Week 2 Assignment

Contact, Conquest, and Adaptation

[CLOs: 1, 2, 6]

The development of different realms in the Atlantic world was conditioned by contact between Europeans, Africans, and indigenous Americans, including the men and women of each group, not to mention the multiple cultures categorized under each of these broad categories. The contact between peoples took on many forms, including, but not limited to conquest, collaboration, animosity, alliance, conversion, resistance, dominance, and subversion. A recurring theme, however, is adaptation, whether by choice, force, or a combination of factors, influenced by the respective cultural backgrounds of each group. This adaptation, in turn, can be understood more broadly as an example of change or continuity over time.

Respond:
How did cultural background affect the nature and outcome of contact between two distinct groups of people in a specific realm of the Atlantic World?

Required Components:

• Select two distinct groups of people who came into contact within a specific region of the Atlantic World.
• Explain how or why contact between the groups occurred.
• Assess how or why the cultural background of each group affected contact.
• Evaluate the outcomes of this contact according to who or what changed or stayed the same.

Research Help: For a collection of sources you might find helpful on this assignment, please see the following resource:

Fink, Stephanie. “Atlantic World History: Sources to Support the Study of Atlantic World History (Links to an external site.).” Accessed February 15, 2016.
Writing the Paper:

• Must be three to four double-spaced pages in length (not including title and reference pages) and formatted according to APA style or Chicago Manual of Style as outlined in the approved APA style or CMS guide.
• Must include a cover page that includes
  • Title of paper
  • Student’s name
  • Course name and number
  • Instructor’s name
  • Date submitted
• Must include an introductory paragraph with a succinct analytic thesis statement. If you need assistance in developing your thesis, please visit the Writing a Thesis Statement (Links to an external site.) page provided by the Ashford Writing Center.
• Must address the topic of the paper with critical thought.
• Must end with a formal conclusion that reaffirms (but does not merely repeat) the key main points and the thesis.
•  Must use at least two scholarly secondary sources, in addition to the course text, and one primary source.
  • The Scholarly, Peer Reviewed, and Other Credible Sources (Links to an external site.) table offers additional guidance on appropriate source types. If you have questions about whether a specific source is appropriate for this assignment, please contact your instructor. Your instructor has the final say about the appropriateness of a specific source for a particular assignment.
  • Students are encouraged to research scholarly articles using the Ashford University Library (i.e. JSTOR) and scholarly books (i.e. ebrary), in accordance with university policy on acceptable source use.
  • Many links to relevant primary sources can be found in
    Fink, Stephanie. “Atlantic World History: Sources to Support the Study of Atlantic World History (Links to an external site.).” Accessed February 15, 2016.
•  Must document all sources in APA style, as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center, or according the Chicago Manual of Style Quick Guide.
•  Must include a separate reference page, formatted according to APA style, as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center, or the Chicago Manual of Style Quick Guide.

For guidelines regarding the Chicago Manual of Style, see the following resources:

• Purdue Online Writing Lab: Chicago Manual of Style 16th Edition (Links to an external site.)
• The Chicago Manual of Style Online (Links to an external site.)
• The Writer’s Handbook: Chicago/Turabian Documentation (Links to an external site.)
• Chicago Manual of Style: Documentary Note or Humanities Style (Links to an external site.)

Carefully review the Grading Rubric (Links to an external site.) for the criteria that will be used to evaluate your assignment.