Abubakari II was a mansa of the Mali Empire, the successor of his nephew Mohammed ibn Gao and predecessor of Kankan Musa I. Abubakari II appears to have abdicated his throne in order to explore "the limits of the ocean"; however, his expedition never returned. Malian scholar Gaoussou Diawara has argued that he reached the Americas some time in the early 14th century, but these claims have been rejected by historians.[1]
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Background
Mansa Abubakari II, sometimes called Abu Bekr II or Mansa Mohammed, was one of two sons of Kolonkan, a sister of the founding emperor Sundjata Keita. He was the last of a mini-dynasty within the Keita clan of emperor's descending from Kolonkan. After his abdication in 1311, the Faga Laye mini-dynasty would control the empire.
Reign
Virtually all that is known of Abubakari II was recorded by the scholar Al-Umari during Kankan Musa I's historic hajj to Mecca. While in Egypt, Musa explained the way that he had inherited the throne after Abubakari II's abdication. He explained that in 1310, the emperor financed the building of 200 vessels of men and another 200 of supplies to explore the limits of the sea that served as empire's western frontier. The vessles were pirogues built from large, hollowed out trees equipped with oars and perhaps sails. The mission was inconclusive, and the only information available on its fate came from a single sailor who refused to follow the other ships once they reached a "river in the sea". According to Musa I, his predecessor was undeterred and launched another fleet with himself at the helm. In 1311, Abubakari II temporarily ceded power to Musa, then serving as his kankoro-sigui or vizier, and departed with a thousand vessels of men and a like number of supplies. After the emperor failed to return, Musa became emperor.
Debate on Trans-Atlantic Contact
According to Mark Hyman, Abubakari II had no interest in battles, conquests, Koranic recitals but instead he had interest in scholar's stories of a “gourd-shaped world, the big ocean to the west and the new world beyond that”. The mansa interviewed sail-builders from Egypt and Mediterranean cities and decided to build ships on the coast of Senegambia. The preparation for the journey included carpenters, smiths, men who knew navigation, merchants, potters, jewelers, weavers, magicians, diviners, thinkers, and all branches of the Mandinka military. Every vessel tugged a supply-boat with food for two years, dried meat, grain, preserved fruit in ceramic jars, and gold for trade. [2] Key Ships would communicate with drummers, all communications were coordinated from the leading ship of the fleet. [2][3] Ibn Fadlullah al-Umari (1300-1348), in his encyclopaedia Masalik Al-Absar, quoted his brother, Sultan Mansa Musa Ibn Amir Hajib, as saying:
- We belong to a family where the son succeeds the father in power. The ruler who preceded me did not believe that it was impossible to reach the extremity of the ocean that encircles the earth (meaning Atlantic), and wanted to reach to that (end) and obstinately persisted in the design. So he equipped two hundred boats full of men, as many others full of gold, water and victuals sufficient enough for several years. He ordered the chief (admiral) not to return until they had reached the extremity of the ocean, or if they had exhausted the provisions and the water. They set out. Their absence extended over a long period, and, at last, only one boat returned. On our questioning, the captain said: 'Prince, we have navigated for a long time, until we saw in the midst of the ocean as if a big river was flowing violently. My boat was the last one; others were ahead of me. As soon as any of them reached this place, it drowned in the whirlpool and never came out. I sailed backwards to escape this current.' But the Sultan would not believe him. He ordered two thousand boats to be equipped for him and for his men, and one thousand more for water and victuals. Then he conferred on me the regency during his absence, and departed with his men on the ocean trip, never to return nor to give a sign of life.[4]
Lopez de Gomara and Peter Martyr d'Anghiera give accounts of the presence of Blacks, looking like those of Africa, in Central America in the early 16th century. The Garifuna are alleged to claim that their African ancestors came to the Americas before Columbus.[5] Ivan van Sertima, a Guyanese scholar teaching at Rutgers University in New Jersey, makes the case that Abubakari II travelled to the New World in They Came Before Columbus: The African Presence in Ancient America.
Notes
- ^ So Muslims Came to America Before Columbus?
- ^ a b Blacks Before America, Mark Hyman, Xlibris Corporatio, 2003. ISBN 1413400116
- ^ African Presence in Early America, Ivan Van Sertima, Transaction Publishers, 1987. ISBN 0887387152
- ^ 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.
- ^ African Descendants in Latin America Africaresource, Sunday, 26 August 2007
References
- Joan Baxter, "Africa's 'greatest explorer.'" BBC. December 13, 2000 (uncritical summary of Diawara's novel).
| Preceded by Mohammed ibn Gao |
Mansa of the Mali Empire 1310–1312 |
Succeeded by Kankan Musa I |
External links
- Malian praise singer Sadio Diabate, singing about Abubakar II - BBC World Service Audio
