Dr. Ivan Gladstone Van Sertima (January 26, 1935 – May 25, 2009) was a Guyanese-born scholar, author, linguist, anthropologist, and professor of Africana Studies at Rutgers University. His work focused on African civilizations, African contributions to world history, and theories of African contact with the Americas before Columbus. He is widely known for the book They Came Before Columbus.
