"Mythconceptions" Quiz
Name:
Record your answers for the fifteen questions in the online quiz. After answering the questions,
check and see how well you did. For any incorrectly answered questions, record the correct
answer and answer the questions or fill in the blanks afterward.
Go to http://www.pbs.org/wnet/colonialhouse/history/index.html and scroll down to the
Mythconceptions Quiz near the bottom right of the page, near “Educational Interactivities.”
1) The first European colony in the New World was in what is now the state of Virginia,
and it was founded by the English.
CORRECT ANSWER: ____ TRUE ____FALSE
What was the first colony, and who founded it?
2) The English colonists of the 1620s and 1630s usually wore black and white
clothing. Men decorated their clothing, shoes, and hats with large buckles.
CORRECT ANSWER: ____ TRUE ____FALSE
Black cloth was _________________ and hard to ___________, so colonists wore black
clothing ________ on Sundays or for other special occasions. Colonists commonly wore
_________ such as ______________________________________________________. Early
colonists did not wear ______________________ on their shoes, hats, or clothes.
3) All English colonists in the seventeenth century came to the New World seeking
religious freedom.
CORRECT ANSWER: ____ TRUE ____FALSE
Why did colonists come to the new world?
4) The "Pilgrims" founded the first colony in the area now known as "New England."
CORRECT ANSWER: ____ TRUE ____FALSE
When did the pilgrims arrive?
5) The "Pilgrims" were "Puritans" who were seeking to "purify" the Church of
England.
CORRECT ANSWER: ____ TRUE ____FALSE
How were the Pilgrims and Puritans the same or different?
6) An "Indian princess" named Pocahontas rescued early colonist Captain John Smith
from certain death, and later fell in love with him.
CORRECT ANSWER: ____ TRUE ____FALSE
We’ve read different accounts of this incident. Which do you think is the correct answer?
7) Early English colonists lived in log cabins.
CORRECT ANSWER: ____ TRUE ____FALSE
Swedish immigrants introduced the "traditional" ______________ design of notched and
interlocking logs to America in the ____________. Many early English settlers lived
___________________________ cottages. Daub was important in __________________ the
houses against the long New England _______________.
8) After traveling over 2,700 miles from England to the New World, the "Pilgrims"
first came ashore on Plymouth Rock and established their permanent colony.
CORRECT ANSWER: ____ TRUE ____FALSE
The Pilgrims first anchored in the harbor of present-day ____________________,
Massachusetts, on November 11, __________.
9) Early colonists celebrated the first Thanksgiving in November 1621, and it has been
an annual holiday in North America ever since, except during the years of the
American Civil War (1861-1865).
CORRECT ANSWER: ____ TRUE ____FALSE
Pilgrims were first linked to Thanksgiving when a first-hand account of the 1621 harvest festival
was discovered and published in _____________. ___________________________ proclaimed
it a national holiday in _________.
10) The weapon of choice for English colonists during the 1620s was a gun called a
blunderbuss, which featured a thick and bell-shaped barrel.
CORRECT ANSWER: ____ TRUE ____FALSE
Early colonists used ___________, ______________ and ______________________.
_________ were heavy, and complicated.
11) Early English colonists developed strict laws and harsh punishments for those
who broke them.
CORRECT ANSWER: ____ TRUE ____FALSE
In Plymouth Colony, what crimes could earn you the death sentence?
What other punishments were given out for breaking laws?
What were “stocks?”
12) Early English colonists viewed alcohol and tobacco as instruments of the devil and
banned them from the colonies.
CORRECT ANSWER: ____ TRUE ____FALSE
Many colonists thought that ________________ was helpful in _________________________.
Colonists viewed ____________ suspiciously, and rightly believed that
_______________________ could cause illness and even death. Many colonists ___________ .
13) Colonists in New England were friends with Indians and did not fight them, as
settlers did later in the American West.
CORRECT ANSWER: ____ TRUE ____FALSE
Colonists frequently viewed the ________________ as "heathens" and "savages," who were
__________________ them intellectually and culturally. While many colonies enjoyed peaceful
relationships with Indians, there were also _______________ and __________.
14) Enslaved Africans arrived in Colonial America before the Mayflower did.
CORRECT ANSWER: ____ TRUE ____FALSE
The first Africans came to America in ____________ and were sold as_____________________
15) Early English colonists such as the Pilgrims introduced Christian holidays such as
Christmas and Easter to North America.
CORRECT ANSWER: ____ TRUE ____FALSE
Why did they or didn’t they celebrate those holidays?