How Moors discovered in America 600 years before Columbus

by Adil Astaib | January 2, 2021

Introduction
Who discovered America? People mostly believe that Christopher Columbus discovered it; that
has been disproven multiple times. There are many theories of how humans step foot in America but
the most popular one is the Beringia Land Bridge theory. This theory suggests that towards the end of
the last Ice Age humans crossed a strip of land connecting Siberia with North-Eastern America. This strip
of land was there because of low sea levels, as low as 120 meters below. After the end of the last Ice
Age glaciers melted and sea levels rose which caused the land bridge to disappear.

Muslims meet with Native Americans. Source: Ancient Origins

Pre-Columbian Moorish Explorers to the New World

In an interview in the Deen Show with Jerald Dirks, an American author and psychologist, Dirks
states that Muslims have been in America long before Columbus, he states “We Muslims were here long
before Christopher Columbus ever thought of coming to America.”. There were a number of voyages to
from the Muslim World to the Americas long before Columbus. The earliest of these was Khashkhash ibn
Said ibn Aswad, he sailed from Muslim Andalusia1 in the year 889 CE. Sailing west across the Atlantic
discovering a new land which were islands in the Caribbean. Not only did he travel there but ibn Aswad
sailed back to Andalusia.

A Muslim geographer and scientific advisor to the King of Sicily called Al-Idrisi wrote in the 12th
century about a group of eight Muslim sailors that sailed west across the Atlantic from Andalusia,
arrived at two new islands where they were captured by American Indians and held captive. After two to

1
Part of the Moroccan [Empire for over 800 years]
three days an Indian king who served as translator between the Indians and these Muslims from
Andalusia and arranged for their release and went back to Andalusia. This is proof than Native
Americans have had close contact with Muslims. These stories were written in very early Arabic books
detailing these voyages from Andalusia. These voyages were not only conducted from Andalusia but also
from Morocco.

Pre-Columbian Mandinka Explorers to the New World

Around the year 1310 CE the Sultan of the Mali Empire named Mansa Abubakar II brother of
Mansa Musa sent to expeditions west across the Atlantic. He called on engineers of the Lake Chad to
build ships so he could launch a fleet across the ocean. He hired a crew of sailors, traders, builders,
artists, warriors and learned men and supplied them with enough rations to last two years. After a lone
captain and only one of the ships from the 200 he had sent returned to Mali claiming that the other
ships have been pulled in a current and disappeared, Mansa Abubakar II began to prepare a fleet once
more. Mansa Abubaker II decided to make the journey himself in 1311 CE. He travelled with his men on
1000 ships and sent a further 1000 ships with supplies.

Abubakar’s fleet landed in the Americas. We know that because there is a south American-
Indian tribe which even to today uses Mandinka ideograms as their form of written communication.
There is also a North American Indian tribe whose syllabus of words was written down by a Moravian
missionary in the mid 1700s. When modern linguists looked at it, they discovered a large number of
those words are in Mandinka the language of the Mali Empire. The Mandinka explored parts of America,
intermarried with the American Indian tribes and gradually their history was lost.

The strongest evidence comes from Christopher Columbus himself who wrote in his journal that
Native Americans confirmed, “Black-Skinned people had come from the South-East in boats, trading in
gold-tipped spears.” These spearheads were described as ‘guanin’ by Native Americans, which is the
Mandinkan word for gold, the language of the Mali Empire. Secondly, chemical analysis from the
spearheads found that the gold originates from West Africa. On Columbus’s third journey to the New
World in 1498 where he landed on Trinidad. Him and his son Fernando Columbus found that native
Americans had handkerchiefs of woven cotton like those used in West Africa, and clothes similar from
the Muslim Moors. 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.

Pre-Columbian Moroccan Explorers to the New World

A famous Moroccan geographer and cartographer Al-Sharif Al-Idris 1099-1166 CE wrote in his
book, ‫ـﺔ اﻟـﻤـﺸـﺘـﺎق ﻓـﻲ اﺧـﺘـﺮاق اﻵﻓـﺎق‬7‫( ﻧـﺰ‬Excursion of the longing one in crossing Horizons). He wrote that a
group of sea fearers from Morocco sailed into the Atlantic Ocean from Lisbon. By day four, they reached
an island; a translator spoke to them in the Arabic language which suggests that the people were
Muslims from North Africa, most likely Morocco.

In 1291 CE Shaikh Zayn Eddine Ali Ben Fadhel Al-Mazandarani sailed from Tarfaya westwards
during the reign of King Abu-Yacoub Sidi Youssef (1285-1307). He described his journey across the “sea
of fog and darkness”, eventually reached the Green Island in the Caribbean.

Conclusion
 All of these voyages contributed to the knowledge we know today about the Americas. The
Moroccan Empire and the Mali Empire are two significantly important when it comes to the culture and
the practices of Native Americans. The two empires, made great advances in discovering the new world
and adopting part of its practices and culture in the Americas. Some could argue that without the
courageous seamen and explorers from North Africa and Andalusia the American geopolitical climate
would not be the same.