Pre-Columbian Islamic contact theories

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Pre-Columbian Islamic contact theories are those theories and speculations which contend (contrary to all mainstream historical interpretations) that there was contact between expeditions and individuals of the Islamic faith with the indigenous peoples of the Americas at some point during the pre-Columbian history of the Americas, i.e. before Columbus's first voyage to the Americas in 1492.

Proponents of such claims cite as evidence their interpretations of several reports of expeditions and voyages conducted by Muslim navigators and adventurers from the late 9th century onwards, which appear in some writings of contemporary Muslim scholars and historians.

The maritime prowess and significant navigational accomplishments made by individuals and states of the Muslim world during this period of the 'Islamic Golden Age' is unquestioned, and the exploits of well-known Muslim travellers such as Ibn Battuta and Zheng He are representative of the wide-ranging extent and reach of Muslim geography and influence across the continents of Africa, Europe and Asia. However, no contemporary report or subsequent archaeological artifact put forward as evidence for pre-Columbian Islamic contact and influence has been accepted by mainstream historians and scholars (both Muslim and non-Muslim) as providing any demonstration that these explorations ever extended to reaching the New World.

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[edit] Khashkash from Córdobas exploration

A Muslim historian and geographer Abu Hassan Ali ibn Al-Hussain al-Masudi 871 - 957 wrote in his book Muruj adh-dhahab wa maadin aljawhar (The meadows of gold and quarries of jewels) that during the rule of the Muslim caliph of Al-Andalus Abdullah Ibn Mohammad, a Muslim navigator, Khashkhash Ibn Saeed Ibn Aswad, from Cordoba, Spain sailed from Delba (Palos) in 889, crossed the Atlantic, reached an unknown territory (ard majhoola) and returned with fabulous treasures. In Al-Masudi's map of the world there is a large area in the ocean of darkness and fog which he referred to as the unknown territory [1]

[edit] Mali Empire

Two accounts drawn from some contemporary reports about the Mali Empire have in particular been cited by modern early-contact theory proponents as indicating that expeditions from this Islamic West African empire could have crossed the Atlantic to reach the Americas. Neither of these accounts are corroborated by any physical or other evidence which demonstrates, to the satisfaction of mainstream historians, that these expeditions ever did make a landing in the Americas- or even whether the expeditions took place as described at all.

  • In his book Massaalik al-absaar fi mamaalik al-amsaar(the pathway of sight in the provinces of the kingdoms) the Muslim Historian Chihab Ad-Dine Abu Abbas Ahmad bin Fadhl al Umari (1300 - 1384) describes in detail the geographical exploration on the other side of the atlantic by the Sultan of Mali Abu Bakari I [2]
  • Sultan Mansa Musa 1312 - 1337 was the Mandinka monarch of the West African Islamic empire of Mali. While travelling to Makkah on his famous Hajj in 1324 , he informed the scholars of the Mamluk Bahri sultan court An-Nasir Nasir Edin Muhammad III 1309 - 1340 in Cairo, that his brother, sultan Abubakari I 1285 - 1312 had undertaken two expeditions into the Atlantic Ocean. When the sultan did not return to Timbuktu from the second voyage of 1311, Mansa Musa became sultan of the empire. [3]


[edit] See Also:

[edit] References

  1. ^ AGHA HAKIM, AL-MIRZA Riyaadh Al-Ulama(Arabic),Vol.2 P.386/Vol.4 P.175
  2. ^ AL-ASFAHANI, AR-RAGHIB Adharea Ila Makarim Ash-Shia,Vol.16,P.343
  3. ^ CAUVET, GILES Les Berbers de L'Amerique,Paris 1912,P.100-101
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