West African Contact

HISTORY INTERNAL ASSESSMENT

Name: Courtni Ann Allen

Candidate Number: 1003210012

Center Number: 100321

Subject: History

Lecturer: Ms. P. Haughton

School: Montego Bay Community College

Theme: Atlantic Connections

Topic: West African Contact Before 1492

Territory: Jamaica

Year: 2014

Table of Contents

Title Page

Acknowledgement………………………………………………………………3

Thesis Statement………………………………………………………………..4

Rationale……………………………………………………………………..…5

Research Question……………………………………………………………...6

Introduction………………………………………………………………….…7

Discussion of Findings………………………………………………………….8 - 13

Conclusion………………………………………………………………………14

Bibliography…………………………………………………………………….15

Appendix……………………………………………………………………….16 - 17

Acknowledgement

First and foremost, I would like to thank my mother for her words of encouragement and for her help throughout the entirety of this project. I would also like to express my special thanks of gratitude to my teacher, Ms. Haughton who gave me the opportunity to do this project on West African Contact Before 1492 and also for helping me with the research. Lastly, I would like to thank my friends who helped me in finalizing this project within the limited time frame.

Thesis Statement

Christopher Columbus was not the first to arrive in the Americas since evidence of West African presence proves otherwise.

Rationale

The researcher has always been captivated by Caribbean History, peculiarly the debate on who first travelled to the ancient Americas. Seeing that the researcher had a great interest in this topic when given the Internal Assessment to do she already knew what her topic would be. This research is important to the researcher as she sought to refresh her knowledge and to even learn more about the area of research. Information on this topic is easily accessible as there are many scholars who have done research under this field.

Research Questions

What archaeological, linguistic, botanical and oceanographic evidence is there to prove that the West Africans came to the Americas before 1492?

What evidence was provided to show that West Africans were present before Columbus?

To discuss and analyse the various evidences put forward...