- When Kunta Kinte saw the ocean from the deck of the slave ship, he said something like "I had no idea there could be this much water." From his earlier comments, it is shown that he had no concept of a body of water larger than a river. Here's the problem. He was captured by the crew of the slave ship, which was docked within walking distance of his village. Given that, it is barely believable that he never saw the ocean himself, and utterly unbelievable that he never heard about the ocean from somebody else.
- Well, they didn't say how long the walk was, did they? Maybe it was like in The Book of Negroes and they walked for upwards of a month.
- A lot of African tribes and kingdoms were well aware of the concept of the oceans and sea. But I think the implication is that Kunta had never really thought about just exactly how expansive it really was, since most Africans were not primarily sea farers. He more than likely has never traveled far into the waters more than he can swim.
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