There is proof that Africans travelled well beyond the shores of Africa before the trans-Atlantic slavery which started in 1510. Perhaps the most popular of these journeys is the pilgrimage of Mansa Musa, the Malian king to Mecca, Saudi Arabia in 1324. In some of my other videos I have spoken about trade along the East African coast with Asia and also with Europe via North Africa but less popularly known, is their voyage to the Americas. This video explores this.

Thor Heyerdahl’s RA I & II expedition https://youtu.be/JID–UJ7oMw

Further reading

Ivan Van Sertima, They Came Before Columbus, 1976, Random House.

Ivan Van Sertima, African Presence in Early America, 1992, Transaction Publishers.

Reference

1. Joan Baxter, BBC News, ‘Africa’s Greatest Explorer’, 13 December 2000 (accessed 14 March 2021), http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/1068950.stm
2. Nation of Islam Research Group, The Black Presence in America before Columbus, https://noirg.org/articles/the-black-presence-in-america-before-columbus/#:~:text=In%20truth,%20Africans%20began%20coming%20to%20the%20Americas,ignored%20by%20mainstream%20scholars,%20is%20overwhelming%20and%20undeniable.
3. Face 2 Face Africa, Here’s Proof that Blacks Settled in South America Long before Columbus’ Voyage, 10 August 2018 (accessed 14 March 2021), https://face2faceafrica.com/article/heres-proof-that-africans-settled-in-south-america-long-before-columbus-started-his-voyage
4. Jeffery Carey, Stranger History, Did Africans Travel to America Before Columbus? 5 July 2017 (accessed 1 March 2021), https://www.strangerhistory.com/single-post/2017/07/05/Did-Africans-Travel-to-America-Before-Columbus
5.https://www.britannica.com/biography/Thor-Heyerdahl

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