Once he got to the Americas, Columbus records numerous examples of Muslims already present. He commented on the gold that the natives had, which was made the same way, in the same alloy, as the Muslims of **West Africa** did. Furthermore, Columbus records that the native word in that area for gold is guanin, which is very similar to the **Mandinka** word for gold, ghanin, which probably comes from the Arabic word for wealth, ghina’.
