J>I.ICA.IPCIOH J>E LAS YNDl.AS OctD HT.ALIS Pu.n: l Tire Tordellilla, lin&Orawn at the request of King Don Juan of Portugal.in June, 1494, before the European "discovery" of South Ammca, on the strength of information gleaned from African mariners in Guinea. Tht' line is 3i5 leagues west of the Cape Verde islands (apout 1680 miles, using \'.-spucci's measurement of a league) and was later Sttn tb include roughly 200 miles of Brazil. From They came before Columbus THE PASTThey Came Before Columbus: The African Presence in Ancient America by Ivan Van Sertima, 1976, 288 pp., $15. hardcover, · available from: Random House Inc. 221 E. 50th St. New York, NY 10022 When I first mentioned the title of this book to members of the RAIN staff I was greeted with incredulous stares·. My first reaction had not-been dissimilar. It was precisely for this reason that a spokesperson for the Portland Black United Front, Ron Herndon, recommended They Came Before Columbus as a means to expand the concept of Black history and public education. This scholarly, well documented and exceptionally readable book does as much for correcting historical record as eliciting a "shift in consciousness" in the mind of the reader. Researched and written over six years, Van Sertima's book makes use of historical record, is~lated discoveries in a variety of disciplines, and his own skills in anthropology and linguistics to create a composite picture of the link between Africa and America in the days before Columbus. Comparing himself to a detective, struggling to unearth the plot of a murder, Van Sertima brings a number of fascinating bits of information to light: Peter Martyr, the first historian of America, who reported the first contact between Spanish explorers (under Balboa) and Blacks in the New World; the discovery of numbers of realistic clay, stone and gold portraitures of Africans dating as early as 800700 B.C.; linguistic similarities between African and American languages; and the arrival of the banana and yam in the New World before Columbus. All of these cultural similarities point strongly to the presence of African people in the Americas, a position which is made plausible by a natural sea route that connects February/March 1981 RAIN Page 21 Africa and America. Likened to a "marine conveyor belt," the currents along this route can pull ships from one bank to the other, even against their will. The details and problems of this are fully explored in Van Sertima's research, but what remains is a compelling argument for an African presence in Ame.rica centuries before Columbus. It is Van Sertima's assertion that what is needed is not new fa~ts-the facts are there-'-but a fundamentally ~ew. vision of history. They Came Before Columbus is a monumental step towards that goal. - LS Small Arms A Cross-Country Arquebus Considerably lees ingenious than the Spiral Musket, the Croes-Country Arquebue was cumber.eome·and not at all accurate. FromAnns through the Ages ODDITIES Halbritter' s Arms Through the Ages: An Introduction to the $ecret Weapons of History, by Kurt Halbritter, 1980, $5.95 from: Penguin Books 72 Fifth Avenue New York, NY10011 •. A wonderful tongue-in-cheek glimpse into Homo Sapien's penchant for weaponry. The. text and accompanying illustrations are c~nceived to point out the timeless folly of an arms race. One can imagine future entries including many of our most "important" weapori systems. After all, if it's too expensive to practice with or a "Nightmare which few survive," the popularity of the war toy will not last. Wit and wisdom abound. From the Phony Fort.through the invention of gun powder to Kamikaze Catapulters, we are treated to a rare view of military mentality. Halbritter sums it all up while discussing the nineteenth century. " ... An army that has no one to fight redesigns its uniforms." . Highly recommended for anyone who , desires some perspective, and does not want to be caught with their Hot Pantaloons down. -Dante Gilman Dante Gil~an is a-pseudonymous character who relishes aquatic paradises.
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