African Traders and the Maya Indians

The Syllabic Characters in the Codex Tro-Crotesianus

Codex Tro-Crotesianus

The Comalcalco bricks make it clear that the Mayan Indians taught many different forms of writing at their Universities. The "Salazar Brick" is a bilingual Olmec-Maya text. Decipherment of this brick allows us to read the Mayan inscriptions by looking at the syllabic signs contained in the Mayan heiroglyphics.



The Mayans had a syllabic writing systems model on the Olmec script. An examination of the Ekchuan 'Black Trader' God and inscriptions from the Codex Tro-Crotesianus will be used to support this hypothesis.


Bishop Diego de Landa recorded a Maya script of 29 signs. Many scholars using Landa's alphabet have been unable to read the entire script. The syllabic nature of the Mayan writing explains the more than 287 characters associated with this writing, not including variants which appear in the Maya Codices. The reason we have so many Mayan signs results from the uniting of groups of syllables to make Maya words and sentences.

Landa made it clear that the Maya script was made up of drawings and signs within the drawings (Tozzer, 1941:p.169). This point of Landa's presentation on the Mayan writing, led me to attempt to break down Maya glyphs into their constituent parts to try and determine if the smbols inside the glyphs that resembled Olmec signs, could be given Mayan phoneticization and read in Yucatec Mayan.


Rafinesque was sure the Mayan writing was related to the Libyco-Berber writing in Africa. Yuri Knorosov and Eric Thompson recognized the syllabic nature of Mayan writing. For example, Thompson hypothesized that the footprint sign from Landa's list called "B", represented the Yucatec word be 'road'.


I began my attempt to read Mayan inscriptions based on the work of Knorosov who read the inscriptions based on the context of the inscription. The best source of the Mayan syllabic signs is the codex Tro-Crotesianus. Here there is frequent mention of Ekchuah or God M. According to Sahagun, the first foreign merchants sold mantles (chimalli) and waistcloths (maxtli).


Leo Wiener in Mayan and Mexican Origins , and Ivan van Sertima, They came before Columbus , published several illustrations of Ekchuah. I read the Mayan inscriptions by giving each of the syllabic signs of the Maya syllables the phonemic value the identical sign in the Olmec writing. After transliterating the Mayan syllables, I read each syllable in Yucatec Maya.


In Mayan times, most items of trade were carried by boat. The major product involved in the native trade was cocao, a crop they only grew in watered field.


Though most trading was by sea a special group of merchants carried goods overland under the protection of the god Ekchuah. The Merchants of Ekchuah were guided along these perilous trails by the North Star: Xaman. Ekchuah was also the diety of cocao growers , probably because this group early monopolized.


In Mayan times cocao beans were used as currency or ta-kin . The god EkChuan appears seventeen times in the Madrid Codex and once in the Dresden codex.


Ekchuan and many of the merchants carrying goods are given African features and painted black. These merchants usually carries a corded hamper and pouch and flint-tipped spear with a headband on his head.

The God of the North was called Xaman. Xaman is associated with richness and abundance. Below we use the syllabic method to read the Mayan Codex.

This panel reads : "The merchants of the god Ekchuah (come carrying) fine skins (co) (and) bitter cocao beans (ki ta kin). The cocao beans are shelled (po'o). (They are) Priest of the divinity (and) exist in a unique state. (They represent) Xaman god of the North".

There is another interesting inscription about the Afro-Mexicans from the Tro-Crotesianus codex.

In this inscription we can easily break down each glyph into there syllabic parts.

We can read this inscription moving from right to left. There are four rows of inscriptions. Row 1, is on the far right side of the panel. Row2, is the glyphs written above the fire stick. Row 3 consist the symbols on the immediate left side of the panel and; row 4, is the group of glyphs on the far left side of the panel.

Let's transliterate the signs

Row 1

1. ta
2. i yu
3. Mayaland
4. ta zay
5. i
6. ku
7. Chikin sign

Row 2

1. t-o'
2. pe
3. qu
4. firestick

Row 3

1. Ta
2. Ku
3. Sign of Ekchuah (Ta Fa gyo).
4. ..........
5. Ta
6. ku
7. ku
8. Yum Kaaz (Lord of the North)
9. Lamat
   

Row 4

1. Pe
2. pe
3. Eb day sign
4. ta
5. ku
6. ta zay co
   
7. Be
8. May
9. to
10. a
11. ki

Translation

"Row 1: These thick men (came to) the marketplace of Mayaland.(?)....Their thick pouches (full of goods) they were assembled at the Chikin market.

Row 2: Long ago the Merchants of Ekchuah transported (goods to the) gods.

Row 3: Thick men (came) to the market (from the) East. Pouches came to the market from the Lord of the North on Lamat day.

Row 4: They carry and transport (to the market) thick pouches assembled (with) skins (inside). (The merchants appeared on ) Eb (the lucky market day). They went to the May (Priest) (to) present bitter wine (at the temple)."






Reference:

A.M. Tozzer (Ed.). Landa's Relacion de las Casas de Yucatan: A translation. Peabody Museum of American Archaeology and Ethnology. Cambridge 1941.

Black Gods of the Maya

African Writing in Mayan Inscriptions

Today over 500,000 Mexicans live in Mexico. On the Gulf coast we find the Afro-Vercruzanos, who claim descent from African slaves and Cubans.

But 70,000 Blacks live in Costa Chica. These Negrocostachicanos claim they arrived in Mexico due to ship wrecks. They live in areas (especially mountains) where their is no history of slavery. They practice many African traditions.

The Negrocostachicanos may be our link to the Africans who lived in Mexico that date back to pre-Olmec times.

We usually talk about the Olmecs as representatives of Pre-Columbian Blacks. But there are also Blacks dating back to Mayan times. It was the Olmec who gave the Mayans writing. Here is a bi-lingual Mayan-Olmec text.You can read about this text .

In the Mayan Madrid Codex and Troano Codex for example, we see the Mayan gods Ekchuah, and gods L & M.Ekchuah was recognized by the Mayan as the god of traveling merchants due to the influence of Blacks in the Mayan world as merchants.

Ekchuah has affinity to the Olmec bird god. Ekchuah is often called the long nose god. The glyph associated with Ekchuah, numbers 45 and 46 above support this title.

The symbol for Ekchuah is made up of three signs. This symbol is made up of a circle at the opening of a horseshoe figure with two or three circles at the base of the symbol.

Figures 45 and 46 only have the two circles at the base of the symbol.

This reads from top to bottom:

• ta
• fa
• gyo

This message is "Priest of the divinity--(they) exist in a unique state.

When the Ekchuah has three cirlces at the base it reads:

• ta
• fa
• se

The text reads "A partisan of the march (who) satisfies (your) needs".

Xaman the North Star God, is associated with Ekchuah. Often Xaman is depicted with facial chracteristics common to the African type and the compound ear-rings, which were also popular in ancient Africa.

Above is another Mayan inscription relating to the Black merchants. Reading the inscriptions in the Mayan language left to right we have the following:

Column 1 Top to bottom

1. Priest of the divinity exist in a unique state.
2. Xaman god of the North.

Column 2 Top to bottom

1. Santified
2. Co ki ta kin
3. Pouch on the back of the traveling Merchant
4. Po ta kinTranslation reading from right to left.

"The merchants of god Ekchuah (come carrying) fine skins (and) bitter cocao beans. The cocao beans are shelled. (They are) Priest of the divinity (and) exist in a unique state. (They represent) Xaman the god of the North".

Olmec Writing

Proto-Sumerian Writing

There are a number of Proto-Sumerian text. These text are usually found on seals that depict Sumerian Gods and writing. Lets examine the seal below. The Sumerians originally lived in Middle Africa. When they went to Mesopotamia they took the Saharan writing with them. Using the Vai script to learn the phonetic value of the Proto-Sumerian signs, you can read the inscriptions in the Sumerian language.

Let's read the seal above written in the Proto-Sumerian symbols. The V and small "t'signs are read Mi Mesh "Praise the diviner". Connected to this sign are three additional symbols a half moon sign, with a line in the middle, that goes below the half circle and turns into a pyramid placed just above the human headed feline.

Beginning with the line above the half moon we read : i a pa "The [Diviner] the leader to capture the watercourse".The diviner is probably the figure setting on the box sign with a small "t" inside. The box with a small "t" inside reads bu mesh "The perfect Diviner".

On the Diviner's arm we see three wavy lines above the arm on the rudder. These wavy lines can be interpreted as the word zi "the breath of life".At the rear of the boat we see a figure holding one sign in his hands and another sign is near the bottom of his robe. The sign in his hand is called ta 'entrust', the line on his robe is a compound sign tu la "make the luxurious libation".

The seal would read from left to right as follows:" Entrust [the Diviner] to make the luxurious libation. The breath of life is the Perfect Diviner. Praise the Diviner. [He is] the leader [who will] subdue the watercourse".

Here is another interesting Sumerian seal. On this seal we see the Sun God between two peaks.

Paul Menansala has observered in relation to this figure the following:"The Sun God stands between the peaks of Mt. Mashu, located at the end of the earth to the East and through which the sun rises from the underworld."

Let's see what the inscription says. On the arms of the Sun god we see three wavy lines on each arm. The wavy lines mean zi There are Proto-Sumerian signs before the figure and behide the figure. In front of the Sun God we have the following: i ta mi "Emerge Deity to open [here] a phenomenal area of your power". Behind the figure we read the following: Mash pu gal "The Deity's perfect Diviner is great".

Above we have a very interesting Sumerian/ Akkadian seal. Some researchers claim the "cuneiform" inscription reads Adda the dubsar or scribe.The figures with pointed hats represent gods. Among the Mades and Mande the pointed hat represented a priest.

The figure with streams of water with fish flowing from his shoulder is Enki, god of the subterranean water. Enki protects the law and gives rulers their intelligence and craftsman abilities. Enki's leg is bear and probably represents leadership. Behind Enki is the two-faced vizier Usimu.

Next is Ishtar, she has wings and weapons placed on them. In front of Ishtar, between two peaks is the Sun god cutting his way through the mountain; from his shoulder we see three wavy lines emanating from it which represents zi 'the breath of life'. The god with a bow may represent Nuska the hunting god.Over the lion we find a box with a Sumerian inscription. In the right panel we see a capital 't' placed a top a triangle. The triangle represents the sign me which has a number of meanings including: divine law, oracle, universal law.

In the panel on the right we read from top to bottom me du; me ta pa and under these signs boot shaped sign with four lines on top tu dar lu . This panel reads: "Make the Me. Entrust the me (to this ) person to make the perfect libation".In the left panel we read from top to bottomni bu-tu. gi bu , "(In) Respect make the perfect libation. Act justly ( in its) distribution".

This discussion of Proto-Saharan writing systems make it clear that various ancient people in Sumer, the Saharan region and Egypt used a syllabic script. The inscriptions they left appear to have served talisman or amulet. . They were carved to illustrate the devotion of these people to their gods and goddess and are a great testimony to the great civilizations built by the Proto-Saharans.

Picture History of the Vai Writing

Above we have a beautiful artifact engraved with Vai symbols.

Below is an ancient saharan inscription some archaeologist claim is 3000 years old. This inscription from Oued Mertoutek contains many symbols we find the Vai syllabary which provides a key to reading the thousands of inscriptions engraved on rocks throughout the Sahel, Sahara and West Africa. The Mande speakers before they adopted Islam worshipped the God Amma. This god Amma, was probably the Mande name for the god Aman/Amon/Amun of the Egyptians.

The Vai writing has been in continous use for thousands of years. The Vai Writing is one of the diverse writing systems used by Mande speaking people in West Africa.





The Vai script gives us an understanding of the phonemic values of the so-called Libyco-Berber symbols. The Libyco-Berber writing is nothing more than a varient form of the original Mande writing represented best by the Vai signs. The Mande in their migration from the Fezzan in Libya across the Sahara into West Africa have left us numerous inscriptions giving us tetimony to their literacy.



Today the Vai script is still being taught to a future generation of Mande speaking youth who will continue writing in this interesting script for hundreds of years to come.

The Mande speaking people have never stopped writing in their ancient script. It appears that the Mande are keeping alive use of the script in Secret Societies like the Poro Secret Society.

There is considerable evidence that the Vai writing was invented millennia before 1820. This view is supported by the presence of signs analogous to the Vai script being found on rocks from the Fezzan to the Niger Valley and beyond that make up the corpus of the Vai script .

Controversy surrounds the invention of the Vai script. Delafosse claimed that Vai informants told him the writing system was invented in ancient times. S.W. Koelle in Narrative of an expedition into Vy country West Africa and the Discovery of a system of writing,etc.(London,1849) claimed that the writing system was invented by Bukele in 1829 or 1839. David Diringer in The Alphabet (London,1968,pp.130-133) reported that there was a tradition that the writing was invented by a group of eight Vai. Marcel Cohen La grande invention de l'ecriture at son evolution (Paris,1958, p. 21) believed that the Vai writing system was not invented before the 18th century, but more probably at the beginning of the 19thth century.

The story about Bukele's dream is just a cover, used by Bukele to keep members of the Gola Poro society from being angered by Bukele's open teaching of the Vai script . We know that the symbols associated with the Vai script existed prior to Bukele's alleged invention of the Vai writing because it was known to African slaves in Suriname. In 1936, M.J. Herskovits and his wife on a field trip to Suriname recorded a specimen of writing written by a man while he was possessed by the spirit winti. Mrs. Hau, who examined the specimen wrote that "Most of the component parts of are to be found in the syllabaries of West Africa which we have just discussed" (see: K.Hau, Pre-Islamic writing in West Africa, Bulletin de l'IFAN, t35, ser.B,No.1 (1973)pp.1-45).

The British took over Suriname and ended slavery in 1799. Years before Bukele's alleged invention of the Vai writing. As a result, there is no way a descendant of a Suriname Maroon (runaway slave) could have produced the writing under possession by the spirit winti if the writing was invented by Bukele.

If you read the history of Bukele's alleged invention of the Vai script we discover that although Bukele dreamt of the Vai characters he was able to "reconstruct" the symbols not by deeply meditating on the dream, he: Later Dualu retired from his work as a steward and returned to his hometown in the Vai chiefdom. But he couldn’t forget the idea of having a means of writing. He asked himself, “Why can’t we have something like this for our own Vai people?” One night he had a vision in which he saw a tall white man who said, “Dualu, come. I have a book for you and your Vai people.” The man in the vision then proceeded to show him the shapes of the Vai characters used in the Vai writing system.

When Dualu awoke, he began to write down the characters he’d seen in his vision. Sadly, there were so many he could not remember them all, so he called together his friends and fellow elders and shared with them his vision and the characters he had written down. His fellow Vai elders caught his excitement and over time, they added more characters in place of those Dualu could not remember.

This is the main give-away that the writing existed before Bukele's alleged invention. Firstly, how could "his friends and fellow elders" help him recover the Vai signs, if the signs were not already invented--since these men had not had Bukele's dream.

Secondly, before Bukele popularized the Vai script he sought protection from King Fa Toro of Goturu in Tianimani for his school. The King granted protection to the inventors of the Vai script because "The king declared himself exceedly pleased with their discovery, which as he said would soon raise his people upon a levelwith the Porors and Mandingoes, who hitherto had been the only book-people" (see: S.W. Koelle, Outline grammar of the Vai language--and an account of the discovery and nature of the Vai mode of syllabic writing, London,1854).

Bukele needed a Kings support for the teaching of anyone the Vai writing because the first schools set up to teach the script at Dshondu and Bandakoro were burned down along with the Vai manuscripts found in the schools after 18 months .

If Bukele had invented the Vai script as he claimed, why did he need protection for his schools? The answer is that he didn't invent the writing he just popularized the script.

The Vai script was taught in the Mande secret societies. This is why even though the script is well known, it is cloaked in an aura of secrecy.This view is supported by the fact that when Thomas Edward Beslow, a Vai prince who attended mission schools in Liberia and the Wesleyan Academy in Massachusetts was initiated into the Poro Society he mentions in his autobiography that many members of the secret society could write in Vai (see: T.E. Beslow, From Darkness of Africa to the light of America).

What do we learn from this report. First, the Vai script was known to Vai elites. Obviously, members of Poro would not like non members of the society to know about this writing. Yet, Bukele was teaching the Vai writing to any one who desired to learn it , so the Vai would be recognized for their literacy just like Europeans. Secondly it was being taught in the Poro society, which King Fa Toro, did not belong too.

Today eventhough the Vai script is well known the writing is semi-secret. As a result. some commentators believe the Vai no longer write in the script. This led Christopher Fyfe in A History of Sierra Leone, to write that: "Though an English trader who spent some time among the Vai in the 1860's found schools where children were still learning it, it was almost forgotten by the early twentieth century, and today is only studied by linguist".

Fyfe was wrong. Gail Stewart, only five years later in Notes on the present-day usage of the Vai script in Liberia (African Language Review 6,(1967)p.71) found that the script was still very popular among many Vai.

David Dalby wrote about a Gola student of William Siegman, who allowed Siegman him to copy the inscription but he would not translate same. This student attributed the writing to the Poro Society, and said he was taught the writing by his grandfather. Dalby wrote: "After the present paper had gone to press, Mr. William Siegman of Indiana University gave me information on a fifteenth West African script, used in Liberia for writing Gola. Mr. Siegman had seen a young Gola student at Cuttingham College (Liberia) writing a letter in this script in 1968, but although the student allowed him to take a copy of the letter he declined to provide Mr. Siegman with a Key"(see:D. Dalby, Further indigenous scripts in West Africa and etc.,ALS,10,pp.180-181).

Dalby viewed the assertion of the student that the writing was used by members of the Poro Society with skepticism. But Dalby should not have been skeptical because Beslow had made the same claim.

In conclusion, Bukele probably did not invent the Vai writing. This is supported by the fact that 1) the symbols associated with the Vai script were well known to members of the Poro Secret Society; 2) descendants of Maroon Blacks in Suriname were familiar with the script; and 3) the Vai writing, for the most part remains in use but it is maintained in a semi-secret fashion and not usually shared with people who are not members or kin of members of a secret society, this is why the Gola student would not translate his letter for Mr.Siegman.

Finally it must be remembered that the symbols engraved on rocks from the Fezzan to the Niger bend and other areas where the Mande live are identical to symbols associated with the Vai script. This shows the continuity of writing among the Mande speaking people over a period of 3000 plus years.

The evidence from Suriname, symbols on the rocks near Mande habitations in the Americas, and the existence of the symbols relating to the Vai script in other Mande writing systems and their continued use by members of the Vai and members of secret societies support Delafosse's tradition that the Vai writing existed in ancient times.

References:

S.W. Koelle in Narrative of an expedition into Vy country West Africa and the Discovery of a system of writing,etc.(London,1849)

David Diringer,The Alphabet (London,1968, pp.130-133)

K.Hau, Pre-Islamic writing in West Africa, Bulletin de l'IFAN, t35, ser.B,No.1 (1973)pp.1-45).

S.W. Koelle, Outline grammar of the Vai language--and an account of the discovery and nature of the Vai mode of syllabic writing, London,1854).

T.E. Beslow, From Darkness of Africa to the light of America).Gail Stewart,Notes on the present-day usage of the Vai script in Liberia (African Language Review 6,(1967)p.71)

D. Dalby, Further indigenous scripts in West Africa and etc.,ALS,10,pp.180-181)..