Mansa (meaning king, emperor, or sultan) Abu Bakr II was a 14th-century ruler of the Mali Empire in West Afrika. According to several sources, Abubakari II led Malian sailors to the Americas, specifically present-day Brazil, almost 200 years before Columbus arrived. Malian scholar, Gaoussou Diawara, notes: "Abubakari wanted to find out whether the Atlantic Ocean – like the great River Niger that swept through Mali – had another 'bank.' He had traveled extensively throughout and outside of the AfriKan continent, already owning most of the continent. His predecessor and uncle, Soundjata Keita, had already founded the Mali empire and conquered a good stretch of the Sahara Desert and the great forests along the West Afrikan coast."
Mansa Abubakari II, the Emperor of Mali who traveled to America; Source: lisapoyakama.org
Testimony of Emperor Kanku Musa recorded by the Arab Ibn Amir Hajib and transcribed by Al Omari in the 14th century in Egypt during the pilgrimage of Musa explained: "Lured by exploration, Abubakari II called engineers of the Lake Chad who were known to build ships like their Egyptian ancestors and studied all the ships on the rivers Djoliba (Niger) and Senegal to help him launch a massive fleet across the ocean."