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7th grade · Social Studies · Unit 2 of 13

Natural Texas & Contact

First peoples and first explorers

What your child practices

The Gulf, Plains, Puebloan and Southeastern cultures of Texas before European colonization, and the Age of Contact: Álvarez de Pineda, Cabeza de Vaca, the search for gold and the conflicting claims of France and Spain. American Indian nations are described as many distinct peoples; those living today are in the present tense.

Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS) teks student expectation: 7.2(A); 7.2(B) · American Indian cultures in Texas before colonization, and European exploration of Texas

How we explain it

Children can open this short lesson before they practice.

  1. Before Europeans, Texas had four culture regions: Gulf, Plains, Puebloan and Southeastern. Each had many distinct peoples.
  2. Southeastern peoples like the Caddo farmed in settled villages; Plains peoples like the Comanche followed the buffalo and later became expert riders.
  3. Álvarez de Pineda mapped the coast in 1519. France’s La Salle colony alarmed Spain, which claimed the land.

Example: Why did La Salle’s colony alarm Spain? La Salle came from France. Spain claimed Texas as its own land. A French colony there challenged that claim. Answer: France was claiming land Spain thought was its own

Natural Texas & Contact in Texas

In the Texas Essential Knowledge and Skills (TEKS), this is unit 2 of 13 in 7th grade Social Studies, after Eras of Texas History and before Spanish Colonial Texas.

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: Texas Education Agency (TEA)

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

    Archaeologists learn about Natural Texas mainly from…

    • written diaries from that time
    • newspapers
    • photographs
    • artifacts, rock art and remains of campsites

  2. Question 2

    Alonso Álvarez de Pineda is known for…

    • building Fort St. Louis
    • mapping the Texas coast in 1519
    • leading the Alamo
    • founding San Antonio

  3. Question 3

    What did Coronado's expedition find?

    • no gold, but vast plains and buffalo herds
    • oil fields
    • seven cities of gold
    • a French colony

  4. Question 4

    The Tonkawa were a Plains people of…

    • the Gulf islands
    • far West Texas mountains
    • the Piney Woods
    • Central Texas

  5. Question 5

    Puebloan cultures such as the Jumano lived…

    • in adobe villages near the Rio Grande and farmed with irrigation
    • in grass houses in pine forests
    • in buffalo-hide tents on the coast
    • on islands

  6. Question 6

    The conflicting claims of France and Spain centered on the border between Texas and…

    • Florida
    • Cuba
    • New England
    • French Louisiana

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