Exploration of the New World Lesson Plan
Speaking
Present this scenario to students:
You are given the chance to go into a department store with a grocery
department for one hour. You can take anything you like for free.
1. What do you take?
2. What if you had to share the time with 99 other people?
3. What if you had to share with 99 other people and you only had 15 minutes?
4. How is this scenario similar to colonization?
Listening
Exploring the Americas
Listening
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J3udgYnd8qM&app=desktop
0:00-2:27
1. What year did Columbus sail to find the East Indies?
a. 4092
b. 1392
c. 1492
2. What Company established the colony of Jamestown?
a. the Virginia Company of London
b. the Furniture Company of London
c. the Virginai Company of Colon
3. What nationality of people lived at Jamestown?
a. Spanish
b. English
c. Irish
4. What was introduced to the Virginia colony in 1619?
a. sickness
b. slavery
c. bravery
5. What ship was anchored at the tip of Cape Cod?
a. the Pinta
b. the Constitution
c. the Mayflower
6. What percentage of the people of this ship sign the Mayflower Compact?
a. ~20%
b. ~90%
c. ~40%
7. Why did the pilgrims leave England?
a. They wanted religious freedom.
b. They wanted more land.
c. They wanted economic freedom.
8. One of the first colleges in North America was_____________.
a. Princeton University
b. Hennepin College
c. Harvard College
9. Which town is famous for holding trials to determine if a person was a witch?
a. Andover
b. Salem
c. Ipswitch
10. Who had a kite experiment that successfully extracted sparks from a cloud?
a. George Washington
b. Thomas Jefferson
c. Benjamin Franklin
YouTube Video
Listen and discuss new vocabulary.
Reading
Early Explorers and Settlers
The first inhabitants of Minnesota were Paleo-Indians 7,000 to 9,000 years ago. The Dakota (Sioux),
and Ojibwe (Chippewa) Indians arrived later from the North and East. The first documented
Europeans to set foot in Minnesota were
French-Canadian voyageurs and fur traders
who arrived as early as the 1600’s from the
East. The geography of Minnesota created an
ideal habitat for animals that produced high
quality furs and was a primary reason that fur
traders were willing to come from such long
distances in these early years.
In 1805, Zebulon Pike negotiated a deal with
Native Americans for land at the intersection
of the Minnesota and Mississippi rivers.
Construction of Fort Snelling followed between 1819
and 1825. The land east of the Mississippi was ceded
to the U.S. in 1837, and settlers from the East began
arriving to stake their claims in this new territory.
Early Explorers
1620’s

Etienne Brule (born in France)
Brule is credited as being the first European to reach Lake Superior in 1622-23. Some historians
believe that he may have reached the end of the lake, (present day Duluth), but most feel that he
only traveled as far west as Isle Royale, and never set foot on
the shores of present day Minnesota.
1650’s

Medart Chouart des Groseilliers and Pierre Esprit
Radisson (both born in France)
Fur traders/Explorers; generally credited with being the first
Europeans to set foot in the territory that would become
Minnesota, along with his brother-in-law Pierre Esprit Radisson.
In 1659, they reached the foot of Lake Superior (present-day
Duluth).
1670’s

Louis Joliet (born in Quebec City, Canada) and Father Jacques Marquette (born in France)
In 1673 Joliet (Fur Trader) and Father Jacques Marquette (French Jesuit missionary) were the first
to reach and map the northern portion of the Mississippi River. They traveled about halfway down
the Mississippi to about Arkansas, but turned back to avoid capture by the Spanish who were in the
southern part of this territory.

Daniel Greysolon, Sieur du Lhut
In 1678, reached the interior of Minnesota, but returned to Lake Superior, then traveled up the
northwest shore to build a post on the Kaministiquia River. In 1679 he met with Dakota Indians near
Mille Lacs.

Father Louis Hennepin (born in the Netherlands)
In 1679, Hennipen sailed with Robert de LaSalle from Canada
through the Great Lakes aboard Le Griffon to explore the unknown
West. In 1680 they reached the mouth of the Illinois River. La Salle
sent Father Hennepin northward on the Mississippi to explore the
area now known as Minnesota. Hennepin is the first to discover St.
Anthony Falls.
1700’s

Pierre-Charles Le Sueur (born in Artois, France)
In 1700, Le Sueur and a group of men traveled up the Mississippi River from Biloxi, Mississippi and
were the first explorers to arrive in Minnesota via a longboat. Le
Sueur and his group of men later traveled up the “St. Pierre River”,
(now known as the “Minnesota River”) and made the earliest known
European contact with the Dakota and Iowa Indians living in the
area now known as southwestern Minnesota. The county of Le
Sueur was name after him.

David Thompson (born Westminster, England)
Thompson was the first explorer to do a formal mapping of
Minnesota. In 1797, he was sent south (from Canada) by his
employers (the North West Company) to survey part of Canada-U.S. boundary from Lake Superior
to Lake of the Woods.
By 1798 he had
completed a survey from
Grand Portage,
Minnesota through Lake
Winnipeg to the
headwaters of the
Mississippi River, as
well as two sides of
Lake Superior.
Writing
Comprehension
1. Why did fur traders travel the long distance to Minnesota?
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
2. What two people are recorded as the first Europeans in Minnesota?
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
3.What was Louis Hennepin’s great “discovery”?
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
4. What was an early name for the Minnesota River?
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
5. What was David Thompson’s job?
________________________________________________________________________________
________________________________________________________________________________
Grammar
Grammar In Context 2
5.3-5.4