Indigenous Cultures, Leaders, and Early Contact

Native American Culture & Technology

100

This game was played by many Indigenous nations and was sometimes used to settle disputes between communities.

Lacrosse

200

This hunting technology allowed people to hunt from a distance and improved food security for many tribes.

Bow and arrow

300

This natural material was often used to make canoes by tribes living near rivers and lakes in the Northeast and Great Lakes regions.

Birchbark

400

This farming method involved growing corn, beans, and squash together to support healthy crops.

Three Sisters agriculture

500

Many tribes adapted their tools and homes to their environment. Give one example of how environment shaped daily life.

Tipis on the Plains, longhouses in the Northeast, canoes near waterways, fishing tools near rivers

Indigenous Leaders & Guides

100

This Wampanoag leader helped form an alliance with English settlers in Massachusetts in the 1600s.

Massasoit

200

This member of the Patuxet tribe acted as a translator and taught settlers local farming methods.

Squanto

300

This Shoshone woman helped the Lewis and Clark expedition communicate with tribes and find routes west.

Sacagawea

400

This Powhatan woman is remembered for helping English settlers survive during the early Jamestown colony.

Pocahontas

500

Many Indigenous leaders acted as diplomats. Name one skill that was important for leaders when dealing with Europeans.

Negotiation, translation, forming alliances, trade agreements, conflict resolution

Exploration, Colonization & Exchange

100

Christopher Columbus sailed from Spain in 1492. Name one country in the Americas where he landed.

Bahamas (San Salvador), Cuba, Hispaniola

200

This term describes the system of exchange of plants, animals, and diseases between Europe and the Americas after 1492.

Columbian Exchange

300

Name one crop that originally came from the Americas and later became important in Europe.

Potatoes, corn, tomatoes, cacao

400

European explorers often claimed land for their monarchs. Name one reason European countries wanted to explore and colonize.

Wealth, trade routes, resources, power, spreading religion

500

One major long-term effect of European arrival in the Americas was a dramatic decrease in Native populations. Name one main cause of this decline.

Disease (smallpox, measles), violence, forced labor, displacement