3.2.1 Exploration & Colonization

Lesson 3.2.1

Exploration & Colonization

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Main Idea

European colonization of North America brought settlers from

several countries and permanently changed life on the continent.

Notes: Native Americans

• In the late 1400s, Native American groups lived in North America

• Each group adapted, or adjusted, to their environment they lived in

• For example, Native Americans in the Eastern Woodlands hunted deer and farmed the land. In the west, the Lakota hunted the large herds of American bison, a type of buffalo on the Great Plains

Notes: Europe Meets Native America

• A period of European exploration started in the late 1400s

• Explorers wanted to find riches and claim new lands for their rulers

• In 1492, Christopher Columbus was the first. He sailed from Spain and reached the Caribbean Islands - he called this the "New World"

• Lives of Native Americans were changed by Europeans’ arrival

• Settlers carried diseases, which the native people could not fight

• The spread of settlements also pushed many Natives off their land

• The use of slave labor increased throughout the continent

Notes: Colonization

• By the late 1500s, Europeans had begun to colonize the area

• colonize: build settlements and develop trade in lands

• These colonies were mostly small settlements 

• Most people farmed, traded furs or did craft work

• Examples of Colonies:

  Spain → St, Augustine, Florida

  Great Britain → Jamestown, Virginia & Plymouth, Massachusetts

Notes: Slavery in the Colonies

• In the south, colonies had huge plantations that needed more labor

• plantations: large farms that grow crops for profit

• Thousands of Africans brought to the colonies, forced into slavery

• As production of cotton increased on plantations in the South,

  the population of slaves in these states grew rapidly

• The southern colonies became dependent on slave labor

Open Ended

Summary Question

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How did European colonization change life in North America?

Example Answer:

Native Americans were pushed off their land, and a large percentage were killed by European diseases. Plus, European powers began to compete for land and the use of forced slave labor increased.