I guy at work today was claiming that Africans were among the first people to reach the Americas. Upon a simple google search i discovered a couple articles arguing evidence for Africans encounter, traded, and shared religion with the native americans. I'm very skeptic to this idea and the sources found. The most common idea i saw was that the Egyptians sailed to the new world but it is my understanding that people back then in general didn't have the seafaring capabilities to cross an entire ocean. What is the truth in all this?
There's been various proponents of this idea, yet none of them have been able to approach the topic with decent standards of scholarship and any knowledge of the pre-Columbian Americas. You might find these posts relevant:
I discuss the issues with Ivan Van Sertima's They Came Before Columbus.
/u/400-rabbits further critiques the same book
I discuss a particularly odd theory of African contact and /u/RioAbajo discusses the latent ideas of uncivilized Americans in most Afrocentric narratives.
If you were looking for thoughts on those particular articles, we'd be glad to help too!