uNIT 6 - tHE nEW wORLD
The last unit of the year serves as a transition for our 7th graders into 8th grade material that will suit them well at the start of next year. Students will examine the French, Spanish, and English race for land in the New World, the effects on indigenous people, and the growth of colonial societies. Some specific areas of focus include the Columbian Exchange, conquistadors, the Enlightenment, Jamestown, fur trading, and the Puritan settlement and conquest of New England against the Wampanoags and other native groups.
Essential Questions
How did Spanish conquistadors conquer most of Central and South America?
What are colonies, who started them, and how did they compare to each other?
What were the English colonies like and how did they interact with native peoples?
What are colonies, who started them, and how did they compare to each other?
What were the English colonies like and how did they interact with native peoples?
Links and videos
Maritime Museum List of Explorers: This AMAZING website gives you bios about major explorers AND provides interactive maps of their voyages!
Articles, Activities, and Video: World Travelers - Click here for LOTS of great information about World Travelers, including those who pre-date Columbus.
Video: The Maya 101 by NatGeo (4 minutes)
Video: Cracking the Maya Code - This PBS Nova Documentary shows us Mayan writing systems and how archaeologists figured out their meaning.
Video: Engineering an Empire - The Aztecs
Video: Guns, Germs, and Steel, Episode 2 Conquest - Watch this legendary documentary to learn about how the Spanish manipulated their circumstances to their advantage in the New World.
Video: The Rise and Fall of the Incas by TedEd (5 minutes)
Audio Article: Inca Road Builders
Places actually discovered by European explorers (America is not on the list!)
Video: What Happened to the Lost Colony of Roanoke? by NatGeo (3 minutes)
Article: Listening to the Bones - Evidence of cannabalism at Jamestown, England's first successful (or not so successful) colony. Click here for a video version.
Article: Skeletons found in Jamestown Church believed to be early leaders who died during the Starving Time. Click HERE for a video version.
Documentary: After the Mayflower - This film from the series "We Shall Remain" studies the fate of New England's Wampanoag people after King Philip's War.
Articles, Activities, and Video: World Travelers - Click here for LOTS of great information about World Travelers, including those who pre-date Columbus.
Video: The Maya 101 by NatGeo (4 minutes)
Video: Cracking the Maya Code - This PBS Nova Documentary shows us Mayan writing systems and how archaeologists figured out their meaning.
Video: Engineering an Empire - The Aztecs
Video: Guns, Germs, and Steel, Episode 2 Conquest - Watch this legendary documentary to learn about how the Spanish manipulated their circumstances to their advantage in the New World.
Video: The Rise and Fall of the Incas by TedEd (5 minutes)
Audio Article: Inca Road Builders
Places actually discovered by European explorers (America is not on the list!)
Video: What Happened to the Lost Colony of Roanoke? by NatGeo (3 minutes)
Article: Listening to the Bones - Evidence of cannabalism at Jamestown, England's first successful (or not so successful) colony. Click here for a video version.
Article: Skeletons found in Jamestown Church believed to be early leaders who died during the Starving Time. Click HERE for a video version.
Documentary: After the Mayflower - This film from the series "We Shall Remain" studies the fate of New England's Wampanoag people after King Philip's War.