Recorded Books Inc. - Against all opposition: black explorers in America

Outward Dreams: Black Inventors and Their Inventions
From Afar to Zulu: A Dictionary of African Cultures,
with Joann Biondi
Conjure Times: Black Magicians in America,
with Kathleen Benson
Champion: A Biography of Muhammad Ali

to
David

I am grateful to Anne Jordan, Ann Kalkhoff, and
Kathy Benson for their help. For assistance in
obtaining photographs, thanks are also
due to Emily Lewis.

The quotes on the pages listed below were taken from the following sources:

Haskins, James, and Kathleen Benson. Space Challenger: The Story of Guion Bluford. Minneapolis: Carolrhoda Books, 1984. (pages 17, 23, 39)

Henson, Matthew Alexander. A Black Explorer at the North Pole. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1989. (pages 55, 5657)

Hughes, Langston. Famous Negro Heroes of America. New York: Dodd-Mead, 1958. (page 8)

Katz, William Loren. The Black West: A Documentary and Pictorial History. Garden City, N.Y.: Doubleday & Co., Inc., 1971. (pages 1314, 27, 3536, 4344)

_______. Eyewitness: The Negro in History. Seattle: Open Hand Publishing, 1967. (pages 1, 34, 56, 11, 13, 30, 3738)

Great ideals are the glory of man alone. No other creature can have them. Only man can get a vision and an inspiration that will lift him above the level of himself and send him forth against all opposition or any discouragement to do and to dare and to accomplish wonderful and great things for humanity. There can be no conquest to the man who dwells in the narrow and small environment of a groveling life, and there can be no vision to the man the horizon of whose vision is limited by the bounds of self. But the great things of the world, the great accomplishments of the world, have been achieved by men who had high ideals and who have received great visions. The path is not easy, the climbing is rugged and hard, but the glory at the end is worthwhile.

Matthew Henson

When Matthew Henson, the first black man to reach the North Pole, spoke these words in the early twentieth century, he was expressing a credo held by all explorers of all races over the ages. There is something that excites the imagination when one is faced with the unknown, something that spurs humanity to risk life and limb to explore the unknown both within our world and, today, in the limitless expanse of the universe. And that need to know is not bound by color, sex, or nationality; it is only limited by the imagination.

Contrary to the portrait painted by most histories of the exploration of the world, black people of all nationalities have made significant and lasting contributions in expanding the horizons of humanity. When contemplating discoveries, the names of Estevanico, Matthew Henson, or Guion Bluford might come to mind; but long before Estevanico set foot in what is now the southwestern United States, or Henson helped raise the flag at the North Pole, or Bluford leaped into space, black people had left their footprints in the soil of the Americas.

Africa was once the home of a number of great civilizations known for their wealth, technology, and learning. These civilizations were destroyed by the slave trade, but there is evidence that some of the first explorers of the New World came from the so-called Dark Continent and left their mark upon the New World long before Columbus made his discoveries.

Fill two hundred ships with men. Fill another two hundred with water, food and gold; enough for two years, commanded the Emperor of Mali, and do not return until you have reached the end of the ocean, or when you have exhausted your food and water.

Over two hundred years before Columbus set forth on his voyage of discovery, the empire of Mali blossomed on the western coast of Africa. Mali was more than prosperous, with gold one of its main items of trade. By the twelfth century, Malis trade routes stretched north to Morocco and east to the Arabian Peninsula. Malis grand cities boasted an educated people, and their emperor was wealthy beyond imagining, according to Omaris Masakil-al-absub and the comments of one Abulfeda (12731332). This wealth and education spurred the Malians to look beyond the narrow boundaries of the known world and wonder what was to be found. So the Emperor of Mali commanded his people to outfit ships and venture forth across the Atlantic. A scholar and trader, Ibn Amir Hajib, later questioned the Emperor Kankun Musa of Mali about these explorations, which were ordered by Musas predecessor:

The monarch who preceded me would not believe that it was impossible to discover the limits of the neighboring sea. He wished to know. He persisted in his plan. [The commanders of the ships] went away and their absence was long: none came back, and their absence continued. Then a single ship returned. We asked the captain of their adventures and their news. He replied: Sultan, we sailed for a long while until we met with what seemed to be a river with a strong current flowing in the open sea. My ship was last. The others sailed on, but as each of them came to that place they did not come back nor did they reappear; and I do not know what became of them. As for me, I turned where I was and did not enter the current.

It is conjectured that the strong current spoken of by the captain of the remaining ship of the fleet refers to the current at the mouth of the Amazon and that the grand fleet of Mali had reached the coast of South America. Nothing is known of what became of the other ships in the vast fleet of discovery sent out by the Emperor of Mali, but it is possible that either these explorers or other, earlier explorers from Africa had an impact on civilizations in the New World. In 1975, graves and statues were discovered that led archaeologists to announce that Africans, rather than Columbus or the Vikings, were the first overseas explorers to land in the New World, possibly as early as 4000 B.C. Statues with Negroid features have been found at La Venta in Central America, and there are paintings of black men in the murals of the Temple of Warriors at Chichn Itz. There are also similarities between some of the languages of the Americas and those of Africa.

In Europe, rumors circulated of explorations made beyond the sea by the Norse, the Celts, and the Africans. It is certain that Columbus heard these rumors. His son Ferdinand Colon wrote:

He took notice of what any persons whatsoever spoke to that purpose, and of sailors particularly, which might in any way be of help to him. Of all these things he made such good use that he concluded for certain that there were many lands west of the Canary Islands and Cape Verde, and that it was possible to sail and discover them.

The Olmec culture of Central America flourished from around 500 B.C. to about 1150 A.D. Statues that still stand at La Venta, in present-day Mexico, have distinctly Negroid features, suggesting to some scholars that Africans may have visited Central America long before Columbus. (New York Public Library Picture Collection)

Some historians claim that Columbus had a black African navigator on his initial voyage to the New World. One Pedro Alonzo Nio, who accompanied Columbus, is thought by some scholars to have been black. It is likely that Columbus had with him either black seamen or black slaves who had knowledge of the ocean and the lands beyond it.