In the modern view, black Africans before the European era rarely left Africa. It is often said that they traveled solely under pressure from non-African slave traders or conquerors. This reinforces the stereotype of Africans being passive, supposedly devoid of curiosity and desire to explore the world beyond their homelands. There is a view that Europeans had a “natural” advantage characterized by an active mind and thirst for adventure. It is assumed that black Africans never sought to travel themselves.
However, history knows examples of black Africans traveling outside Africa in the role of free men – as traders, explorers, conquerors, colonists and diplomats, showing initiative and strength.
Africans in ancient Asia
Since Asia is connected to Africa, it is worth noting that East and North Africans have crossed the border into West Asia and West Asians into North and East Africa since ancient times.
Conquerors and occupying armies
In the 2nd century CE, Ethiopian King Azbah sent military contingents to South Arabia and stationed Ethiopian troops there. The Ethiopians occupied Saba again from 335 to 370, establishing Christianity in South Arabia. In 524, the Ethiopians under King Ella Asbeha invaded South Arabia again, supporting a coalition of Axumists, Arabian Christian refugees, and the Eastern Roman Empire, whose goal was to overthrow the ruling class and bring back Christian refugees. The Ethiopians were victorious.
After King Ella Asbeha returned to Africa, the Ethiopian military officer Abrea seized the South Arabian throne in 532, spreading influence to the north and center of Arabia, becoming one of the significant figures of Arabian history.
Traders and pilgrims
During the Middle Ages, religious and commercial travel by Africans flourished vigorously. African Muslims had been making pilgrimages to Mecca since the emergence of Islam. By 1400, annual caravans crossed the Sahara along six major routes, carrying traders, pilgrims, and Islamic scholars to North Africa and Asia.
Swahil trade ships traveled along the east coast of Africa from Madagascar to southern Arabia. By the eleventh century, East African traders were active in India. At the time of European colonization, the Portuguese welcomed Swahili traders from Mogadishu, Malindi, Mombasa, and Kilwa at the port of Malaca (present-day Malaysia).
Ambassadors and envoys
Song Shi (History of the Song Dynasty) mentions Zenjistan’s embassy visits to China in 1071 and 1081-1083. Zenjistan is the Persian form of the Arabic Zenjibar for the East African coast. The leader of the embassy, whose name is recorded in Chinese sources as Zengjiani, made a great impression on the imperial court. On his second visit, he received a substantial amount of “white gold” in exchange for tribute and was honored as a guest of honor. He reached China in 160 days, passing through Sohar in Oman, Kulam Malai in South India and Palembang in Sumatra. Marco Polo did not reach China until 1275, two centuries after the Africans.
Africans in ancient Europe: conquerors and colonists
Eastern Europe
Around 450 BC, the Greek author Herodotus wrote about the inhabitants of Colchis (modern Georgia): “It is undeniable that the Colchis are descended from the Egyptians. I noticed it myself before I heard about it from anyone….. My opinion is based, first, on the fact that they have black skin and curly hair… and second, and especially, on the fact that the Kolhi, Egyptians and Ethiopians are the only peoples who have practiced circumcision since ancient times.” He also noted that the Kolhi weaved flax similar to Egyptian flax. Archaeologists have confirmed that the Kolhi and the Egyptians used the same vertical two-beam looms.
Herodotus mentioned a story told by Egyptian priests about Pharaoh Sesostris, who led an army through Syria and Turkey to Colchis, then through southern Russia and south again through Romania until he reached Bulgaria and eastern Greece. Sesostris returned home by the same route, leaving the colonists at the Phasis River in Colchis. Although Herodotus warned that this story was handed down by Egyptian priests, the Colchians themselves had legends of Egyptian colonization.
Some modern historians consider Herodotus unreliable, but his account is not the only evidence of an African presence in Eastern Europe. In the late 4th century, the Church Fathers St. Jerome and Sophronius referred to Colchis as “the second Ethiopia” because of its black population.
Greece
Although traditional accounts are often contradictory and do not prove that Africans actually colonized Greece, archaeology has provided additional evidence such as pyramids in Greece built before 2400 BC. The Pyramid of Amphion, excavated by Greek archaeologist Theodore Spyropoulos in 1971, contained four gold pendants shaped like lilies and decorated with papyrus-like shapes, a typical Egyptian motif. This pyramid towered more than 30 meters high. The inner passage contained staircases, niches and a complex floor plan with branching tunnels, which Spyropoulos found “very similar” to the layout of Egyptian tombs. Pottery fragments from the tomb date to the early Helladic period (2900-2400 BC), a time when Greece is thought to have lacked the technology for such a project.
Africans in the ancient Americas: explorers, traders, and settlers
In 1976, Ivan Van Sertina, a professor of African Studies at Rutgers University, published a book titled They Came Before Columbus: African Presence in the Ancient Americas. It explores the evidence that West African traders may have crossed the Atlantic long before Columbus. The September 1981 issue of Science Digest states, “The great stone heads of Mexico are by far the most impressive evidence that when civilization was emerging in the New World more than 2,000 years ago, black people from Africa had already reached these shores…”
The Arab writer El Omari, in his book Masalik al-absad, mentions a story that suggests that Atlantic voyages were made by sailors of West Africa during the time of Emperor Kankan Musa of Mali (early 14th century); stating that Kankan Musa’s predecessor (Emperor Abu Bakari, Musa’s brother) sailed to the Atlantic with “two thousand ships” and sailed westward, disappearing.