Black Man Speaketh

*This is an excerpt from an article written for Spoken Like A Queen, the e-zine:

Years ago, while studying African History in a college setting, I was exposed to the theory that West Africans may have discovered the New World long before the Europeans.  It did not take long to learn about the fabled wealth of Mali, so I was easily able to comprehend that there had been West African cultures capable of financing such a voyage.  The instructors pointed to the similarity in architecture between the Aztec Sacrificial Temples and the Pyramids.  Dark pigmentation and body structure of the descendants were mentioned.  All this was new and fascinating to me.  African History had not been included in the mandatory World History I was taught in junior high.  As I shared what I was learning with others, I was met with skepticism, especially by my elders.  They (the elders) felt like we were clutching at straws, as if we were so desperate for some sense of our past that we would believe anything.  There was no internet at that time.  It was still in its infancy.  The internet was science fiction during the mid seventies.  The thought of the combined knowledge of the world being accessible from any household was as remote as interplanetary travel.  But now that knowledge is available.  Now it is common knowledge in some circles that the Mayan language contained some Malinke words.  The Malinke are a West African people.  They are a branch from the Mande originating in the Niger-Congo region of Africa.  The language is called Malinka (according to sources I’ve read).  African historians have been saying that expeditions sailed from Africa for years.  No one ever said what happened to them.  The Africans knew the world was round as early as the 12th century.  Is it possible that African explorers peacefully encountered the inhabitants of the New World long before the European?  Or are deep pigmentation, the remarkable language similarities, and the architectural similarities just coincidence?  Just food for thought.

I have become fascinated by the discovery of a 3rd century African historian named Julius Africanus.  This man wrote a history of the world (from creation to his own time).   According to multiple sources, this man spoke and wrote in several languages including Latin and Greek.  That he was a North African seems clear (depending on the source).  Remnants of his work have been preserved by Judeo-Christian historians, including the Greek Orthodox theologians and Jewish scholars.  It is said that he was the first man in recorded history to attempt to align the newly founded Christian version of history proceeding Creation with major events in pagan history.  It is also said that his work served as foundation for some of the early writers of the Bible (who came after him).  Just food for thought.  And yet another example of the glorious history people of African descent have long been deprived of.

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