If I knew then what I know now I’d have stood up and given my Primary 4 teacher a good lecture. I can’t believe I grew up believing that Christopher Columbus discovered the West Indies and Guyana!

Well, for all of you who still believe that allow me to dispel that myth. Right this moment, you need to get that notion out of your head. For decades now, yes DECADES, historians and other supporting academics have accumulated evidence which proves that thousands of years before Columbus arrived in the “New World” Africans had journeyed to its shores.

In fact, now that I think about it I don’t know why I ever believed the Columbus myth. After all, Columbus wrote in his journals of meeting people wherever he had traveled. How then could he discover a land that was already home to thousands of people?

So by now, I hope I’ve caught your interest and that you’re in the mood to read more about the real story of the West Indies and Guyana. Guyanese Historian Dr. Ian Van Sertima, in his book “They Came Before Columbus”, provides undeniable evidence which completely dispels the notion that Columbus discovered the “New World”. It’s a very enlightening read.

I was shocked when I first discovered just how “miseducated” (a term I first heard from Anthony Browder) we’ve been. It’s time that we all stand up to this “miseducation”. So spread the word and the next time you hear someone saying “Columbus discovered…” don’t even let them finish the sentence. It’s about time that we learn our real history.