Pre-Columbian Islamic contact theories

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Pre-Columbian Islamic contact theories are theories which contend that medieval Muslim explorers from the Islamic world (specifically Al-Andalus, Africa or China) may have reached the Americas (and possibly made contact with the indigenous peoples of the Americas) at some point before Christopher Columbus' first voyage to the Americas in 1492. Proponents of these theories cite as evidence reports of expeditions and voyages conducted by Muslim navigators and adventurers who they allege reached the Americas from the late 9th century onwards. These theories are generally not credited by mainstream historians, however.

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[edit] Claims regarding the Caliphate of Cordoba

Further information: Khashkhash Ibn Saeed Ibn Aswad

Proponents of pre-Columbian Islamic contact theories cite Arabic sources written during the Caliphate of Cordoba which report Muslim sailors from al-Andalus (Islamic Iberia, comprising modern Portugal and Spain) and the Maghreb (Northwest Africa) traveling into the Atlantic Ocean between the 9th and 14th centuries. Proponents allege that some of these sailors may have traveled as far as the Americas.

The earliest report cited by proponents is the Muruj adh-dhahab wa maadin aljawhar (The meadows of gold and quarries of jewels) of the Muslim historian and geographer Ali al-Masudi (871-957). Ali al-Masudi stated that during the rule of the Muslim caliph of al-Andalus, Abdullah Ibn Mohammad, a Muslim navigator Khashkhash Ibn Saeed Ibn Aswad, from Cordoba, sailed from Delba (Palos) in 889, crossed the Atlantic, reached an unknown territory (Ard Majhoola) and returned with fabulous treasures.[1][2] Ali al-Masudi, in The Book of Golden Meadows (947), wrote:

"In the ocean of fogs [the Atlantic] there are many curiosities which we have mentioned in detail in our Akhbar az-Zaman, on the basis of what we saw there, adventurers who penetrated it on the risk of their life, some returning back safely, others perishing in the attempt. Thus a certain inhabitant of Cordoba, Khashkhash by name, assembled a group of young men, his co-citizens, and went on a voyage on this ocean. After a long time he returned back with booty. Every Spaniard knows this story."[3][4]

In Ali al-Masudi's map of the world (between 896-956), there is a large area in the ocean, southwest of Africa, which he referred to as "Ard Majhoola" (Arabic for "the unknown territory"). Some have alleged that "Ard Majhoola" may be a reference to the Americas.[5]

According to the Muslim historian Abu Bakr Ibn Umar Al-Gutiyya, another Muslim navigator, Ibn Farrukh, from Granada, sailed across the Atlantic in February 999, landed in Gando (Canary islands) where he visited the guanche King Guanariga, and continued westward where he eventually saw and named two islands, Capraria and Pluitana. He arrived back in the Al-Andalus in May 999.

The cartographer and geographer Muhammad al-Idrisi (1100-1166), in his geographical text Nuzhatul Mushtaq, wrote the following on the Atlantic Ocean:

"The Commander of the Muslims Ali ibn Yusuf ibn Tashfin sent his admiral Ahmad ibn Umar, better known under the name of Raqsh al-Auzz to attack a certain island in the Atlantic, but he died before doing that. [...] Beyond this ocean of fogs it is not known what exists there. Nobody has the sure knowledge of it, because it is very difficult to traverse it. Its atmosphere is foggy, its waves are very strong, its dangers are perilous, its beasts are terrible, and its winds are full of tempests. There are many islands, some of which are inhabited, others are submerged. No navigator traverses them but bypasses them remaining near their coast. [...] And it was from the town of Lisbon that the adventurers set out known under the name of Mugharrarin [seduced ones], penetrated the ocean of fogs and wanted to know what it contained and where it ended. [...] After sailing for twelve more days they perceived an island that seemed to be inhabited, and there were cultivated fields. They sailed that way to see what it contained. But soon barks encircled them and made them prisoners, and transported them to a miserable hamlet situated on the coast. There they landed. The navigators saw there people with red skin; there was not much hair on their body, the hair of their head was straight, and they were of high stature. Their women were of an extraordinary beauty."[3]

If this translationis correct where it says 'red skin', it raises questions as to who they were. Early descriptions of Native Americans rarely referred to them as red. For instance, "a 1702 history of New Sweden, which did not describe Indians as red but as differing "in their colour; in some places being black, and in others, brown or yellow," and "the earliest European explorers of the Southeast, the Spanish, and described Indians as "brown of skin".[6] This is both a possible explanation of 'blacks' seen by early European explorers and settlers and casts doubt about comments on 'red skin' referring to Native Americans.

[edit] Claim regarding the Mali Empire

Main articles: Abubakari II and Pre-Columbian Africa-Americas contact theories

An account drawn from contemporary reports regarding the Mali Empire haw been cited by proponents of early Muslim or African contact theories to suggest that expeditions from this Muslim West African empire may have crossed the Atlantic to reach the Americas.

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 an expedition into the Atlantic.[7]

He relates a story obtained from the Mamluk governor of Cairo, Ibn Amir Hajib. While Mansa Musa was visiting Cairo as part of his pilgramate to Mecca, Ibn Amir Hajib asked how he had succeeded to the throne, and this is what Ibn Amir Hajib reported he was told:

The ruler who preceded me did not believe that it was impossible to reach the extremity of the ocean that encircles the earth (meaning the Atlantic): he wanted to reach that (end) and was determined to pursue his plan. So he equipped two hundred boats full of men, and many others full of gold, water and provisions sufficient for several years. He ordered the captain not to return until they had reached the other end of the ocean, or until he had exhausted the provisions and water. So they set out on their journey. They were absent for a long period, and, at last just one boat returned. When questioned the captain replied: 'O Prince, we navigated for a long period, until we saw in the midst of the ocean a great river which flowing massively. My boat was the last one; others were ahead of me, and they were drowned in the great whirlpool and never came out again. I sailed back to escape this current.' But the Sultan would not believe him. He ordered two thousand boats to be equipped for him and his men, and one thousand more for water and provisions. Then he conferred the regency on me for the term of his absence, and departed with his men, never to return nor to give a sign of life.[8]

[edit] Nautical feasibility

See also: Thor Heyerdahl and The Ra II expedition

In 1969, Thor Heyerdahl, a Norwegian adventurer crossed the Atlantic ocean from the North African port of Safi, arriving in Barbados, West Indies. His craft was made by local Africans of indigenous papyrus. For his journey he relied on the southbound Canary Current off the coast of the Iberian peninsula and the western coast of Africa, and the Northeast Tradewinds that blow westward towards the Caribbean region. The voyage has been suggested to indicate that it was technically possible to cross the Atlantic in medieval western Africa.[9]

[edit] Claims regarding Columbus

When Christopher Columbus made his first voyage to the Americas in 1492, he was accompanied by several Muslim sailors (Andalusian Moors) who travelled with him to the New World,[10] as well as Andalusian Jews who attempted to speak Arabic to the Tainos in Cuba.[11]

It has been claimed that Columbus' son, Fernando Colón, also records that his father learned in Genoa from Muslim shipmen that visited the place that it was possible to reach India by sailing west of the European continent as an alternative to sailing eastwards.[3]

[edit] See also

[edit] Notes

  1. ^ Tabish Khair (2006). Other Routes: 1500 Years of African and Asian Travel Writing, p. 12. Signal Books. ISBN 1904955118.
  2. ^ Ali al-Masudi (940). Muruj Adh-Dhahab (The Book of Golden Meadows), Vol. 1, p. 138.
  3. ^ a b c Professor Mohammed Hamidullah (Winter 1968). "Muslim Discovery of America before Columbus", Journal of the Muslim Students' Association of the United States and Canada 4 (2), p. 7-9.
  4. ^ http://www.muslimheritage.com/topics/default.cfm?ArticleID=646 shorter version of Professor Mohammed Hamidullah's "Muslim Discovery of America before Columbus"
  5. ^ Agha Hakim, Al-Mirza, Riyaadh Al-Ulama (Arabic), Vol. 2 (p. 386) and Vol. 4 (p. 175).
  6. ^ How Indians Got to be Red, Nancy Shoemaker, The American Historical Review, Vol. 102, No. 3. (Jun., 1997), pp. 625–644.
  7. ^ Al-Asfahani, Ar-Raghib, Adharea Ila Makarim Ash-Shia, Vol. 16, p. 343.
  8. ^ "Abbas Hamdani, An Islamic Background to the Voyages of Discovery. Language and Literature" in The Legacy of Muslim Spain (Studien Und Texte Zur Geistesgeschichte Des Mittelalters), 1994, by Salma Khadra Jayyusi (Editor)
  9. ^ Quick, Abdullah Hakim; M'Bow, Amdou Mahtar; Kettani, Ali (2001). Islam and Muslims in the American continent: Islam in America before Columbus. Beirut: Center of historical, economical and social studies.  Pg. 34
  10. ^ S. A. H. Ahsani (July 1984). "Muslims in Latin America: a survey", Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs 5 (2), p. 454-463.
  11. ^ María Rosa Menocal (2000). Culture in the Time of Tolerance: Al-Andalus as a Model for Our Time, Berkeley Electronic Press.

[edit] References