COMING TO AMERICA—Abubakari II c. 1310 ADAccording to King John II of Portugal:—“Canoes had been found which set out from the coast of Guinea and sailed to the west with merchandise" The average boat on the Niger, in the 1500's A.D., could carry 80 men…“At the mouth of River Real [the Bonny River]…there is a very large village, consisting of about 2,000 souls. Much salt is made here, and in this country are to be found the largest canoes, made of a single trunk, that are known in the whole of Ethiopia of Guinea; some are so large that they hold 80 men. They travel distances of a hundred leagues and more down the river” — Pacheo Pereira SOURCE;(Ghana Social Science Journal Volumes 3-4; 1976)A league is a unit of length that has historically varied in different regions…The most commonly used league is the nautical league, which is equal to three nautical miles or approximately 5.56 kilometers…If we consider the nautical league, 100 leagues would be equal to 300 nautical miles or approximately 556 kilometers (345 miles)Mansa Musa reported that for the first voyage:—"Abu Bakar equipped 2000 ships filled with men and the same number equipped with gold, water and provisions, enough to last them for years, they departed and a long time passed before anyone came back. Then one ship returned and we asked the Captain what news they brought”The captain replied to Mansa Musa:—“Yes, O Sultan, we traveled for a long time until there appeared in the open sea a river with a powerful current, the other ships went on ahead, but when they reached that place, they did not return and no more was seen of them…as for me, I went about at once and did not enter the river. Abu Bakar left me to deputize for him and embarked on the Atlantic Ocean with his men. That was the last we saw of him and all those who were with him. And so, I became king in my own right”That river with a powerful current in the open sea was the North Equatorial Current…Around 1310 AD, it is suggested that thousands of Mandinka and Fulani mariners may have reached the Americas…According to Ibn Fadlullah al-Umari, in his Masalik al Absar, the mariners from Mali during the reign of Abubakari II were known to have made transatlantic voyages…Al-Umari’s source was Mansa Musa, who succeeded Abubakari as ruler of Mali after his departure on the fateful journey…The Aztec Empire, under Emperor Moctezuma I, conquered Cholula in the 15th century, integrating it into their empire. Cholula was a significant religious and cultural center. According to Hernán Cortés in The Letters of Cortés:“I assure your majesty that I have counted 400 mosques and as many towers—all of which were mosques in this city of Cholula.”This presence of m0sques in Cholula raises interesting questions about potential connections between the peoples of the Americas and those from the African and Islamic world, possibly dating back to earlier ENCOUNTERS facilitated by explorers like Abubakari II...