he discovery of America is often attributed to Christopher Columbus, despite this fact being refuted several times (the presence of the Vikings being the most popular alternative). There are many theories explaining the presence of humans in America, but the best known is that of the Beringia Land Bridge. This theory suggests that towards the end of the last ice age, humans crossed a strip of land connecting Siberia to Northwest America.
This land passage existed thanks to the low sea levels, going as low as 120 meters. The melting of the glaciers at the end of this ice age caused the waters to rise, making the land bridge disappear along the way.
Pre-Columbian Moorish explorers to the New World
In an interview on The Deen Show with Jerald Dirks, American author and psychologist, Dirks said that Muslims went to America long before Christopher Columbus, adding, “We Muslims were here long before Christopher Columbus ever thought of coming to America.”
There were a number of trips from the Muslim world to the Americas long before Christopher Columbus. The oldest of these was that of Khashkhash ibn Said ibn Aswad, leaving Muslim Andalusia in the year 889CE. Sailing west across the Atlantic to discover a new land which turned out to be the Caribbean Islands. Ibn Aswad ended up making a roundtrip to the carribeans and back to Andalusia.
A Muslim geographer and scientific advisor to the king of Sicily by the name of Sharif al-Idrisi written in the 12th century about a group of eight Muslim sailors who sailed west across the Atlantic from Andalusia to arrive on two new islands where they were captured by Native Americans and held captive. After two or three days, an indigenous king who acted as a translator between the locals and these travelers organized their release and their return to Andalusia. This shows that Native Americans had close contacts with Muslims. However, these trips were not only made from Andalusia but also from Africa.
Pre-Columbian Moroccan explorers to the New World
A famous Moroccan geographer and cartographer by the name of Sharif al-Idrissi (1099-1166) wrote in a book of his that a group of marine navigators from Morocco set sail onto the Atlantic Ocean from Lisbon. On the fourth day, they reached an island where they met a translator speaking to them in Arabic, which suggests that its residents were Muslims from North Africa, most likely from Morocco.
In 1291, Sheikh Zayn Eddine Ali Ben Fadhel al-Mazandarani left Tarfaya to the west under the reign of King Abu-Yaqub Sidi Youssef (1285-1307). He describes his journey through the “sea of fog and darkness” leading him to reach Green Island in the Caribbean.
Conclusion
All of these trips contributed to the knowledge we have today about the Americas. The Moroccan Empire and the Mali Empire exerted a significant influence on the culture and practices of Native Americans. Both empires have made great strides in discovering the new world with some theorists arguing that without the sailors and explorers of North Africa and Andalusia, just as with the Ottoman Empire blocking the Silk Road, the American geopolitical climate would not be the same today.
