ABUBAKARI, COLUMBUS, AND TOUSSAINT L’OUVERTURE; EXPLORATION, COLONIZATION, AND LIBERATION

It is important when studying Black History, that we are cognizant of the fact that the history of people of African descent did not begin with slavery, and most definitely did not begin in America. Africans had already crossed the Atlantic and arrived in future America at least two hundred years before Christopher Columbus, and they established colonies and settlements here long before Europeans ever did. Mansa Qu, AKA Abubakari, the ruler of the Mali Empire, and untold thousands of men and women sailed to modern-day America aboard two thousand ships in the year 1311 CE. They settled with the Aztecs and with the Olmecs in modern-day Mexico, uniting cultures and becoming one family. Vestiges of the African presence in North America are still evident today (Van Sertima, 1976).

When Abubakari crossed the ocean blue, he left his nephew, Mansa Musa in charge of the empire. Considered the richest man to have ever lived, Mansa Musa ruled Mali in West Africa from 1312 to 1337 CE (Baxter, 2020; Cartwright, 2019). Mali was rich in gold and copper and controlled all the trade between North Africa and the interior of the continent. Under his leadership, Islamic mosques were built, which are still standing today, and libraries and universities of international fame were built in the city of Timbuktu where many elite Europeans came to study and learn from Africans who created the cradle of civilization and the epicenter of wisdom and knowledge (Cartwright, 2019; Van Sertima, 1976). According to a West African Proverb, “Salt comes from the north, gold from the south, and silver from the country of the white men, but the Word of God and the treasures of wisdom are only found in Timbuktu” (Baxter, 2020; Cartwright, 2019).

At the time, Italy was not a country of white men but was a multi-ethnic, racially diverse state with many so-called mixed-race citizens. Amerigo Vespucci was named after his paternal grandfather. He was born in Florence, Italy, and was Italian by nationality and Black by Ethnicity (Ober, 1997). In the late 1400s and early 1500s, he was the Chief Navigator for Spain and was there to greet Christopher Columbus when he returned from his first voyage. In 1492 Columbus sailed the ocean blue and the disease of colonialism, racism, colorism, and slavery began to spread throughout the continent of North America and throughout the world. For nearly a decade, everybody thought Columbus had been to India because that’s what he said and the indigenous people were called Indians.

Then, Amerigo Vespucci crossed the Atlantic, commanding his own ship. He mapped out the land that he saw on the way and demonstrated that it was quite different than what they had known about India. So, Vespucci determined that new land had been found that Europeans had never heard of. He called it the New World (Formisano, 1992; Ober, 1997). Soon, many of the reporters decided that the New World should be named after him and they started calling it America. In Welsh, the prefix “A” means “son.” Merik comes from the word Moor which is the name used to describe the Blacks who lived in the Northwest African state of Morocco. So the name Amerigo means, “Son of a Moor” or “Son of Blacks.” When the suffix “A” is added, it becomes America which means “The Land of the Blacks.” America is named after a Black man and it literally means “The Land of the Blacks” (Kershagama, 2003).

The personal writings of Columbus reveal that he had hoped to spread Christianity with his journeys (Columbus, 1492). History is filled with racists who have spread curses and diseases under the guise of Evangelism and Christian Education. Nowhere are these dreaded curses more evident than on the island of Haiti, known as the land of mountains. Modernity has led many to believe that disharmony and separation was always the law of the land where The Dominican Republic is on one side and Haiti is on the other. No lie can live forever. The entire island was once called Haiti (Ayiti), the west side was called Bohio, which means home, and the east side was called Quisqueya, which means mother of the earth (Nguyen, 2015). The indigenous people were known as Taino and were one people who had been living in peace and harmony until the advent of colonialism which forced them to live under oppression.

The slave rebellion, which began on August 22, 1791, in San Domingo was not an anomaly. Many revolts would sporadically take place all over the world; however, they would usually be put down in a short period of time. In San Domingo, from plantation to plantation, Africans enthusiastically joined the fray, optimistically believing that they could shake off the shackles of oppression and fight to achieve freedom. By their masters, the Africans had been raped, tortured, and degraded for sport. Such atrocities were now required in kind. Yet the allegations of bestiality on the part of the Black freedom fighters never reached the level of which they had suffered for over two hundred years at the hands of the white oppressors. James says, “The cruelties of property and privilege are always more ferocious than the revenge of poverty and oppression” (James, 1938, p. 88-89). For the former is devoted to conquering and imposing subjugation upon the landless whereas the latter is simply a temporary passion that is soon dissipated.

The rebellion had taken a significant turn and it was all out war. The conflict began with a grievance of poor underprivileged whites against wealthy whites and Mulattoes who enjoyed certain privileges that the impoverished did not, like the right to vote and the right to own real property. When the enslaved joined in the fighting, it became a revolutionary war to rid the island of slavery, white privilege, and light-skinned privilege. Many whites were apathetic towards the adversities faced by the dark-skinned Blacks who were mostly slaves. But now, the balance of power was shifting, whites were on the run, and the Blacks had the upper hand. The French sent reinforcements; and though some mulattoes fought with the whites, many, along with the free Blacks and the Maroons, joined the side of the slaves (James, 1938). All that was needed was a strong, intelligent leader to emerge and rally the troops to defeat the oppressor.

Toussaint L'Ouverture, a freed Black man who was a great-grandson of an African king, epitomized leadership. He was a cowboy before the term became popular and had authority over the care of livestock. Because of his ingenuity, some Blacks were assigned to remain on the plantations to perform farm work because he knew that a strong, efficient economy depended on the produce of an agrarian society. He trained Black men to be soldiers and to fight. And he negotiated with the Spanish against the French and with the French against the Spanish (James, 1938.).

Many Blacks knew that Spain was closely allied with England, who having recently lost control of the thirteen colonies in America, was still very pro-slavery. Therefore, many Blacks were quite pessimistic about the possibility of freedom tied to an association with Spain and England. In the summer of 1793, to assuage their fears and reiterate his commitment to liberty, Toussaint wrote, “Brothers and friends. I am Toussaint L’Ouverture, my name is perhaps known to you. I have undertaken vengeance. I want Liberty and Equality to reign in San Domingo. I work to bring them into existence. Unite yourselves to us, brothers, and fight with us for the same cause, etc. Your very humble and very obedient servant, Toussaint L’Ouverture, General of the Armies for the King, for the Public Good” (James, 1938, p. 125). All Blacks and most Mulattoes joined with Toussaint because not doing so often led to instant death because racist poor whites and the influx of bigoted soldiers forced them into Toussaint’s band. Even those who were peacefully content and had fearfully resolved to live as slaves were forced to choose between the daunting probability of death by lynching and the faithful possibility of freedom gained by the taking up of arms in the cause of liberty and justice.

It was inevitable that England would throw her hat in the ring because Hispaniola was one of the most lucrative colonies in the entire world; there was so much money to be made, that such a superpower could not simply watch the fight from a ringside seat. During the ensuing winter, England united with Spain in the war. France then promised Toussaint that if he would switch sides, they would abolish slavery. Toussaint and his army switched sides and joined the ranks of their former masters and oppressors. Toussaint now had white French soldiers under his command, fighting alongside Black soldiers, many of whom had most recently been held in bondage, against the English/Spanish coalition (James, 1938).

In 1798 England withdrew when Toussaint agreed not to sail to Jamaica and free the slaves there; and Spain ceded the western third of Hispaniola to Toussaint. St. Domingue (Bohio) became known as Haiti and San Domingo (Quisqueya) eventually became known as the Dominican Republic.

Then in 1802, Toussaint, the African Prince, and now founder and First President of the Democratic Republic of Haiti, was summoned to meet with one of the French generals. He was arrested and deported to France where he spent the rest of his life in prison. Having time to self-reflect and offer an introspection of the situation, Toussaint knew that the cause for freedom was bigger than himself and would not die with him. From the cell of his death, he wrote these words, “In overthrowing me you have cut down in Saint Domingue only the trunk of the tree of liberty; it will spring up again from the roots, for they are numerous and they are deep” (James, 1938, p. 334). Those deep roots, cultivated by Dessalines, gave Napoleon Bonaparte the worst defeat of his career; they sprang up and choked the fight of out of the French army who gave up and left the Island (James, 1938).

France was then forced to give up all its interests in America and sold, for a nominal fee, more than a third of the territory there, land that would eventually become thirteen new states. It was a transaction known as the Louisiana Purchase of 1803 that would have a direct impact on the American Civil War which was already brewing in America. Everyone there had heard of the success of Toussaint and Dessalines in Haiti. Men like Denmark Vesey, Gabriel Prosser, and Nat Turner would lead revolts of their own that were all suppressed and extirpated unlike in Haiti where independence was declared on the First of January 1804, becoming the first free, Black republic in the world. The Haitian Revolution is the only truly successful slave rebellion in world history. Toussaint L’Ouverture is responsible for freeing the slaves in Haiti and the Dominican Republic. He is the father of the Nation of Haiti who led a revolutionary war for independence just as George Washington had done for America a couple of decades earlier.


WORKS CITED

Baxter, Joan. (2000). BBC News. America’s Greatest Explorer. Retrieved 2 September 2024
From: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/1068950.stm

Cartwright. M. (2019). World History Encyclopedia. Timbuktu. Retrieved 2 September 2024
From: https://www.worldhistory.org/Timbuktu/#google_vignette

Columbus, C. (1492). The American Yawp Reader. The Journal of Christopher Columbus.
Retrieved 2 September 2024 From:
https://www.americanyawp.com/reader/the-new-world/journal-of-christopher-columbus/

James, C.L.R. (1938). The Black Jacobins; Toussaint L’Ouverture and the San Domingo
Revolution. Random House. New York.

Nguyen, E. (2015). How Haiti Got Its Name; A reminder this Columbus Day. Haiti Hub.
Retrieved 3 September 2024 From:
https://haitihub.wordpress.com/2015/10/08/how-haiti-got-its-name-a-reminder-this-columbus-day/

Van Sertima (1976). They Came Before Columbus; The African Presence in Ancient America.
Random House. New York