Before Columbus: Black Explorers
Every October Americans pause to celebrate Columbus Day. Children are taught
that the Italian navigator discovered America. Parades are held in his honor
and tributes tell of his skill, courage and perseverance.
However, no so called euro educators want to tell the real story of thr
murderer rapist, and slave master and greedy deciever..i will do it for u
Historians, archeologists, anthropologists and other scientists and scholars
now know that Columbus did not discover America. Not only were native Americans
present when he reached the New World, but also Africans, Asians and Europeans,
among others, had been sailing to the Americas thousands of years before
Columbus ventured across the Atlantic.
Of the various people who reached America before Columbus, Black Africans
appear to have made the most contacts and to have had the greatest impact.
During the 19th and 20th centuries, several scholars wrote books and articles
about this subject and urged the academic establishment to change primary and
secondary curricula across the country to reflect the great contributions of
African people to early America. Unfortunately, such pleas fell on deaf ears;
so again this October our children are being taught the myth that Columbus
discovered America.
In August of this year, a group of 13 African Americans participated in a
study-tour of numerous Mexican archeological sites. Led by the renowned Black
historian and architect, Mathu Otir, and two Mexican guides, we visited
numerous museums, temples, pyramids and cities, most of which reflected the
genius of the native American Mayas and Aztecs. Toward the end of the tour, in
southern Mexico, we began to see the remains of an ancient Black presence.
Evidence of the early Africans is widespread and varied. Dozens of majestic
stone heads have been found at ancient sacred sites, such as La Venta and Tres
Zapotes in southern Mexico (See photograph). Ranging up to 9 feet and 4 inches
in height, with a circumference of 22 feet, and weighing 30 to 40 tons, these
colossal statues depict helmeted Black men with large eyes, broad fleshy noses
and full lips. They appear to represent priest-kings who ruled vast territories
in the ancient New World from provinces near the Gulf of Mexico.
In the holy city of La Venta, dating back to at least 1500 BC, four of these
large stone heads were discovered on a ceremonial platform featuring a
miniature step pyramid and a conical pyramid - the earliest of such monuments
to appear in the Americas.
Other art-work also serves as evidence of Africans in America before Columbus.
For years the late art historian, Alexander Von Wuthenau, collected ancient
clay figurines that provide clues regarding the diversity of America's pre-Columbian
population. His remarkable African collection depicts priests, chiefs, dancers,
wrestlers, drummers, beautiful women and stately men - a collage of Black
people who occupied every stratum of society from Mexico to South America.
Negroid skulls and skeletons have also been found throughout the New World.
Polish professor Andrzej Wiercinski has revealed the discovery of African
skulls at Olmec sites in Tlatilco, Cerro de las Mesas and Monte Alban.
Furthermore, very ancient African skeletons have been unearth in California,
Mexico, Central and South America.
The best evidence of the Black presence in America before Columbus comes from
the pen of the "great discoverer" himself. In his Journal of the
Second Voyage, Columbus reported that when he reached Haiti the native
Americans told him that black-skinned people had come from the south and
southeast in boats, trading in gold-tipped medal spears. At least a dozen other
European explorers, including Vasco Nunez de Balboa, also reported seeing or hearing
of "Negroes" when they reached the New World.
Nicholas Leon, an eminent Mexican authority, recorded the oral traditions of
his people. Some of them reported that "the oldest inhabitants of Mexico
were blacks[T]he existence of blacks and giants is commonly believed by nearly
all the races of our sail and in their various language they had words to
designate them."
Early Mexican scholars were convinced that the impact of the Black explorers on
the New World was profound and enduring. One author, J.A. Villacorta, has
written: "Any way you view it, Mexican civilization had its origin in
Africa." Modern excavations throughout Latin America appear to confirm
Villacorta's conclusions.
The Olmec civilization, which appears to have been of African origin or to have
been dominated by Africans, was the Mother Culture of Mexico. Of this, Michael
Coe, the leading American historian on Mexico, has written that, "there is
not the slightest doubt that all later civilizations in [Mexico and Central
America], rest ultimately on an Olmec base."
Ivan Van Sertima, the foremost authority on the African presence in ancient
America, has built a strong case demonstrating that many Olmec cultural traits
were of African origin: "A study of the Olmec civilization reveals elements
that so closely parallel ritual traits and techniques in the Egypto-Nubian
world of the same period that it is difficult to maintain [that] all these are
due to mere coincidence." Other scholars believe that Africans introduced
a calendar, writing, pyramid and tomb construction, mummification, as well as
certain political systems and religious traditions to the native Americans.
Who were the Africans who sailed to America before Columbus? Indian scholar
R.A. Jairazbhoy states that the earliest settlers were Ancient Egyptians led by
King Ramesis III, during the 19th dynasty. Van Sertima also believes that most
of the explorers sailed from Egypt, but during the much later 25th dynasty.
Many other scholars insist that the navigators came from West African nations,
such as Ghana, Mali and Songhay
Whoever these Black people were, they most certainly sailed to America in
ancient and medieval times and left a profound imprint on New World soil. As
Jairazbhoy notes: "The black began his career in America not as slave but
as master."
Our Mexican guides agreed. As we ended our tour and prepared to return to the
U.S., one of them proclaimed: "I would like to thank the African people
for bringing civilization to the New World." It is high time for the
American media and academic establishment to admit the same.
Attorney Legrand H. Clegg II is producer of the award winning videotape
"When Black Men Ruled the World." He may be reached at www.melanet.com/cleggseries
or 1-800-788-CLEG.
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Posted By WithoutaNation to The un apologetic Spanish speaking Non Latina African from Cuba
at 10/12/2009 04:04:00 PM