Since that distant time, his homeland has lost access to the World Ocean.
"African Columbus": Did Malian Ruler Abubakar II Discover America Before the Famous Navigator?
Very little is known about the personality of Abubakar II (or Abu Bakr II), the ruler of the Mali Empire in the 14th century. Most of the information about him has been preserved either among the oral traditions of griot storytellers or in the books of Arab scholars. Among the latter, interesting written sources include those of the Syrian Shihab al-Din al-Umari, who recorded a retelling of the story about Abubakar from the words of the Egyptian emir Ibn-Amir Khadhib. The latter met the successor of the Malian ruler, Mansa Musa, who told him an astonishing story: supposedly, Abubakar was so obsessed with the idea of conquering the ocean and finding new lands that in 1312 he left the throne and personally set out on a voyage:
"So, Abubakar equipped 200 ships, full of people, and as many gold, water, and provisions as would last for years… they set sail, and a long time passed before anyone returned. Then one ship returned, and we asked the captain what news he brought.
He said: 'Yes, O Sultan, we traveled for a long time until a river with a strong current appeared in the open sea… Other ships went ahead, but upon reaching this place, did not return, and they were never seen again… As for me, I turned back immediately and did not enter the river.'
The Sultan prepared 2,000 ships: 1,000 for himself and the people he took with him, and 1,000 for water and provisions. He left me as his deputy and went to the Atlantic Ocean with his people. That was the last time we saw him and all who were with him. And so I became the sole ruler."
Modern researchers have many questions about the authenticity and accuracy of al-Umari's text. First, it is the only source that tells the story of Abubakar's voyage. Second, there are doubts that Abubakar was indeed the ruler of Mali and not just the ancestor of the Musa clan. Third, according to Portuguese and Venetian sailors who had contact with the Malians a hundred years later, the latter possessed canoes made from hollowed-out logs. Such vessels were effective for moving along rivers, but it is hard to imagine that they could have crossed the Atlantic Ocean. Based on this, it can be assumed that Mansa Musa might have invented a beautiful and impressive story about his predecessor to justify his legitimacy as the Malian ruler.
But if we assume that Abubakar really existed and was a Malian ruler, how likely is it that his expedition reached its goal and that Africans discovered America long before Europeans? Guyanese-British scholar Ivan Van Sertima and Malian researcher Gaoussou Diawara insist that the Malian expedition was successful and that contact between Africans and tribes in South America did indeed occur. As evidence, Van Sertima cites certain archaeological studies, eyewitness accounts, and even the ship logs of Christopher Columbus, which mention stories from local residents about "black people from the south with golden spears." Furthermore, Van Sertima points to the Negroid facial features of Olmec stone heads and the similarities between the religious cults of South American and African tribes. Kenyan publicist and entrepreneur Peter Gatuna adds to Van Sertima's version arguments from other Afrocentric researchers, including the discovery of African cotton DNA in Mexico.
Of course, official science considers the arguments of Van Sertima and other similar researchers unconvincing and even pseudoscientific. To date, not a single authentic African artifact has been discovered during controlled archaeological excavations on the American continent, and most scholars specializing in this topic state unequivocally — there is no material evidence of any pre-Hispanic contacts between the Old World and Mesoamerica before the arrival of the Spaniards in the 15th century. So the story of Abubakar II's journey seems to remain, albeit a beautiful one, still a legend.
<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/gFkzobLyoJ0?si=BtnqpekqORnGwAAF" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share" referrerpolicy="strict-origin-when-cross-origin" allowfullscreen></iframe>
