There are books you read for information, and there are books you read because they challenge the boundaries of what you've been taught. Dr. Ivan Van Sertima's They Came Before Columbus belongs in the second category.
When I first picked up this book, I expected a discussion about ancient voyages across the Atlantic. What I found was something deeper. Van Sertima was asking readers, especially those of African descent, to reconsider the way history has been framed for generations. Too often, Africa enters mainstream historical narratives as a source of labor, raw materials, or tragedy. Rarely is it presented as a source of exploration, innovation, and global influence. Van Sertima confronted that imbalance head-on.
The book's central argument is straightforward: Africans reached the Americas before Christopher Columbus. To support this claim, Van Sertima gathers evidence from multiple fields. He discusses the ocean currents that flow naturally from West Africa to the Americas. He examines records connected to the Mali Empire and the reported Atlantic expeditions of Mansa Abu Bakr II. He also studies cultural similarities and archaeological findings, including the famous Olmec stone heads of Mexico.
Those colossal heads remain some of the most memorable images in the book. Looking at photographs of them, many readers immediately notice features that Van Sertima believed pointed toward African contact. Whether one agrees with his interpretation or not, the discussion forces a question that has lingered for decades: why are theories involving African achievement often subjected to a level of skepticism that similar theories involving other civilizations sometimes escape?
What makes the book resonate with many Moorish-Americans, and other people of African descent, is not simply the evidence itself. It is the restoration of possibility. Van Sertima reminds readers that African civilizations were not isolated from the world. They traded across deserts, built powerful kingdoms, developed centers of learning, and navigated waterways long before European colonial expansion reshaped global history. A fact that Prophet Noble Drew Ali's literature revealed over a century ago in the famous quote, "The Moors were living up and down the Mississippi river before the European man came here."
One passage that stayed with me concerns the reported voyages of Abu Bakr II. Imagine standing on the western edge of the African continent centuries ago, watching ships disappear into the Atlantic. The water stretches beyond the horizon. No maps reveal what lies ahead. Yet someone made the decision to go anyway. That image alone challenges the stereotype that exploration belonged exclusively to Europe.
The book is not without controversy. Historians and archaeologists continue to debate many of Van Sertima's conclusions. Some arguments are stronger than others. Certain connections feel persuasive, while others require readers to make larger leaps. A fair reading acknowledges both. Still, disagreement does not erase the value of the questions he raised.
What I appreciate most about They Came Before Columbus is that it encourages intellectual confidence. It invites Black readers to investigate history for themselves rather than rely entirely on inherited narratives. Van Sertima understood that recovering history is not simply about the past. It shapes how people understand themselves in the present.
Nearly fifty years after its publication, the book continues to circulate because the conversation it started has never really ended.
If you would like to obtain this comprehensive book, visit The Journal of African Civilizations’ official website to purchase it. Additionally, you can learn more about Dr. Ivan Van Sertima and his other great works. Continue your studies with other book summaries by Hakeem Bey.