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6th grade · Social Studies · Unit 11 of 14

Explorers & Colonizers

Why Europeans came, and what followed

What your child practices

Why Spain, France and England explored and colonized North America (mercantilism, religion, wealth and new opportunities), the expeditions that reached Alabama, and the effects on Indigenous peoples.

Alabama Course of Study content standard: 6.2; 6.3 · reasons for British, French and Spanish colonization, and its effects on Indigenous peoples

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Europeans sailed west to find a sea route to Asia's spices and riches.
  2. Explorers kept journals and maps to report to sponsors. Coronado searched for cities of gold; Hudson sailed for the Dutch and English.
  3. Disease such as smallpox was the deadliest effect of contact. The French founded Mobile in 1702.

Example: Why did many European explorers sail west? Spices and silk came from Asia. They hoped to reach it by sea. Answer: to find a sea route to Asia

Explorers & Colonizers in Alabama

In the Alabama Course of Study, this is unit 11 of 14 in 6th grade Social Studies, after North America Before Contact and before Choosing Our Leaders.

Gradelings describes a child's practice on this unit as Beginning, Approaching, Meeting or Exceeding (Four practice steps). That reflects practice, not a report-card mark: the teacher decides the mark.

Source: Alabama State Department of Education (ALSDE)

Sample questions

A taste of this unit. In the app, questions change every time and get easier or harder to match your child.

  1. Question 1

    Why did many explorers keep journals and make maps?

    • for school homework
    • for fun only
    • to hide routes
    • to report to sponsors and guide later travelers

  2. Question 2

    Mercantilism was the idea that colonies existed to…

    • make the home country rich
    • govern themselves
    • trade only with each other
    • stay independent

  3. Question 3

    Hernando de Soto's expedition crossed present-day Alabama in…

    • 1540
    • 1819
    • 1776
    • 1492

  4. Question 4

    Explorers' sponsors were usually…

    • kings and queens who paid for voyages
    • newspapers
    • farm animals
    • schoolchildren

  5. Question 5

    How did European explorers affect American Indian nations?

    • they all stayed home
    • they only brought good things
    • they had no effect
    • diseases and conflict took many lives and lands

  6. Question 6

    Francisco Vásquez de Coronado searched the Southwest for…

    • cities of gold
    • salmon
    • a route to the Moon
    • coal

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