Pre-Columbian Islamic contact theories

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Pre-Columbian Islamic contact theories are those theories and speculations which contend (contrary to all mainstream historical interpretations) that there was contact between expeditions and individuals of the Islamic faith with the indigenous peoples of the Americas at some point during the pre-Columbian history of the Americas, i.e. before Columbus's first voyage to the Americas in 1492.

Proponents of such claims cite as evidence their interpretations of several reports of expeditions and voyages conducted by Muslim navigators and adventurers from the late 9th century onwards, which appear in some writings of contemporary Muslim scholars and historians.

The maritime prowess and significant navigational accomplishments made by individuals and states of the Muslim world during this period of the 'Islamic Golden Age' is unquestioned, and the exploits of well-known Muslim travellers such as Ibn Battuta and Zheng He are representative of the wide-ranging extent and reach of Muslim geography and influence across the continents of Africa, Europe and Asia. However, no contemporary report or subsequent archaeological artifact put forward as evidence for pre-Columbian Islamic contact and influence has been accepted by mainstream historians and scholars (both Muslim and non-Muslim) as providing any demonstration that these explorations ever extended to reaching the New World.

1 Khashkash from Córdobas exploration
2 Mali Empire
3 The "Zheng He map"
4 See also
5 References

[edit] Khashkash from Córdobas exploration

A Muslim historian and geographer Abu Hassan Ali ibn Al-Hussain al-Masudi 871 - 957 wrote in his book Muruj adh-dhahab wa maadin aljawhar (The meadows of gold and quarries of jewels) that during the rule of the Muslim caliph of Al-Andalus Abdullah Ibn Mohammad, a Muslim navigator, Khashkhash Ibn Saeed Ibn Aswad, from Cordoba, Spain sailed from Delba (Palos) in 889, crossed the Atlantic, reached an unknown territory (ard majhoola) and returned with fabulous treasures. In Al-Masudi's map of the world there is a large area in the ocean of darkness and fog which he referred to as the unknown territory^[1]

[edit] Mali Empire

Two accounts drawn from some contemporary reports about the Mali Empire have in particular been cited by modern early-contact theory proponents as indicating that expeditions from this Islamic West African empire could have crossed the Atlantic to reach the Americas. Neither of these accounts are corroborated by any physical or other evidence which demonstrates, to the satisfaction of mainstream historians, that these expeditions ever did make a landing in the Americas- or even whether the expeditions took place as described at all.

In his book Massaalik al-absaar fi mamaalik al-amsaar(the pathway of sight in the provinces of the kingdoms) the Muslim Historian Chihab Ad-Dine Abu Abbas Ahmad bin Fadhl al Umari (1300 - 1384) describes in detail the geographical exploration on the other side of the atlantic by the Sultan of Mali Abu Bakari I^[2]

Sultan Mansa Musa 1312 - 1337 was the Mandinka monarch of the West African Islamic empire of Mali. While travelling to Makkah on his famous Hajj in 1324 , he informed the scholars of the Mamluk Bahri sultan court An-Nasir Nasir Edin Muhammad III 1309 - 1340 in Cairo, that his brother, sultan Abubakari I 1285 - 1312 had undertaken two expeditions into the Atlantic Ocean. When the sultan did not return to Timbuktu from the second voyage of 1311, Mansa Musa became sultan of the empire.^[3]

[edit] The "Zheng He map"

1763 Chinese map of the world, claiming to incorporate information from a 1418 map. Discovered by Lui Gang in 2005.

Zheng He was born in 1371 of the Hui ethnic group and into the Muslim faith in modern-day Yunnan Province. He himself was a living example of religious tolerance, perhaps even syncretism.^[4] Between 1405 and 1433, the Ming government sponsored a series of seven naval expeditions. The Yongle Emperor designed them to establish a Chinese presence, impose imperial control over trade, and impress foreign peoples. He also might have wanted to extend the tributary system, by which Chinese dynasties traditionally recognized foreign peoples. Zheng He was placed as the admiral in control of the huge fleet and armed forces that undertook these expeditions. Zheng He's first voyage consisted of a fleet of 317 ships holding almost twenty-eight thousand armed troops. Many of these ships were mammoth nine-masted "treasure ships" which were by far the largest marine craft the world had ever seen.

In January 2006, BBC News and The Economist both published news regarding the exhibition of a Chinese sailing map claimed to be dated 1763, which was stated to be a copy of another map purportedly made in 1418 by Zheng He. The map has detailed descriptions of both Native Americans and Native Australians. According to the map's owner, Liu Gang, a Chinese lawyer and collector, he purchased the map in 2001 for $500 USD from a Shanghai dealer.

After Liu read the book "1421: The Year China Discovered the World" by Gavin Menzies, he realized the significant potential value of the map. The map has been tested to verify the age of its paper, but not the ink. Even though the map has been shown to date from a period that could cover 1763, the question remains as to whether it is an accurate copy of an earlier 1418 map, or simply a copy of a contemporary 18th-century European map.

A number of authorities on Chinese history have questioned the authenticity of the map. Some point to the use of the Mercator-style projection, its accurate reckoning of longitude and its North-based orientation. None of these features was used in the best maps made in either Asia or Europe during this period (for example see the Kangnido map (1410) and the Fra Mauro (1459). Also mentioned is the depiction of the erroneous Island of California, a mistake commonly repeated in European maps from the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries.

Geoff Wade of the Asia Research Institute at the National University of Singapore has strongly disputed the authenticity of the map and has suggested that it is either an 18th or 21st-century fake. He has pointed out a number of anachronisms that appear in the map and its text annotations. For example, in the text next to Eastern Europe, which has been translated as "People here mostly believe in God and their religion is called 'Jing'", Wade notes that the Chinese word for the Christian God is given as "Shangdi", which is a usage that was first coined by Jesuit missionaries in the 16th century.

In May 2006, it was reported by the Dominion Post that Fiona Petchey, head of the testing unit at Waikato University, which had carbon dated the map. The carbon dating indicated with an 80% probability a date for the paper of the map between either 1640-1690 or 1730-1810.^[5]

The 1421 hypothesis has proven popular with the general public, but has been dismissed by Sinologists and other professional historians.