Part 4 of BI-US – the Timeline
Not on a slave ship…
It is my belief that the first Africans arriving on continental US, arrived earlier than was taught. Because American History, and especially Black History has been whitewashed, an incomplete version of the truth has been popularized. If we want to know about black history, we are also looking at all things African, because the melanin in our skin tells us we were first African.
in 1492, King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella exiled the (Muslim) Black Moors from Spain. That same year, the Catholic Church commissioned Christopher Columbus to sail to the new world.
In 1492 – Pedro Alonzo Nino arrived in North America, as the navigator for Christopher Columbus, This connection fascinated me. I found that although Columbus was generally considered Italian (his father’s birthright), his mother was from Valencia, Spain. He is buried in Spain, and his voyages were sponsored by Spain.
The next connection I made is that Spain, Morocco, and Iberia are culturally and geographically connected, by the Strait of Gibraltar; Morocco and Iberia being on the African continent. Together they dominated European culture for approximately 700 years ( through the middles ages) until the 1500’s. Shakespeare knew this. The inter-association of Spanish & Moors was not unusual.
Back on this continent: there are many articles that talk about Gracia Real de Santa Teresa de Mose‘ shortened to Ft. Mose; a free black town in Spanish Colonial Florida. The fort was commanded by Francisco Menendez de Aviles, He arrived in 1565, as a commissioned general, designated to protect Spain’s interests from the colonists. Ft. Mose and the city of St Augustine are inter-related.
Here is an excerpt: from an article from Google, that talks about St Augustine: “Founded in 1565, St. Augustine is the oldest continuously occupied settlement of European and African-American origin in the United States. Forty-two years before the English colonized Jamestown and fifty-five years before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock, the Spanish were established at St. Augustine”.
It is necessary to bring this out, to change your concept of an African presence on the US continent (not as slaves). It was both Spain, and [bordering] Portugal that were prominent in slave trade before England got involved in the 1500’s, and it was Catholics who recommended Africans (you’ll have to scroll down to get the English translation) for trade to the Americas. The predominant religion of the Moors was Muslim. Although mentioned in 2020; today, in Sept, 2023 a new author and book were featured on MSNBC concerning it.
Credit for discovering Florida was given to Ponce De Leon (French) in 1513. In 1753, Florida was given to Britain, by Spain as part of a Treaty (before the War of Independence), and it became a British colony. There was a whole lot of living and populating in the 250 years it belonged to Spain.
Florida did not become part of the United States, until 1821. It is my humble opinion that the first African Americans were Spanish Black Moors in Florida. Why has this, information been ignored?
Hopefully, we have debunked the “1619 slave ship myth”.
By using a yearly timeline, I got to see a bigger and more complete picture, from what has traditionally been accepted or given by piecemeal. I did not hesitate to look for the back-stories. As I continue to explore the TIMELINE by century, I hope you see the developments that brought us to these present times.
CW Porter
