they came before columbus the african presence in ancient america

“Ivan Van Sertima – They came before Columbus.” YouTube, uploaded by fajeetas, 2012. Therefore, the history presents a complex intersection of culture and different perceptions, and it will be difficult to achieve full objectivity in history. Van Sertima’s theories were claimed as Afrocentric in the scientific society, even though they correctly pointed to the ack of objectivism in ancient history. The lecture draws attention to the problem of subjectivism and cultural biases in history. Thus, Van Sertima’s lecture points to the inability of scientific society to go against conventional theory in the complex subject of history. For example, they even pointed to the statues’ child-like features while ignoring the hair texture and other details people pictured in the statues ( They Came Before Columbus). They Came Before Columbus: The African Presence in Ancient America. Van Sertima emphasizes that instead of objectively acknowledging African features of statues, the scientists made steep guesses. It was published in French in 1981 and in. He is the author of They Came Before Columbus: The African Presence in Ancient America, which was published by Random House in 1977 and is presently in its twenty-ninth printing.

The author draws an example of Olmec’s colossal heads discovered in Tres Zapotes to illustrate how the presence of African people in America left traces in art objects. He is also the compiler of the Swahili Dictionary of Legal Terms, based on his field work in Tanzania, East Africa, in 1967. In They Came Before Columbus, we see clearly the unmistakable face and handprint of black Africans in pre-Columbian America, and their overwhelming impact on the civilizations they encountered.The presenter’s main argument is that other evidence can serve as a basis for knowledge besides written evidence, such as biological traces and creative objects.

Examining navigation and shipbuilding cultural analogies between Native Americans and Africans the transportation of plants, animals, and textiles between the continents and the diaries, journals, and oral accounts of the explorers themselves, Ivan Van Sertima builds a pyramid of evidence to support his claim of an African presence in the New World centuries before Columbus.Ĭombining impressive scholarship with a novelist’s gift for storytelling, Van Sertima re-creates some of the most powerful scenes of human history: the launching of the great ships of Mali in 1310 (two hundred master boats and two hundred supply boats), the sea expedition of the Mandingo king in 1311, and many others. They Came Before Columbus reveals a compelling, dramatic, and superbly detailed documentation of the presence and legacy of Africans in ancient America. brilliantly has that there is far more to black history than the slave trade.”-John A. They Came Before Columbus: The African Presence in Ancient America (Journal of African Civilizations) by Dr.

They came before columbus the african presence in ancient america