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Conquest

Driving Question: How did Europeans conquer empires in the Americas, and how did Indigenous people resist?

Beginning in the sixteenth century, Europeans invaded the Americas, imposing their rule on Indigenous communities. Disease, warfare, and slavery all took their toll on Indigenous American communities. Nonetheless, in every region, people resisted colonial rule.

Learning Objectives:

  1. Evaluate the strategies that European empires used to conquer and rule colonies in the Americas.
  2. Identify types of resistance and adaptation strategies employed by Indigenous Americans.
  3. Use sourcing skills to analyze how religions and cultures in the Americas changed as a result of colonization.
STEP 1

Opener: Conquest

European colonizers had powerful weapons and new strategies, but Indigenous communities responded with their own tools. How do you think they compared to each other?

STEP 2

Colonizing the Americas

Teaching Tools

Learn more about how OER Project approaches sourcing: Check out this short guide.

Want to know how other teachers used these sources? Read this conversation External link in the OER Project Teacher Community.

European empires established colonies from Canada to Brazil. The materials below provide a sense of the scale of colonization and delve deeper into one of the most infamous examples: the Spanish invasion of the Aztec Empire.

STEP 3

Resistance

Teaching Tools

Check out the OER Project Video Guide for tips on using video in the classroom.

The Spanish colonization of the Americas happened quickly and spanned two continents. Consider some of the diverse methods that Indigenous people used to resist the invasions.

The Pueblo Revolt External link

In this video, Jerad Koepp interviews Porter Swentzell about the causes, experiences, and long-term effects of the Pueblo Revolt of 1680.

Key Ideas

As this video progresses, key ideas will be introduced to invoke discussion.
STEP 4

Closer: Conquest

Indigenous resistance against European rule in the Americas was widespread and constant. Evaluate how your thinking has changed over the course of this lesson.