian times.
When Christopher Columbus arrived in the New World, he found that Black merchants from Africa were already trading goods and living in the Americas among the Amerindians. Also, other European explorers and colonists were shocked to hear the Native Americans recall traditions about these Black people who early settled the Americas.
“Negroes figure frequently in the most remote traditions of some American people.” – Carlos C. Marquez (1956)
Marquez believed that the Otomi of Mexico, the Caracoles of Haiti, the Arguaos of Cutar, the Arayos of the Orinoco, the Porcijis, the Matayas of Brazil, the Manabis of Quito, and the Chuanas of Darien were descendants of African people. R.B. Dixon, a physical anthropologist claimed that the Negroid strain was most visible in the Otomi, Tarahumare and Pima. Alphose de Quatrefages, in the Human Species, claimed that the Black tribes of Latin America include the Choco, Manabis, Yaruras, Guarani, Charrus, Yamassi and Tzendal Chontal, in addition to numerous ethnic groups along the Orinoco River in Venezuela, and the Isthmus of Darien.
Up until recently, it was believed that the first humans crossed the Bering Strait in 12,000 BP (Before Present) to enter North America. This view was never accepted by anthropologists who have found skeletal remains far older than 12,000 BP.
Today archaeologists have found sites from Canada to Chile that range between 20,000 and 40,000 years old. There are numerous sites in North and South America which are over 35,000 years old. These sites are the Old Crow Basin (c.38,000 BC) in Canada; Orogrande Cave (c.36,000 BC) in the United States; and Pedra Furada (c.45,000 BC). Given the fact that the earliest dates for habitation of the American continent occur below Canada in South America is highly suggestive of the fact that the earliest settlers on the American continent came from Africa before the ice melted at the Bering Strait and moved northward as the ice melted. The earliest presence of ice-age sites in South America suggest that these people probably came from Africa. This would explain the affinities between African languages and the Amerind family of languages.
In very ancient times, the American continent was inhabited by African and Asian people. The oldest skeletal remains found in the Americas are of Black people.
The ancestral human population were Black people who exited Africa 130,000 years ago may have arrived in the Americas long before the Australoid wave. Unlike the Australoid wave, the ancestral human population may not have had many surviving descendants in the Americas. As a result, there is no genetic traces of them in the Americas, but there are sites in Brazil that are 30,000 to 50,000 years old, and some sites that may be even older. For most archaeologists, these represent the earliest evidence of human settlement. These could have been the Original People.
By at least 14,000 years ago, the Australoid population had settled in the Americas. 10,000 years ago, Australoid people spanned the continents from end to end. The Australoid people are the foundational people of the Americas because they laid the foundation for the modern Native American gene pool. Despite tons of admixture (first with Mongoloid people, then with centuries of European colonizers), there is still Australoid blood running through the veins of many present-day Native Americans. The Mongoloid Native Americans were a later wave, preceded by a wave with African or Australian (Aboriginal Australian) features. In other words, most modern Native Americans may resemble Mongoloid people in Northeast Asia, but the earliest remains suggest the first Native Americans were Black people.
“Mongoloid peoples, in fact, were soon coming to the Americas in such massive numbers, crossing the Bering Strait in boats rather than across the Beringia land bridge, that they eventually almost totally absorbed the New World’s earlier arrivals. The resulting fusion of people constituted the native American populations at the time of the catastrophic European intrusions during the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries,” Dr. Runoko Rashidi said. “The earlier arrived Blacks (the very first Americans) tended to fade away with increasing rapidity into the shadowy realms of fairy tales, myths and legends. Some native legends of the Americas abound with exploits of early Black people.”
Fleet of Mali Ships Sailing to the Americas
“Some of the fleet of Mali’s special navy sailed down the Senegal River, heading across the Atlantic. The ships were laden with men and women. Sakura, (Mansa Abubakari II) King of Mali gave orders to his captains to not return until you reach the oceans end or your food exhausted.” – Dr. Calvin R. Robinson, Dr. Edward W. Robinson and Redman Battle, authors of The Journey of the Songhai People
“Many, like the early Blacks themselves, were seafaring men. That the Blacks were once among the most adventurous of peoples is evidenced not only by the presence of their descendants in many lands, (i.e., Asia, Europe, the Americas, Oceania, etc.) and numerous far flung islands, but also by archaeological remains found in various parts of Europe.” – Dr. Chancellor Williams, author of The Destruction of Black Civilization: Great Issues of a Race from 4500 B.C. to 2000 A.D.
Black people founded many of the earliest civilizations in the New World. Dr. Clyde Winters stated is it not known when these Blacks arrived in the Americas, but scientists theorize that over 5,000 years ago a group of African settlers sailing along the West African coast, in their papyrus trading vessels were caught in a storm and drifted aimlessly out to sea. In the Atlantic Ocean they were captured by the South Equatorial current and carried across the Atlantic towards the Americas. It can be assumed that due to the ability of these explorers to navigate by the stars, Africans were probably able to make a return trip to West Africa. Mexico and Central America were centers of African Civilization 5,000 years ago, because in Belize, around 2,500 BC, there is evidence of agriculture, and the iconography of this period depicts Africoids (Black people).
The Mandinka of the Mali Empire (West Africa) Sailed to America 181 Years Before Christopher Columbus "so-called" Discovered the “New World”
The Mandinka speakers founded the earliest empires in North and West Africa. Between 100 BC and 1500 AD, they founded the Mali Empire. Scholars agree that during the Mali Empire the Mandinka sailed to America. The king of Mali was called “Mansa,” and the Mansa’s controlled the land and sea trade in the Western Sudan. The leading Mandinka merchant group were the Wangara. They controlled the gold producing centers of Bure and Bambuk. The great water system of the Upper Niger River and its tributaries were in ancient Mali. The capital of the Mali Empire was Niani, and the city was located on the Niger River. The Niger River empties into the Gulf of Guinea. The ships or canoes plowing down the Niger River were operated by the Bozo and Sorko fishermen. The Bozo lived along the western arm of the Niger River band. The Bozo and Sorko people were the masters of the Niger River transport, and many of the ships of the Niger could carry 60-80 tons. These canoes were 90 to 100 feet long, and around 40 men paddled, and other canoes were joined together, reaching 40 feet long and five feet across.
Plate 9 Abubakari the Second (Artist’s impression).
“(Mansa) Abubakari the II had visions as a child of finding the end of the world, and as a king, he wanted to make that vision a reality. He called for all in his empire who knew the waterways and had experience in sailing to aid him.” - Dr. Calvin R. Robinson, Dr. Edward W. Robinson and Redman Battle, authors of The Journey of the Songhai People
For Mansa Abubakari II’s vison of sailing to the Americas to become a reality, all sizes of boats were built; 200 master boats and 200 supply boats. Mansa Abubakari II called his captains together and issued the following orders:
“Do not return until you have reached the end of the ocean or when you have exhausted your food and water.”
According to The Journey of the Songhai People, by authors Dr. Calvin R. Robinson, Dr. Edward W. Robinson and Redman Battle, the Mandinka sailors went away, and only one ship came back after a very long absence. The captain explained to the king about the disappearance of all the ships in front of him, his being the last one, and he turned his ship around because of fear and headed back to Mali. This news made Mansa Abubakari II more set on his desire to search the sea to find new land. He assembled a fleet that dwarfed the first expedition, but this time, Mansa Abubakari II commanded this expedition and kept in touch with his captains by means of the talking drum. In 1311, Mansa Abubakari II conferred the power of regency to his brother, Kankan Musa (i.e., Mansa Musa), based on the understanding that Kankan was to assume the throne of Mali if after a reasonable lapse of time the king did not return. Mansa Abubakari II took leave of Mali with his fleet down to the Senegal River heading across the Atlantic. He took his griot and his history with him never to return.
According to another source, African Empires in Ancient America by Dr. Clyde Winters, the expeditionary force of Mansa Abubakari II was immense, because anywhere between 25,000 to 80,000 people may have sailed with him to the Americas. Since the Mali capital city of Niani was on the Niger River, the canoes traveled down the Niger River to the Gulf of Guinea. From the Gulf of Guinea, the current carried the canoes out into the Atlantic Ocean where it met the South Equatorial Current, and this current carried the Mali explorers to South America (Brazil).
The major African group to settle ancient America was the Mandinka people of West Africa. In the Southwestern United States, Cabeza da Vaca, said the Mendica people were a dominant group. This word Mendica, agrees with the term Mandinka used to denote the Mandinka speaking people. Other evidence of the Mandinka voyage came from an analysis of maps. These old maps of the Mexico region were drawn by Europeans that showed the Mandinka renamed places in the region after themselves. Such names as “Mandinga Port,” “Mandinga Bay,” and “Sierre de Mali” exist as place names. In Mexico and Panama, many place names allude to ancient Mandinka presence. Also, many African tribal groups were already established in America when the Europeans began to settle the New World.
This view of ancient American history, which recognizes a Neo-Atlantean-African role in the rise of the Olmec Civilization, instead of denigrating the Native Americans (i.e., the civilizations of the Inca, Maya, Aztecs, Seminole, Apache, Cherokee, etc.) acknowledges the truth, that all ancient and medieval civilizations on the American continent made their own unique contributions to the great ancient history of America.
Native Americans: Our Indian Brothers and Sisters: A Proud Legacy
“Looking at the lie that America was discovered, even though it was inhabited by an educated and civilized people, we are appalled at the gall of such indignities projected on and imposed against such a wonderful people.” - Dr. Calvin R. Robinson, Dr. Edward W. Robinson and Redman Battle, authors of The Journey of the Songhai People
“It would be an irony, indeed, to find that Americans ‘discovered’ Europe many centuries before Europeans ‘discovered’ America. But the whole notion of any race (European, African, or American) discovered a full-blown civilization is absurd. Such notions should now be abandoned once and for all. They presume some innate superiority in the ‘discoverer’ and something inferior and barbaric in the people ‘discovered.’ These notions run through the works even of pioneers like Wiener, Cauvet and Jeffreys. What I have sought to prove is not that Africans ‘discovered’ America, but that they made contact on at least half a dozen occasions, two of which were culturally significant for Americans.” – Dr. Ivan Van Sertima
Sources:
Battle, R., Robinson, C., Robinson, E. The Journey of the Songhai People. Pan African Federation Organization; 2nd edition. (June 1, 1992). Aug. 7, 2024. p. 93-95, 547, 549.
Dr. Supreme Understanding. When The World Was Black Part One: The Untold History of the World’s First Civilizations, Part One: – Prehistoric Cultures: Volume Two of the Science of Self: Part One: Prehistoric Culture. Supreme Design Publishing. (Feb. 14, 2017). Aug. 7, 2024. p. 324-325, 330.
Sertima, I. They Came Before Columbus: The African Presence in Ancient America. Random House. Sept. 23, 2003. Aug. 7, 2024. p. Cover, 192, 256.
Walker, R. When We Ruled: The Ancient and Mediaeval History of Black Civilizations. Black Classic Press. (May 1, 2011). Aug. 8, 2024. p. 377.
Williams, C. The Destruction of Black Civilization: Great Issues of a Race from 4500 B.C. to 2000 A.D. Third World Press; 3rd Revised ed. edition. (Feb. 1, 1992). Aug. 7, 2024. p. 195.
Winters, C. African Empires in Ancient America. Clyde Winters. (Nov. 13, 2012). Aug. 7, 2024. Location: 2. p. 4-9, 99-100, 129, 134-135.
Winters, C. Atlantis in Mexico: The Mende Discovery of America. Clyde Winters. (April 16, 2013). Aug. 7, 2024. p. 182.
Winters, C. We Are Not JUST Africans: The Black Native Americans. Clyde Winters. (June 24, 2015). Aug. 7, 2024. Location: 315, 356.
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