Explorers and Early Settlers
Aligned to C3.D2.His.2 — C3 Framework for Social Studies State Standards.
What this lesson teaches
Over time, explorers and settlers came from far away to the land that would become our state. They came looking for trade, land, resources, or religious freedom, and their arrival led to encounters with the Native peoples already living there.
Worked example
Early settlers might build a trading post beside a river, swapping metal tools and cloth for the furs that Native hunters trapped. These meetings brought new goods, but also new diseases and conflicts over land.
Practice questions
- Give two reasons explorers and settlers came to a new region.
- Explain what happened when newcomers met the Native peoples already living on the land.
- Why might a settler and a Native leader see the same piece of land very differently?
Watch the lesson
Every lesson comes with a video taught in English and Spanish — the same video the QR code in the printed workbook opens.
▶ Watch this lessonEn español
Exploradores y Primeros Colonos
Con el tiempo, exploradores y colonos llegaron desde lejos a la tierra que se convertiría en nuestro estado. Vinieron buscando comercio, tierras, recursos o libertad religiosa, y su llegada provocó encuentros con los pueblos indígenas que ya vivían allí.
Ejemplo: Los primeros colonos podían construir un puesto de comercio junto a un río, intercambiando herramientas de metal y telas por las pieles que cazaban los indígenas. Estos encuentros trajeron nuevos productos, pero también nuevas enfermedades y conflictos por la tierra.
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