WebQuest 7
Contact = Europeans and American Indians Meet (1500s-1700s)
Directions
1.) Complete the WebQuest exactly as posted on Haiku (Parts 1-3 in order).
2.) Try to fill out all the information, even if you do not think you are right.
3.) Proofread your answers and upload your completed WebQuest 7 in DropBox on Haiku.
Part 1: Spanish Exploration and American Indian Encounters
Answer the following questions as you watch the video clip on the Spanish exploration of North
America.
1. How did de Soto and his men interact with the American Indians they encountered in
1540 near present day Columbia, South Carolina? How did the American Indians
respond to the Spanish?
2. Based on these interactions, what was the reason for de Soto’s march in North
America? What were they trying to accomplish?
3. How do you think the American Indians felt when de Soto and his men finally left?
4. What amazed the Spanish about the American Indians in what is now northern
Alabama?
5. In October of 1540, what occurred when the Spanish met the Mobile Indians? Describe
the situation that occurred in detail.
6. In April of 1541, what did de Soto and his men find? What Indian nation existed nearby
and how did the leader of this nation react to de Soto?
7. When and where did de Soto die? What did de Soto’s men do after his death?
8. Twenty years after de Soto’s expedition, what occurred in the American Indian nations?
What had happened to the fabulous nations de Soto had encountered? Why did this
occur?
Part 2: British First Encounters
*This activity comes from Learn NC (http://www.learnnc.org/lp/editions/nchist-twoworlds-lessons/2653)
Read the article “Native Peoples of the Chesapeake Region” and think critically about the
interactions between Indians and the newly-arrived Europeans in the 1600s. The Natives of the
Chesapeake Region (in Virginia) would have been very similar to the American Indians living on
the coast of North Carolina at the same time, specifically the American Indians living around
Roanoke Island.
1. How was labor divided amongst American Indians living in the Chesapeake region?
2. What were the 3 major chiefdoms in the Chesapeake Bay region at the time the British
founded Jamestown in 1607?
3. What language did the American Indians in the Chesapeake Bay region speak?
4. Describe the government of the chiefdoms? Who became leaders and how were they
different from European leaders?
As you read the section “European Settlement and Conflict,” think about the point of view of
each of the groups involved.
1. What were the feelings of each group concerning the difficulties that the English had
during their first years in Jamestown and the Algonquian reaction to those difficulties?
How did those feelings result in actions for each group?
Indian feelings
English feelings
Indian actions
English actions
2. What were the feelings of each group after the English began to raid the Indian villages?
What were the actions that resulted from these feelings?
Indian feelings
English feelings
Indian actions
English actions
3. What were the feelings of each group after the Indians began to die due to disease?
What were the actions of each group?
Indian feelings
English feelings
Indian actions
English actions
4. What were the feelings of each group as treaties began to be made and broken? How would
Indians have felt watching their ancestral land disappear? How did the English respond?
Indian feelings
English feelings
Indian actions
English actions
Part 3: French Explorers and Trade
After watching the video / PowerPoint, French Colonization in North America by Greg O’Brian
and reading the article “The French Fur Trade,” answer the following questions:
1.) What was the primary focus of French exploration and colonization in North America?
2.) How did the French interact with the American Indians? What did they do in order to be
successful in the Indian territories?
3.) What was the French trading strategy?
4.) Explain the French and Indian alliances. Make sure you name which American Indians
were French allies and which were enemies.
5.) The American Indians gave the French furs in exchange for European goods. List some
of the goods Europeans traded and explain how these goods changed American Indian
societies.
6.) After learning about the British and the Spanish, how was the French approach to
American Indians different? (Think critically. This answer is not found in the text, but in
your head! ).