Abubakari II

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Abubakari II was a prince of the Mali Empire, the successor of his brother Mohammed ibn Gao and predecessor of Kankan Musa I. Abubakari II appears to have abdicated his throne in order to explore "the limits of the ocean"; however, his expedition never returned. Malian scholar Gaoussou Diawara has argued that he reached the Americas some time in the early 14th century, but these claims have not been widely accepted.

Al-Umari recorded Kankan Musa I's stories of his predecessor Abubakari II abdicating the throne to journey to a land across the ocean.

According to Mark Hyman, Abubakari II had no interest in battles, conquests, Koranic recitals but instead he had interest in scholar's stories of a “gourd-shaped world, the big ocean to the west and the new world beyond that”. The Prince interviewed sailbuilders from Egypt and Mediterranean cities and decided to build ships on the coast of Senegambia. The preparation for the journey included carpenters, smiths, men who knew navigation, merchants, potters, jewelers, weavers, magicians, diviners, thinkers, and all branches of the Mandingo military. Every vessel tugged a supply-boat with food for two years, dried meat, grain, preserved fruit in ceramic jars, and gold for trade. ^[1] In 1310 a first convoy of 200 or 400 ships left, but only one captain, who watched the ships disappear in the horizon, returned to Abubakari II. The Prince decided to build a second convoy of 2000 ships but this time he would command it himself. He then abdicated, giving rulership to his successor, and sailed down the Senegal river and westward on the Ocean. Key Ships would communicate with drummers, all communications were coordinated from the leading ship of the fleet. ^[1][2]

Lopez de Gomara and Peter Martyr d'Anghiera give accounts of the presence of Blacks, looking like those of Africa, in Central America in the early 16th century.

Ivan van Sertima, a Guyanese scholar teaching at Rutgers University in New Jersey, also makes the case that Abubakari II travelled to the New World in They Came Before Columbus: The African Presence in Ancient America.

[edit] See also

• Pre-Columbian Africa-Americas contact theories

[edit] Notes

1. ^ ^{a b} Blacks Before America, Mark Hyman, Xlibris Corporatio, 2003. ISBN 1413400116
2. ^ African Presence in Early America, Ivan Van Sertima, Transaction Publishers, 1987. ISBN 0887387152

[edit] References

• Joan Baxter, "Africa's 'greatest explorer.'" BBC. December 13, 2000.

Preceded by Mohammed ibn Gao

Mansa of the Mali Empire 1310–1312

Succeeded by Kankan Musa I