Project—Impact of Early Contact on Native Americans and Explorers
Becky Wentworth and Susan Horvath
Intended Grade Level: 5
Topic/Curriculum Link: Effects of early contact between Native Americans and European explorers
Essential understanding/learning objective: Students will be able to identify and analyze the impact of
early contact between Native Americans and European explorers as seen from both sides
Student Books:
Encounter by Jane Yolen
Morning Girl by Michael Dorris
Teacher Resources:
Build Our Nation. Houghton Mifflin Company. 1997.
Making Sense of History. Scholastic Press. Myra Zarnowski. 2006.
Procedure/Activities:
Activity/Day 1
-
Begin with showing students pictures of two scenes (Visuals A –
http:///learnnc.org/lp/multimedia/6276 and B – http://learnnc.org/lp/multimedia/6230 ) from
Native American life (pre-European contact). Students will use graphic organizers to record as
much information as possible in groups about the two visuals using the question, “What do you
notice about Native American life from these pictures?”
-
Then have a whole class discussion in which each group shares the information they obtained
from the visuals with the class.
-
The teacher will then state that these visuals are from a time period before Europeans came
into contact with Native Americans. Teacher will explain that contact with European explorers
changed Native life in many ways, and then ask students if they think the Europeans’ lives
changed at all as a result of contact. Have a brief class discussion where students can share their
thoughts about how each side may have changed because of the other, and tell students that
over the next several days as we continue our unit on explorers, we will be investigating the
following ‘big question’ using a variety of sources, What were the effects of contact on both the
Europeans and the Native Americans?
Activity/Day 2
-
Teacher will review previous lesson/activity that focused on Native American life pre-contact,
and remind students again of the ‘big question.’ Students need to have some background
knowledge about Columbus and his first voyage.
-
Students will review Visual C – http://www.learnnc.org/lp/editions/nchist-twoworlds/1866 and
D – www.fordham.edu/halsall/source/columbus1.html in groups. Students will look at both
documents and record their thinking about the following question: “What do these sources
reveal about how each side (Columbus and the Natives) felt about their first encounter?”
-
After students have recorded their thinking in groups, have a student-centered discussion about
their findings, and have them record any questions in journals that were not answered in
today’s activity, or any further predictions about the ‘big question.’
Activity/Day 3
-
Begin with a review of yesterday’s discussion on the first encounter between Columbus and the
Native Americans, and what information was learned by reading Columbus’ diary.
-
Have these three questions posted in room to set a purpose for reading Encounter by Jane
Yolen: “What were the Native Americans’ motivations when they first met the Europeans? What
were the Europeans’ motivations when they first met the Native Americans? How and why does
the boy feel differently than the rest of the Natives?”
-
Whole class discussion about the book and questions – stop and discuss as needed throughout
the book.
-
Closing question (to be recorded in journals): After the primary sources and book we read today,
jot some predictions about the following…What effects do you think the Europeans’ arrival will
have on the Native Americans? What effects do you think the Native American way of life will
have on the Europeans?
Activity/Day 4
-
Begin by telling students that there were many products/animals that only existed in either the
Americas or in Africa/Asia/Europe. This period of exploration meant that for the first time,
people could transport brand new items to a brand new place.
-
Give kids cards with various items on them and have kids work with partners to sort the cards
into two categories: items originally from Americas and items originally from Africa, Asia, and
Europe. Tell kids that they should make their best guess as to which items came from where.
They will also be responsible for choosing two items from each category to ‘defend’ in their
journals using reasoning (whether correct or not) to back up why they placed that particular
item in that category (i.e. “I thought that potatoes were originally from Europe because I heard
my older sister was doing a project on the Irish Potato Famine and I know that Ireland is in
Europe”).
o
‘America’ cards: potatoes, chocolate, corn, peppers, tomatoes, llamas, beans, squash,
peanuts, sweet potatoes
o
‘Europe/Africa/Asia’ cards: sugar cane, oranges, horses, chickens, wheat, melons, goats,
fruit trees, onions, cows, pigs
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In their partnerships, kids will then read a nonfiction passage from the textbook (pages 106 –
110) that explains more about the Columbian Exchange and contains answers to the sorting
activity above. Kids can take turns reading paragraphs out loud and ‘re-sort’ the cards that were
incorrectly placed as they learn the true origins of the items from the reading.
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When all groups are done, come together as a class and have kids share where each card should
really belong, as well as any facts that surprised them as they did this research, that were
different than their original thinking. Show Visual E –
http://memory.loc.gov/intldl/eshtml/images/hammock.jpg and look at the other things on our
list that originated with the Native Americans.
-
Lead a whole class discussion on the following questions based on the reading:
o
What else (besides food and animals) did the Europeans bring with them to the
Americas? (diseases and slaves)  Show students Visual F –
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7d/FlorentineCodex_BK12_F54_sm
allpox.jpg
and have a brief discussion about the disease of smallpox. Share a statistic (From 1519
to 1605, the native population of New Spain is estimated to have dropped from 25
million to one million) to demonstrate to students the severity of this transfer of
disease.
o
How did slavery affect the Native American way of life? How did it affect the European
way of life?
Assessment (2 Options):
1.) RAFT Activity – Students choose a Role, Audience, Format, Topic from the below table and present to
peers (more information in Zarnowski book pages 98 – 102). **Note: Some choices may require
additional research by student – can be used as an enrichment option**
Role
Audience
Format
Topic
Christopher
Columbus
People of Europe
Travel Brochure
Reasons to Come
to New World
Native American
boy/girl
Christopher
Columbus
Letter
Changes in his/her
tribe since
European contact
Native American
Slave
Other Native
Americans
‘Before…/Now I…’
Poem
Pre-contact/postcontact life
King
Ferdinand/Queen
Isabella
Native Americans
Thank You Note
New things that
have been
introduced to
Europe
Native American
Medicine Man
Himself
Journal Entry
Changes he has
noticed in his tribe
since European
contact
Rubric for grading: http://explorepahistory.com/cms/pbfiles/Project1/Scheme40/ExplorePAHistorya0l5j9-a_466.pdf
2.) Letter to Someone from the Past about Impact of Contact (Natives and Europeans)  Taken from
Zarnowski text (pages 63 – 72)
Students choose to write to either to Columbus or a Native American child using the following format:
Paragraph 1:
-
Introduce yourself as a 5th grader
-
Write what you learned about this person
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Tell them what you admire about them
Paragraph 2:
-
Write any positive aspects that came about as a result of the contact with the other side
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Be as specific as possible
Paragraph 3:
-
Write and negative aspects that came about as a result of the contact with the other side
-
Be as specific as possible
Paragraph 4:
-
Any final comments that you want to share
o
Useful words and phrases:

How I wish you could see…

If I could show you…

I agree…

I disagree…

One surprising thing I learned was…

Knowing about your life…

In the future…

It’s hard for me to imagine…

Although things have changed since you…
Differentiation:
Visual learners will have access to pictures and visuals as opposed solely to text. Students who have
difficulty with written expression can journal in the form of pictures, or use a computer if necessary.
There are also multiple options for assessment.
Extensions:
This “big question” will continue to be discussed throughout the remainder of this explorer unit,
specifically the differences between the French and the English interaction with Native Americans, early
colonies, English colonies, and Revolutionary War units as well.
Visual Source List
Visual A
Visual B
Information on Visual A
Hand-colored version of Theodor de Bry’s engraving depicting the American Indian town of
Secota. De Bry’s engraving, “The Tovvne of Secota,” was originally published as an illustration
in Thomas Hariot’s 1588 book A Briefe and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia.
A wide foot path extends from the center foreground of the image to the background. Several
people stand and kneel in the middle of the path. To the left and right of the path, and in the
background, are buildings and agricultural fields. In the bottom right corner of the image, several
Indians are dancing in a circle, similar to the one seen in de Bry’s engraving entitled “Their
Dances Which They Use at Their High Feasts.”
Theodor de Bry was a Flemish-born engraver and publisher who based his illustrations for
Hariot’s book on the New World paintings of colonist John White. These depictions of the
landscapes and residents of North Carolina provided Europeans with some of their earliest
notions of what the North American continent looked like. An unidentified artist applied the
color to this version of de Bry’s engraving, apparently without having seen John White’s original
watercolor painting, “Indian Village of Secoton.”
Information on Visual B
“Their Manner of Fishynge in Virginia.” Theodor de Bry’s engraving of American Indians
fishing, published in Thomas Hariot’s 1588 book A Briefe and True Report of the New Found
Land of Virginia. In the foreground, four Indians are in a canoe in the water: The two on the ends
stand holding oars or nets in the water. The two in the middle are sitting. Various animals are
visible in the water, including fish, crabs, and a turtle. In the background, numerous other Indians
are fishing. Some stand in the water with harpoon-like tools, and others are in canoes. A few are
fishing at weirs, traditional American Indian fishing devices consisting of a fence-like trap made
of sticks or reeds.
The text accompanying the image reads:
They have likewise a notable way to catch fish in their Rivers, for whereas they lack both iron,
and steel, they fasten unto their Reeds or long Rods, the hollow tail of a certain fish like to a sea
crab instead of a point, where with by night or day they strike fish, and take them up into their
boats. They also know how to use the prickles, and pricks of other fish. They also make wares,
with setting up reeds or twigs in the water, which they so plant one within another, that they
grow still narrower, and narrower, as appears by this figure. There was never seen among us so
cunning a way to take fish withal, whereof sundry sorts as they found in their Rivers unlike unto
ours, which are also of a very good taste. Doubtless it is a pleasant sight to see the people,
sometimes wading, and going sometimes sailing in those Rivers, which are shallow and not
deep, free from all care of heaping up Riches for their posterity, content with their state, and
living friendly together of those things which god of his bounty has given unto them, yet without
giving him any thanks according to his desert. So savage is this people, and deprived of the true
knowledge of God. For they have none other than is mentioned before in this work .
Theodor de Bry was a Flemish-born engraver and publisher who based his illustrations for
Hariot’s book on the New World paintings of colonist John White. These depictions of the
landscapes and residents of North Carolina provided Europeans with some of their earliest
notions of what the North American continent looked like. This engraving was based on White’s
watercolor painting, “Indians Fishing.”
Visual C
The arrival of Christopher Columbus in the Americas marked the meeting of previously separate
biological worlds. (John Vanderlyn, Landing of Columbus. Commissioned 1836/1837; placed
1847. Capitol Rotunda, Washington, D.C. More about the painting)
Visual D
Saturday, 13 October. "At daybreak great multitudes of men came to the shore, all young and of fine
shapes, very handsome; their hair not curled but straight and coarse like horse-hair, and all with
foreheads and heads much broader than any people I had hitherto seen; their eyes were large and very
beautiful; they were not black, but the color of the inhabitants of the Canaries, which is a very natural
circumstance, they being in the same latitude with the island of Ferro in the Canaries. They were
straight-limbed without exception, and not with prominent bellies but handsomely shaped. They came
to the ship in canoes, made of a single trunk of a tree, wrought in a wonderful manner considering the
country; some of them large enough to contain forty or forty-five men, others of different sizes down to
those fitted to hold but a single person. They rowed with an oar like a baker's peel, and wonderfully
swift. If they happen to upset, they all jump into the sea, and swim till they have righted their canoe and
emptied it with the calabashes they carry with them. They came loaded with balls of cotton, parrots,
javelins, and other things too numerous to mention; these they exchanged for whatever we chose to
give them. I was very attentive to them, and strove to learn if they had any gold. Seeing some of them
with little bits of this metal hanging at their noses, I gathered from them by signs that by going
southward or steering round the island in that direction, there would be found a king who possessed
large vessels of gold, and in great quantities. I endeavored to procure them to lead the way thither, but
found they were unacquainted with the route. I determined to stay here till the evening of the next day,
and then sail for the southwest; for according to what I could learn from them, there was land at the
south as well as at the southwest and northwest and those from the northwest came many times and
fought with them and proceeded on to the southwest in search of gold and precious stones. This is a
large and level island, with trees extremely flourishing, and streams of water; there is a large lake in the
middle of the island, but no mountains: the whole is completely covered with verdure and delightful to
behold. The natives are an inoffensive people, and so desirous to possess any thing they saw with us,
that they kept swimming off to the ships with whatever they could find, and readily bartered for any
article we saw fit to give them in return, even such as broken platters and fragments of glass. I saw in
this manner sixteen balls of cotton thread which weighed above twenty-five pounds, given for three
Portuguese ceutis. This traffic I forbade, and suffered no one to take their cotton from them, unless I
should order it to be procured for your Highnesses, if proper quantities could be met with. It grows in
this island, but from my short stay here I could not satisfy myself fully concerning it; the gold, also, which
they wear in their noses, is found here, but not to lose time, I am determined to proceed onward and
ascertain whether I can reach Cipango. At night they all went on shore with their canoes.
This document is from the journal of Columbus in his voyage of 1492. The meaning of this voyage is
highly contested.
Visual E
Gonzolo Oviedo sailed in 1514 on the first of his many journeys to America, where he compiled
detailed descriptions and woodcut illustrations of products and goods found in the New World. The
Spaniard introduced Europe to an enormous variety of previously unheard of “exotica,” including the
pineapple, the canoe, smoking tobacco, the manatee, and hammocks. Along with Perro Mártir de
Angleria and Bartolomé de las Casas, Oviedo was one of the first European chroniclers of New World
goods.
Visual F
English: An illustrated panel appearing on fol.54 of Book XII of the en:Florentine Codex, the 16th-century
compendium of materials and information on Aztec and Nahua history collected by Fray Bernardino de
Sahagún. The drawing shows Nahuas infected with smallpox disease. The illustration accompanies text
written in Nahuatl, which in English translation says in part:
". . . [The disease] brought great desolation: a great many died of it. They could no longer walk
about, but lay in their dwellings and sleeping places, no longer able to move or stir. They were
unable to change position, to stretch out on their sides or face down, or raise their heads. And
when they made a motion, they called out loudly. The pustules that covered people caused great
desolation; very many people died of them, and many just starved to death; starvation reigned,
and no one took care of others any longer. On some people, the pustules appeared only far apart,
and they did not suffer greatly, nor did many of them die of it. But many people's faces were
spoiled by it, their faces were made rough. Some lost an eye or were blinded."
English translation is as given in:

Lockhart, James (1993). We People Here: Nahuatl Accounts of the Conquest of Mexico. Berkeley:
University of California Press, pp.181–185.