At the height of its extent in 1350, the Mali Empire was second only to the Mongol Empire in size, power, and population. Their possession of North Arab ship-b

At the height of its extent in 1350, the Mali Empire was second only to the Mongol Empire in size, power, and population. Their possession of North Arab ship-building techniques, understanding of Greek geometry and mathematics, and knowledge of navigation makes it at least plausible they reached the Americas. Given that the islands throughout the Pacific were colonized by repeated expeditions via sea canoe, it seems downright possible. Unfortunately, that's where the evidence falls flat. Given that only four of the thousands of written Maya codices survived, there's no written record. Given the environment, the ecosystem has reclaimed much of the land where the cities in question stood, ruling out most access to sites that may hold physical evidence. The Mali Empire is also so poorly studied that even if we found a full Mali site in South America, it would be very difficult to recognize from above, even with state-of-the-art LIDAR to see through the vegetation.