Liberty Writers AfricaThe world has been made to believe that Christopher Columbus discovered America. But sorry to break your heart, that is a whitewashed lie from hades.
During four separate voyages to discover the so-called new world, Columbus landed on various Caribbean islands that are now known as the Bahamas as well as the island later called Hispaniola. He started with the first one in 1492. He later traveled and explored the Central and South American coasts.
But he never reached North America, which, of course, was already inhabited by Native Americans, and other African civilizations, and he never thought he had found a new continent.
It is also important to note that the Norse explorer Leif Erikson reached Canada perhaps 500 years before Columbus was born, and there are some who believe that Phoenician sailors had crossed the Atlantic much earlier than that.
We will go straight into debunking this lie with a detailed account of his travels and where it ended for him. And we are going to start with excerpts from a book titled “Before Columbus: How Africans Brought Civilization to America” By Garikai Chengu.
Some excerpts from it read: ” The great ancient civilizations of Egypt and West Africa traveled to the Americas, contributing immensely to early American civilization by importing the art of pyramid building, political systems and religious practices as well as mathematics, writing and a sophisticated calendar.”
Also, it stated that “One of the first documented instances of Africans sailing and settling in the Americas were black Egyptians led by King Ramses III, during the 19th dynasty in 1292 BC. In fact, in 445 BC, the Greek historian Herodotus wrote of the Ancient Egyptian pharaohs’ great seafaring and navigational skills. Further concrete evidence, noted by Dr. Imhotep and largely ignored by Euro-centric archaeologists, includes “Egyptian artifacts found across North America from the Algonquin writings on the East Coast to the artifacts and Egyptian place names in the Grand Canyon.”
In 1311 AD, another major wave of African exploration to the New World was led by King Abubakari II, the then ruler of the fourteenth century Mali Empire. It is accounted that the Mali empire was larger than the Roman Empire. King Abubakari II sent out 200 ships of men, and 200 ships of trade material, crops, animals, clothing, and crucially African knowledge of astronomy, religion, and the arts.
When most people and even scholars think about ancient Mexico, the first civilizations that come to mind are the Incas, Aztecs, and the Maya. However, during the early 1940′s archeologists uncovered a civilization known as the Olmecs of 1200 BC, which were found to pre-date any other advanced civilization in the Americas.
Archaeological discoveries point to the fact that the Olmec civilization, which was of African origin and dominated by Africans, was the first significant civilization in Mesoamerica and the Mother Culture of Mexico.
The Olmecs were/are predominantly best known for the carved colossal heads found in Central Mexico, that exhibit an undeniable African Negroid appearance. Ancient African historian, Professor Van Sertima has illustrated and described how Olmecs were the first Mesoamerican civilization to use a written language, sophisticated astronomy, arts, and mathematics. And they built the first cities in Mexico, all of which greatly influenced the civilization of the Mayans and subsequent civilizations in the Americas.
A leading historian on Mexico, Michael Coe, once said that “There is not the slightest doubt that all later civilizations in [Mexico and Central America], rest ultimately on an Olmec base.”
It is historically clear that Africans played an intricate role in the rise of the Olmec Empire and that African influence peaked during the same period that ancient Black Egyptian culture ascended in Africa.
On the Monday of the second week in October, Columbus Day is celebrated in western culture in general and in America’s specifically. This is basically an American tradition where school children of all ages are taught about his so-called discovery of his New World. Annual parades are carried out around the country, and every year dignitaries participate in these festivities.
It is most unfortunate that most people celebrate his holiday without knowing the truth about Columbus’s purpose for taking such risky voyages, and his atrocious behavior against the indigenous population, together with the brutality against his own men.
At the other end of the spectrum, the impact of Columbus’s deeds has been most devastating on the indigenous people together with African communities everywhere. For a better understanding of what we are exposing, three historical events before Columbus’s four voyages are presented, along with the reasons for each voyage.
THE THREE HISTORICAL EVENTS:
The first event is said to have occurred when the African Berbers/Moors conquered the Iberian Peninsula (present-day Portugal and Spain). Back then the conquered territory was identified as Andalusia and at that time was most of Spain, Italy, parts of France, Portugal and Gibraltar. Their conquest began in 711 AD and lasted up to the ‘fall of Granada’ on January 2, 1492.
The second event was the conquest of Ceuta, which was an Islamic city in North Africa by the Portuguese in 1415. Notably, that was more than three decades before the fall of Constantinople in 1453. In the meantime, Portuguese sailors sailed beyond Cape Bojador, Morocco, in the 1430s for the first time.
A trading post was established, by 1445, on the small island of Arguim, off the shores of present-day Mauritania. As the Portuguese ships and traders continued to explore coastlines and rivers over the following decades, they established trade with the preexisting industries. The Portuguese traders procured various west African commodities such as ivory, peppers, textiles, wax, grain, copper. The also bought captive African slaves for exporting. At this time, the African slaves were only used as servants in Europe.
In addition to building of trading posts, Portugal established colonies on previous uninhabited islands off the African shores. These trading posts later served as collection points for captive slaves, and commodities to be shipped to Europe, and eventually sent to their colonies in the Americas. After several generations, a Portuguese navigator Bartolomeu Dias sailed around the ‘Cape of Good Hope’ in 1488, and opened up European access to the East Indies.
By the end of the 15th century, Portuguese merchants could bypass commercial, political, and military strongholds in both North Africa and in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea. They were successful in using maritime routes to avoid trans-Saharan overland trade routes controlled by Islamic Turks of the Ottoman empire.
The third event occurred in 1453, when the Islamic Ottoman Turks successfully subdued and captured Christian Constantinople (present-day Istanbul). Constantinople was formerly western Europe’s major source for spices, , paper, porcelain, silks, glass, and other luxury goods produced in India, China, Japan, and the spice islands (present-day Indonesia). Collectively these areas were known as the East Indies, and the silk road trade route was shut down by the Ottoman Turks conquest of the region.
The Fall of Granada in 1492
The Ottoman Turks controlled the main overland routes to the Orient, and subsequently denied the Christian West passage to the east indies. Desert robbers, the heat and sand storms, as well as other unforeseen hazards eventually made the trip too dangerous and expensive for the Portuguese and other European nations.
Portugal then urgently needed an alternative route by sea. Christopher Columbus spent the better part of his adult life working on a different navigational solution other than Portugal’s already established maritime route. The basis of his idea was that sailing west across the Atlantic Ocean to the east Indies would be shorter, and faster. But going by modern geography, his idea was a guaranteed failure. In hindsight if his idea was correct, a world of opportunity would open up not only for him but other fortune hunters. Of course, this did not happen. If it did, Columbus and other fortune hunters would have had a direct access to plunder the west Indies.
By the close of the 13th century, the Spanish Christian kingdoms of Castile and Aragon had reconquered most of the territory controlled by the Islamic Berber/Moors. In 1479, the two kingdoms were made one because of the marriage of Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella of Castile. The last Islamic kingdom, known as Granada, was lost in 1492. For Christian Spain, this conquest was a most important and prominent event in their history. After nearly eight centuries of war, the Christian Iberians finally defeated the African Islamic Berbers/Moors. On the 2nd of January, 1492, King Ferdinand together with Queen Isabella rode majestically into Granada victoriously. Christopher Columbus was present at that event.
After the conquering of the Berber/Moors, the Spanish monarchy agreed to sponsor his voyage but with stringent modifications. He angrily turned down their offer and went to France for financial support. A short time afterward, the king and queen of Spain had second thoughts and decided to accept Columbus’s demands. Eventually, their courier caught up with him just before he got to France.
Upon his return, he was promised huge amounts of gold, by the king and queen, plus given the title captain of the ocean seas. Also, he was promised absolute power as administrator of the soon to be colonized New World. Christopher Columbus promised to bring back gold, spices, and silks, to spread Christianity, and at the same time provide a quicker route to the east Indies. And so, he was given three ships, the Nina, La Pinta and the Santa Maria.
Columbus’s Four Voyages:
This ships and men given to him by the king and queen, and his promises to them, set the stage for his four voyages. All of them eventually had some sort of disaster. They began with his maiden voyage in 1492 that was disaster number one. While exploring an undiscovered island, which he later named Hispaniola (present-day Dominican and Haitian Republics), on Christmas Day, he wrecked his flag ship the Santa María. Together with the help of the indigenous Taino people, using wreckage from the ship and anything else they could find, he built a small fortress named La Navidad (Christmas in English). He left 39 men of his men there at the fortress, and proceeded to Spain to request funding for another voyage.
But unknowing to Columbus, the Spaniards he left behind began to enslave the Taino women for domestic work. This suppression of the owners of the island, after several months, led to armed conflict with the Taino’s, who destroyed the temporary settlement, killing the Spaniards. Upon returning to Spain on the second ship, La Niña, with a little gold, parrots, spices, and Taino captives, Columbus convinced the Spanish Monarchy of the need for a rapid second voyage. He received a great deal of fanfare in Spain. He was cheered and followed everywhere he went. After all he was the ” admiral of the ocean sea ” and governor-general of the new lands which he had discovered.
But in reality, Columbus did not bring anything in the way of gold or other valuable items like he had promised, and he did not find a shorter route to the east Indies. However, he did display some indigenous Taino people whom was forcibly bought to the Monarchy with a few trinkets of gold. He was very persuasive in convincing the Spanish monarchy to finance a second voyage of discovery and colonization. This was done with the blessing of Pope Alexander VI in the Treaty of Tordesillas on June 7, 1494, which assign spheres of influence in the Americas to Portugal and Spain.
When he left the Canary’s Islands on October 13, 1493, Columbus’s second voyage of conquest was furnished with a huge fleet of 17 ships, domesticated animals, with over 1,000 colonists together with six priests, attack dogs and canons. Notably, from an African historic perspective, this was the beginning of chattel slavery and colonialism in the continent.
When Columbus and his fleet arrived in Hispaniola in the late November of that year, the found the fort of La Navidad destroyed with no survivors. Immediately, they built other fortified places, which included a city, founded on January 2, and named La Isabella in honor of the Queen of Spain. On February 2, 1494, Antonio de Torres left La Isabella with 12 ships, some gold, spices, parrots, and Taino captives (most of whom died on sea). He also returned to Spain with the bad news about Navidad and some complaints about Columbus’s methods of governance.
Meanwhile, Columbus managed to find a small source of gold on Hispaniola. He would force the natives to work in gold mines as slaves until they died of exhaustion. If a Taino indigene did not deliver his full quota of gold dust by Columbus’s deadline, soldiers would cut off the man’s hands and tie them around his neck to send a message to others. This has always been the European way. To steal, plunder, and kill a welcoming indigenous people.
Slavery was so unacceptable to the island people that at one point, 100 of them committed mass suicide. Catholic law at the time forbade the enslavement of Christians, but Columbus solved this problem. Although, priests were available to convert natives to Christianity, Columbus simply refused to have them baptize, so they would remain slaves.
One of his men, Bartolome De Las Casas, was so annoyed by Columbus’ brutal atrocities against the native peoples, he converted to a Catholic priest. He described how the Spaniards under Columbus’s command would cut the legs of children, to test the sharpness of their blades. According to Bartolome, the men made bets of who, with one sweep of the sword, could cut a Taino person in half.
Bartolome De Las Casas, accounted that in a single day, the Spanish soldiers dismembered, beheaded, or raped 3000 native people. ” Such inhumanities and barbarisms were committed in my sight as no age can parallel,” He wrote. “My eyes have seen these acts so foreign to human nature that now I tremble as I write.”
Columbus had been appointed as the governor and Viceroy of the new lands by the Spanish crown, and for the next year and a half, he attempted to do his job. Although, he was renowned to be a good ship’s captain, he was a failed administrator. The sole purpose of Columbus and his Spaniards was to seek abundant gold, and unfortunately little or none was to be found. The gold the Spaniards and colonialists had been promised never materialized, and what little gold was discovered was sent to the Spanish crown. In the meantime, their supplies began to run out, and there was great discord in the colony. Columbus used brutality and cruelty to restore order. With their supplies almost finished, in March of 1496, he returned to Spain for more resources to keep his struggling colony from failing.
This time around, in Spain he was not met with jubilation. On the contrary, there were distrust and doubt about his venture. However, he managed to get substantial financial support, and his third expedition left on May 30, 1498 with six ships in his fleet. The fleet split into two squadrons; three ships were to sail directly for Hispaniola with supplies for the colonists, and the other three led by Columbus’s advanced for further exploration of the uncharted islands.
After a short time exploring other parts of the so called “new world”, Columbus returned to Hispaniola on August 19, 1498, and found open hostility. As a matter of fact, it was civil unrest among the colonist. The constant unrest was resolved when King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella appointed Francisco de Bobadilla as royal commissioner, with administrative powers in Hispaniola.
His first order of duty was to send Columbus and his two brothers Bartolome and Diego back to Spain in chains in October of 1500. At this point, he went from being the “Admiral of the Oceans seas” to a miserable failure. Despite the justifiable charges brought against Columbus and his two brothers, the Spanish King released them. They did this, considering that he was sending them gold all along, perhaps not as much as he promised but gold non-the-less.
Christopher Columbus, after his release, made a fourth voyage, to search for the Strait of Malacca to the Indian Ocean. Mindfully, when geographers examined a current map, his westward theory was doomed from the beginning; On May 11, 1502, four old ships and 140 men under Columbus’s command set sail from the port of Cadiz. Insultingly, he was forbidden to set foot in Hispaniola, the colony he founded.
He proceeded with his men to explored parts of southern, and central America. Unfortunately, his ships were damaged by a hurricane and termites. Unable to seek assistances in Hispaniola, they were stranded on Jamaica for a year before being rescued.
This concluded Columbus four voyages, which were all failures. Beginning with wrecking the Santa Maria in Hispaniola, and on the second voyage running out of supplies; and on the third upon his return was arrested together with his two brothers and shipped back to Spain in chains. On his fourth voyage, he was not allowed in Hispaniola, although it was the island, he founded. More insulting to his reputation was that he was stranded on Jamaica for a year before returning to Spain.
Contrarily, the Caribbean Islands are often called the west Indies. The descendants of the native inhabitants are mistakenly called Indians around the world because Columbus believed until his death, he was in the east Indies. After 25 years of Spanish occupation, the Taino’s populations, which numbered several million in 1492, were reduced to about 50,000.
In today’s contemporary world, Columbus would be guilty of crimes against humanity with evidence from his diary, as well as, accounts from his own men. In all probabilities, he would most likely be sentenced to death or life in prison.
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