Lesson 1 Introduction

Purpose

The purpose of this lesson is to discuss the earliest history of North and South America: the first settlers and those who came, conquered them, and made their homes in a new land. It covers a wide expanse of time, so we cannot look at it in too much detail, but we need to know about it to understand what comes later. Most of the names should be familiar to you.

Learning Objectives

After completing this lesson, you should be able to accomplish the following:

  1. Tell where the first people of the Americas came from and why.
  2. Identify the native American groups and tell how each lived.
  3. Describe what the different European countries hoped to find in the New World.
  4. Identify important European explorers and state which countries they explored for and what they found.
  5. Locate on a map major European countries as they were in the 1500s.