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There's a big difference between coastwise travel in the Indian ocean and crossing the middle of the south atlantic. Even the big portuguese ships couldn't rou

• oinksoft 11y ago
  Mali is on the west coast of Africa, so such an ocean crossing would not require rounding the Cape. They're also well-situated to take advantage of trade winds, and are at the point of the narrowest middle Atlantic crossing. So it's not so far-fetched that they could have made these trips.
• jcranmer 11y ago
  The Polynesians managed to sail and colonize Hawaii at least as early as 1000, as well as colonizing places like Rapa Nui or New Zealand from a starting point of Fiji (and themselves descended from the Melanesians who started from Indonesia). They also probably managed to make it to South America and back, given their use of the South American sweet potato as a major staple. Hawaii, it should be noted, is a clear contender for "most remote place on the planet", given the lack of even small islands outside of the Hawaiian island channels for thousands of miles.