Colonial Kids: An Activity Guide to Life in the New World
Note to Readers The term Native North Americans is used to represent those people who lived in America prior to European settlement For brevity when it is clear that the text is referring to one or more Native North American tribes the term Indians is used to refer to all these
Time Line 1000 1200 1492 150 1509 Horsemen and Greenland sagas Columbus landed Columbus made his first African slaves at Vinland written down in Caribbean last voyage to taken to New World New World by Spanish settlers Spanish ships 1519 took first horses to New World 1608 1607 1598 150 15ES French found English found Quebec Canada Jamestown Colony Spanish found Santa Fe Spanish settled at Chesapeake Bay Spanish found St Augustine Florida 1620 Mayflower arrived at Plymouth 16s 170 1760 1775 American colonies Swedish colonists Population of settled on Delaware River Europe 140 million Population of Colonial American 1 million Russian fur traders explored North America s west coast from England
o The People What would you say if your parents told you they were taking you to an unknown land called the New World where strange and unusual animals and plants lived The trip would be made in a boat not much larger than a school bus What if they men tioned there might be sea monsters pirates and oh yes worms in your food during the sea voyage And you would probably never be able to return to your homeland Quite an adventure wouldn't you agree A lot of children to the World and came New probably some of them really didn't want to For most though the New World and the opportunities that might be there were far better than where they had been living Look back into your own family’s history if they settled in North America before it became the nation it is today they were colonists The North American colonies were settled by
immigrants who came here and eventually formed their own countries the United States of America Canada and Mexico There were people already here when the new comers stepped off their ships Native North Americans North American Indians already had built villages even cities They sometimes welcomed the new peo ple and sometimes fought them Native North Americans lived in villages all along the Atlantic Coast when the European explorers arrived Each Indian nation had its own territory cus toms style of dress and language The people hunt ed fished and planted gardens They made things they needed out of wood hide bone and shell Villages were usually small because too many peo ple in one place would use up all the food Many more people could survive in villages where gardens were planted Extra food was traded to other villages People traded for items they couldn't gather or make The Native North Americans depended on the land the seasons the weather and on trading with each other for their survival Nations and villages sometimes fought each other over territory or trade just like the European and Asian nations At the beginning of the colonial era in the New World European explorers went everywhere they could looking for the most valuable things they knew
