Columbus is viewed as the discoverer of the New World, the Americas in 1492. On his voyage he brought with him a copy of Al-Idrissi’s works that mentioned the discovery of a new continent by eight Muslim explorers.
“Christopher Columbus embarked on four journeys to the New World, between 1492 and 1502. This was the period between the fall of the Islamic Andalus city of Granada and the final expulsion of Muslims from Spain between 1492 and 1609. During this period there where an estimated 500,000 Muslims and Moriscos, that is, Muslims who had been forcibly converted to Christianity under the Spanish inquisition to purge Spain of Islam. It is not surprising that quite a few found their way to the New World who had Knowledge of earlier Islamic Maps.”
“On his first voyage he had two captains of Muslim origin in charge of ships traveling with him, Martin Alonso Pinzon, the captain of the Pinta, and his brother Vicente Pinzon the captain of the Nina. The Pinzon family were related to Abuzayan Muhammad III, the Moroccan Sultan of the Marinid Dynasty (1196 – 1465). Franciso Pinzon was the third of the Pinzon brothers to sail with Columbus in 1492, Franciso served as the pilot of the Pinta”
“Rodrigo de Trana also known as Rodrigo de Lepe after a town in Al Andalus sailed with Columbus on his first voyage. He was recorded as being the first on the ship to sight land. Rodrigo was born a Christian, but on his return to Spain in 1493 he converted to Islam, and this was against the backdrop of the Spanish Inquisition and the persecution of Moriscos and Muslims.”
Al-Idrisi whose full name was Abu Abd Allah Muhammad al-Idrisi was born in Ceuta Spain in 1099, He received his education in Cordoba, then flourished at the Norman court in Palermo (Italy). He combined his own findings with the available knowledge of his time and became famous for his comprehensive knowledge of all parts of the world.
“Al-Idrisi constructed a circular world map of pure silver that weighed approximately 400 kilograms and precisely recorded on it the seven continents with trade routes, lakes and rivers, major cities, plains and mountains.” Christopher Columbus used Al-Idrisi’s work and relied on Muslim knowledge of the Globe on his voyage.
“The great Muslim historian and geographer, Abu al-Hasan al-Masudi wrote in 956 of a voyage in 889 from al-Andalus (Muslim Spain). The voyage left from the port of Delba (the same place Columbus’’s voyage would begin) and sailed for months westward. They eventually found a large landmass across the ocean where they traded with the natives, and then returned to Europe. Al-Masudi records this land across the ocean in his famous map and refers to it as “the unknown land”.”
Through history two more voyages from Muslim Spain to the Americas are recorded. One was in 999 and was led by Ibn Farrukh, from Granada. The other is recorded by al-Idrisi, He wrote of a group of Muslims who sailed west from Lisbon for 31 days and landed on an island in the Caribbean. They were taken prisoner by the Native Americans on that island for a few days. Eventually, they were freed when a translator who lived among the natives, that spoke Arabic, arranged for their release. They eventually sailed back to al-Andalus and told their tale. The important part of this account is the existence of an Arabic speaker among the natives, indicating that there must have been more unrecorded contact between the Arab world and the Americas.”
“There is another part of the Muslim world that had contact with the Americas before Columbus. In West Africa in the 1300s, a powerful and incredibly wealthy empire called Mali existed. The most famous leader of this empire was Mansa (king) Musa, and the most memorable event of his reign was his epic hajj journey in 1324.”
“Mansa Musa had passed through Cairo making his pilgrimage to Mecca with thousands of slaves and soldiers, wives and officials. One hundred camels each carried one hundred pounds of gold. Mansa Musa performed many acts of charity and “flooded Cairo with his kindness.” So much gold was spent in the markets of Cairo that it actually upset the gold market around the world well into the next century. Mali’s gold was important all over the world, in the later Medieval period, West Africa may have been producing almost two-thirds of the world’s supply of gold!” which gave rise to legends such as king solomon’s mines.
“The caravan of over 60,000 people made an impression everywhere they went, including Egypt, where Mansa Musa told the story of how he came to power. His brother, Abu Bakr was the Mansa before he was. During his reign, Abu Bakr sent a fleet of 400 ships to explore the Atlantic Ocean. Only 1 ship returned, but reported that they found a land across the ocean. Mansa Abu Bakr then outfitted a fleet of 2000 ships, which he sailed with personally, they sailed west into the ocean, and were never heard from again, this may have been the origins of the africans now found in the Caribbean.”
“While there is no record in Mali of the result of that voyage, there is evidence of their arrival in the Americas. There are numerous archaeological sites in North and South America that attest to that Malian presence. Early Spanish explorers and pirates recorded abandoned cities in Brazil that had inscriptions identical to the language of the Mandinka (the people of Mali). More inscriptions in the Mandinka language were found in the United States as well. ”
“Once he got to the Americas, Columbus records numerous examples of Muslims already present. He commented on the gold that the natives had, which was made the same way, in the same alloy, as the Muslims of West Africa. Furthermore, Columbus records that the native word in that area for gold is guanin, which is very similar to the Mandinka word for gold, ghanin, and probably comes from the Arabic word for wealth, ghina’.”
“In 1498, Columbus recorded seeing a ship loaded with goods, heading towards America, filled with Africans who were probably on their way to trade with Native Americans. Columbus also records in his own personal journal that Native Americans told him of black Africans who came regularly to trade with them.Columbus knew that he was not the first to cross the Atlantic Ocean” and the Idea of being first was not his priority, it was to enrich his country and the rule of his Queen.
In 1929, a discovery was made in Istanbul, Turkey, of a map drawn in the year 1513 by the Ottoman cartographer Ahmed Muhiddin Piri (d.1553). “Piri wrote that his map was based on earlier sources, including ancient Greek and Arabic maps, including maps by Christopher Columbus, who had sailed only 21 years earlier. What is remarkable about this map is the level of detail of the map, which forced historians to re-evaluate the Columbus theory of exploration.”
“The map clearly shows the eastern coast of South America, which is in the correct position with regards to Africa. The coast of Brazil is shown in incredible detail, with many rivers accurately placed on the map. Although Piri used Columbus’s maps as a source, Columbus never went to South America, so Piri must have gotten that from earlier Muslim maps that he used as sources. Furthermore, Piri’s map includes the Andes Mountains, which were not even explored by Europeans until the 1520s, a full decade after the drawing of Piri’s map!”