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The popular Narrative of African history often centers around the transatlantic slave trade overshadowing the rich and ancient connections between Africa and the Western Hemisphere... however mounting evidence suggests that Africans had significant interactions with the West long before the era of enslavement ... During the 17th to 19th centuries there were numerous racist theories and beliefs that suggested Africans were intellectually inferior and incapable of advanced achievements, such as seafaring these ideas were part of a broader framework of European colonialism in the justification of slavery, this video explores the possibility of African travel to the West challenging the notion that Africa's historical presence in the Americas begins with slavery ... Arthur de gobineau a French Aristocrat and diplomat, gobineaus's work particularly an essay on the inequality of the human races, had a significant influence on racial theories he argued for the superiority of the Aryan race and portrayed African and other non-european races as inferior it is widely accepted that Christopher Columbus discovered america and that the transatlantic slave trade began in 1619, but a wealth of information suggests native Americans and dark skin aboriginals were already there Pedro Martir, a Spanish historian and explorer who wrote in 1527 that dark-skinned people were indigenous to the Americas at that time. Martir mentioned encountering "negros" in the Isthmus of Panama. These accounts suggest the presence of individuals with African features in certain regions of the Americas during the early Spanish exploration period. another spanish historian Bartolomé de las Casas' gives his account of Columbus' voyage.During Columbus's third voyage, he learned from King Juan of Portugal that ships had come from Guinea with merchandise to the West Indies. Columbus wanted to verify this information and investigate reports of black-skinned people in Hispaniola who brought spear points made of guanin, Columbus tested the spears made of guanin and found them to be from the coast of Guinea, and that the word the natives used derived from the mande language western academia teaches us that European conquest is how cultures exchanged different foods and grains, examples like maize and pineapple is (widely accepted) to be found in the Americas and not traded between Africans before slavery but the evidence says otherwise A mural from Queen Hatshepsut's Temple at Dier el-Bahri on the Nile River includes a maize cob and a pineapple--both New World plants. This mural dates to about 1475 BC. Subsequently, scientists identified remains of two more New World plants (tobacco and cocaine) in the mummy of Ramses II. Alphonse de Condole, a French botanist, noted that Egyptian field workers had found corn or maize kernels in an ancient sarcophagus. He said that this possibly was "an attempt by invaders to cause confusion , Domesticated plants were carried across the seas. New World maize (or “Indian corn”) shows up in the archaeological record of Egypt dating as far back in time as 3000 BC. It can be identified on ceramic pots from the Naquada Phase of pastoral villages at campsites along the Nile River. By 1500 BC, other ancient connections to African voyages towards the west comes from Diodorus Siculus, a Greek historian from the 1st century BC and Pliny the Elder, a Roman author and naturalist who wrote during the early 70s AD. talk about African voyages and interactions with distant lands in his monumental work "Bibliotheca Historica" (Library of History) also in "Naturalis Historia" , While neither did not explicitly mention the Americas in there writings, these narratives do provide insights into African navigational skills and knowledge of the Atlantic Ocean traveling across venturing beyond known territories. contrary to popular belief There are various examples of terracotta heads and sculptures from Mexico, specifically from the regions of Veracruz and Costa Rica, that depict Black individuals. The terracotta sculptures from Veracruz, known as the Veracruz heads, date back to the Pre-Columbian era (specifically from 600 to 900 CE) and were created by the indigenous cultures of the region. These sculptures depict individuals with distinct African facial features, including broad noses, full lips, and textured hair.Similarly, in Costa Rica, there are terracotta sculptures known as Diquís stone spheres, which also exhibit African features. These stone spheres are believed to have been created by the indigenous peoples of the Diquís region between 300 BCE and 1500 CE. The presence of these African-inspired features in the sculptures has led to discussions about the possible connections and influences between African and indigenous American cultures in ancient times. the strongest egypt america connection comes from James L. Murphy's essay titled "Egyptians in Ohio," published by The Ohio Historical Society. It discusses the discovery of a hollow brass hemisphere covered with Egyptian hieroglyphics found in Greenville, Ohio, as well as a similar metallic object reportedly found in Cincinnati dating back thousands of years