Comments on: The rich heritage of Africa in the West

By: Selina

Selina — Fri, 08 Feb 2013 18:36:04 +0000

You have no clue about W. African culture or the history of the continent

Your statement goes to show how much of an Idiot you are

First of out of W. Afri come several societies Obi, HAUSa, Yoruba just to name a few and if they did or didn't have a written language they do speak a language which is Hausa or Yoruba verses CAVE man, which you came out of the CAVES you only grunted which is not a language at all

By: raju

raju — Wed, 05 Dec 2012 15:18:04 +0000

nothing to say

By: Bakari

Bakari — Thu, 16 Aug 2012 02:09:39 +0000

"why is there so much resistance to take into account the African heritage in Mexico/Central America?"

Africans do have a rich heritage in Latin America, but it is POST Columbus, not PRE.

By: Bakari

Bakari — Thu, 16 Aug 2012 01:59:39 +0000

Anything is possible, I guess, but no, it is ridiculous to suppose that Mayans or Olmecs were direct descendants from Africans. There is simply no evidence that there were ever African or ever came from there. All evidence points to an indigenous origin.

By: Werwolf

Werwolf — Wed, 18 Apr 2012 18:06:48 +0000

Projection much?

By: Print Catalog

Print Catalog — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 06:41:29 +0000

Could it be possible that the ancient Olmec and Mayan cultures are snippets from the rich heritage of Africa?

- Blake

By: John Mulligan

John Mulligan — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 19:36:16 +0000

Since nothing I have written seeks to lay claim to the Olmec culture as European, I fail to see how you reached the conclusion that my points are Eurocentric. Rather, you seek to claim Meso-American cultures as having African origins. That's Afrocentrism. I am simply pointing out that Meso-American cultures are precisely that, Meso-American, ie., the indigenous people of Meso-America, not Africa, are responsible for the cultures of the Olmec, Maya, Aztec, etc.

By: Guillermo Herrera

Guillermo Herrera — Thu, 05 Apr 2012 19:07:40 +0000

This entire discourse has been shown to many as an example about how Euro-centric history worshipers such as Mulligan continue to snipe down anything which threatens their view. Circular arguments, outright insistence on ignorance, and the like. Y'all know what we're looking at here. I like that Mulligan is playing along, and continuing to show us how folks like him think and phrase their racism…
Thanks Mulligan, for keeping your ignorance and hatred of history out here on the web for all us to see!
:)

By: John Mulligan

John Mulligan — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 05:43:16 +0000

Because you didn't even read the entire article that you quoted from, if you had, you would understand why I wrote that. The article that you quoted from, and rely upon as your proof, doesn't actually provide you with proof. The article demonstrates why those sources are unreliable. You put that article at issue, I didn't, I just actually read the thing. The article that you quoted from goes on to discuss other, equally ridiculous, claims that other cultures also crossed the Atlantic, that's why I summarized those points. You should read your own "research" before quoting from it. You might feel that you're "hip" because you live in California, as you wrote, but it's hardly a substitute for basic scholarship and logic. Believe what you like, just know that you are only looking for what you want to see.

By: Guillermo Herrera

Guillermo Herrera — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 19:25:44 +0000

Mulligan: Your circular argumentation is very reminiscent of others who pooh-pooh believable and verifiable facts. I provided two sources from Europeans who saw the sail boats from Western Africa, and Africans in modern Panama, and you pooh-pooh all over the place with "bizarre claims that the Irish discovered America, along with the Chinese, the Japanese, people from India, Romans and Jews"… weird statement on your behalf which you use to claim it's all false.
Again, are you able to see, or is your knee-Jerk attitude part of something worse. Why do you pooh-pooh anything proving people in West Africa crossed the Atlantic, even when the proof is right there? Maybe you're part of the Knights of Colombus, hee hee, whose mission is to deny anybody else crossed the Atlantic except for the lone Italian (?)…

By: Guillermo Herrera

Guillermo Herrera — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 19:20:36 +0000

Duuude, YOU did it again: "that this supposed fleet from Mali traveled to Central America, but more than two thousand years after the Olmecs were gone."…
You seem smart, but then again… what's your point.
The "copy and paste" action I did does not negate the facts. People from West Africa crossed the Ocean… why do you seem insistant that since "one group existed later, the whole argument is false"? What's your logic. Olmecs are ancient, Muslims were later, THEY BOTH CROSSED THE ATLANTIC!!!

By: John Mulligan

John Mulligan — Wed, 28 Mar 2012 03:59:47 +0000

You simply copied and pasted your research from a wikipedia page. This is the wikipedia page: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pre-Columbian_trans-…. All you did was highlight and copy the footnotes at the bottom.

The article itself notes the flaws in your argument, that this supposed fleet from Mali traveled to Central America, but more than two thousand years after the Olmecs were gone. Thus, even if it had existed, that fleet could have never influenced Olmec culture. The main thrust of the entire wikipedia page you rely on in this: "However, claims of such contacts are controversial and debated, due in part to much ambiguous or circumstantial evidence cited by proponents."

If you read the entire wikipedia page you rely upon, you'll see all sorts of bizarre claims that the Irish discovered America, along with the Chinese, the Japanese, people from India, Romans and Jews. Here's another wikpedia page discussing extraterrestrials in the ancient world, perhaps you'll find it equally persuasive: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ancient_astronauts

By: Guillermo Herrera

Guillermo Herrera — Tue, 27 Mar 2012 19:59:00 +0000

??? Nor is it racist to say West African had sail ship and crossed oceans. Again, Mulligan, you write something that don't make any sense: "I've never understood this bizarre effort to steal self esteem."
The legacy of Jim Crow was also seen in academia. For hundreds of years, the fact that non-Arab people in Africa had sail ships was not recorded in USA or even British world history studies, despite the Timbuktu Library of books containing history of the Islamic phase of their culture which had trade with the Mongol Empire and had even sent embassies tot he court of Kublai Khan! The people of western Africa crossed the Atlantic, as long ago as people thought to float a bunch of tied sticks together in a river. Now… why is there so much resistance to take into account the African heritage in Mexico/Central America? As a El Salvadorean, I have no problem with accepting the proof in my ancestor's artifacts, as much as I have no problem with Vikings being in Vinland.
Here is basic knowledge to us in the Bay Area, read it and get educated:
According to the abstract of Columbus' log made by Bartolomé de las Casas, the purpose of Columbus’ third voyage was to test both the claims of King John II of Portugal that “canoes had been found which set out from the coast of Guinea [West Africa] and sailed to the west with merchandise” as well as the claims of the native inhabitants of Hispaniola that “from the south and the southeast had come black people whose spears were made of a metal called guanín…from which it was found that of 32 parts: 18 were gold, 6 were silver, and 8 copper.”[75] [76]
75: Thacher, John Boyd (1903). Christopher Columbus: his life, his work, his remains, as revealed by original printed and manuscript records, together with an essay on Peter Martyr of Anghera and Bartolomé De Las Casas, the first Historians of America. New York: G. P. Putnam’s Sons. pp. 379, 380.
76:Gabriel Haslip-Viera; Bernard Ortiz de Montellano; Warren Barbour, "Robbing Native American Cultures: Van Sertima's Afrocentricity and the Olmecs", Current Anthropology, Vol.38 (3), June 1997

By: John Mulligan

John Mulligan — Mon, 26 Mar 2012 14:08:32 +0000

It is not Eurocentrism to incist that the Olmecs and Maya are the ancestors of present day Mesoamericans. It is not Eurocentrism to incist that the ancient Egyptians are the ancestors of present day Egyptians. You don't see Nigerians claiming that they are the descendants of ancient Egypt. Why? Because it's just as ridiculous as an Irish person claiming some link to ancient Greece. Afrocentrism is a brand of black American racism that seeks to rewrite history. The source of most African Americans is West Africa, countries like present day Nigeria, Ghana, etc. As I said, these countries have their own rich history. I've never understood this bizarre effort to steal self esteem.

By: Guillermo Herrera

Guillermo Herrera — Sun, 25 Mar 2012 23:40:44 +0000

The bottom line, Mulligan, is that the Southern Atlantic ocean was traversed by people using sailing ships for a long time. You write, "The Olmec civilization lasted until about 400 BC. The Mali Empire, home of Mansa Musa, was established in 1200, so 1,600 years later.", but what's your point? Are you implying I did not consider… what exactly?
What you fail to understand is that we live with a toxic legacy of Europe-centered worship. The Greeks got their knowledge from Africa, from people who were not the Arabs of today, who had scientists who happened to be dark skin. The place where the Greek scholars sought their info was in KMT (or Egypt). I forgive you for being blind by a legacy of Europe-centered history, but come'n, give it a break! I live in California, where we are a bit hip to being above petty "conservativism" against the bigger picture of World History.

By: John Mulligan

John Mulligan — Fri, 23 Mar 2012 15:22:18 +0000

The Olmec civilization lasted until about 400 BC. The Mali Empire, home of Mansa Musa, was established in 1200, so 1,600 years later. If you search on the internet, you will find "scholars" having written that Africa is responsible for Greece, India, the Maya, the Olmec and Egypt, which is to say, sub-Saharan Africa is actually the source for all these cultures. You will read of mysterious fleets that did all sorts of amazing things, and yet, evidence of those technologies are no where in evidence in Africa. The truth, however, is that sub-Saharan Africa was quite divided from Northern Africa, given the enormous desert in between the two. There were however Nubian exceptions, as in the 25th dynasty of Egypt. What's really going on here is ethnocentric racism at the expense of indigenous Americans and other cultures. There has in fact been pervasive genetic testing of the Olmec over the past two decades with no proof shown of African origins. You are not alone however, there are racists who also claim that the Olmec were Chinese or Nordic. The bottom line is that Mesoamerica has its own vibrant history, and so does sub-Saharan Africa. No one needs to steal from anyone.

By: Dr.G.

Dr.G. — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 18:49:48 +0000

The pre-Islamic books of west Alkebulan were left in the mud after the Islamic Jihad of c.950AD. After the JIhad, there is recorded the west Alkebulan Islamic King Mansa Musa who describes an accurate history of his grandfather's fleet of sail ships who explored the western ocean. John Mulligan, you don't happen to hang out with mainly European-Americans, do you? Prolly why nobody ever cared to tell you this stuff…

By: Dr.G.

Dr.G. — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 18:45:12 +0000

DNA testing showed my ancestors of the Maya realm have kinship with the people of west Alkebulan. That is, 1/3 of us carry the DNA of the great kings and priests who came across the ocean and settled amongst the Maya, who were already there. The history of Central America should forever reflect the truth about the Children of the Corn: Yellow, Black Brown and Red!!!

By: Yukhanan

Yukhanan — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 05:18:31 +0000

DNA testing has proven otherwise John Mulligan we are not all from West Africa a great portion of African Americans are from Central Africa some from the North and even a few from East Africa.

By: John Mulligan

John Mulligan — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 15:16:11 +0000

American blacks are descended from West Africa. The Olmec culture is dated from about 1000 BCE to 400 BCE. The only West African culture around at that time was the Nok culture, in present day Nigeria. The Nok culture had no written language. The Olmec culture did have a written language. The Nok culture had no seafaring technology. If you look at the indigenous people from the region of Mexico where the Olmec culture existed, they look like the people in the carved Olmec heads. They are short and stout with broad features. Thus, there is no evidence that the Olmecs were blacks descended from West Africa. You can't just go claiming another people's culture.