AFRICAN GLORY

Synopsis

West Africa in the 13th century saw the rise of a vast empire — the Manden Empire. 180 years before Christopher Columbus, its emperor Abu Bakr II set off to cross the Atlantic with an armada of 2,000 ships. He never returned.Ethnologist and historian Jean-Yves Loude presents the results of his meticulous investigation into the traces of the Mandinka emperor Aboubakari II, who, according to a written account collected in an official 14th-century encyclopedia, left the Senegalese coast at the head of a fleet of two thousand ships in 1311. At the same time, the warm voice of Cheick Tidiane Seck, ambassador of African cultures, guides us to the heart of the Mali Empire...

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Ethnologist and historian Jean-Yves Loude presents the results of his meticulous investigation into the traces of the Mandinka emperor Aboubakari II, who, according to a written account collected in an official 14th-century encyclopedia, left the Senegalese coast at the head of a fleet of two thousand ships in 1311. At the same time, the warm voice of Cheick Tidiane Seck, ambassador of African cultures, guides us to the heart of the Mali Empire... 

Why was this story cursed within Mandinka culture itself? Why did the emperor want to mount such a gigantic expedition? He never returned, so did he succeed in his endeavor? Does the American continent retain any traces of Abu Bakari II's arrival on its soil? Could Christopher Columbus himself have known about his predecessor's expedition? Did the African man set foot in America as a king and not a slave?

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