The Americas before the arrival of Europeans | History

Starter quiz

Which of these continents are not physically connected to Europe?
- Asia
- North America ✓
- South America ✓
What physical barrier separates Europe from the Americas?
- The Alps mountain range
- The Atlantic Ocean ✓
- The Antarctic Ocean
- The Andes mountain range
True or false? In the fifteenth century, most Europeans believed the world was flat.
- True
- False ✓
Order these events chronologically from least to most recent.
- 1
  
  ⇔
  
  Romans conquer Britain
- 2
  
  ⇔
  
  Normans conquer England
- 3
  
  ⇔
  
  Black Death spreads from Asia to Europe
- 4
  
  ⇔
  
  Columbus travels to America
- 5
  
  ⇔
  
  Britain's Empire reaches its maximum size
What is 'a group of countries all ruled over by one person or country' called?
- 'empire' ✓
If Europeans wanted to spread Christianity to more people, what type of motive does this suggest they had for sailing abroad?
- conquest
- religion ✓
- trade

Why were Viking attempts to settle in North America abandoned?
- Conflict with Native Americans ✓
- Lack of necessary resources
- Lack of interest
Why can Native Americans be described as indigenous to the Americas?
- They inhabited the Americas before Europeans arrived ✓
- They had visited the Americas before Europeans arrived
- They started living in the Americas at the same time as Europeans
Which Native American empire ruled over more than five million people?
- Iroquois
- Mayan
- Inuit
- Aztec ✓
What type of home did most Iroquois live in?
- 'Longhouses' ✓
What were the Three Sisters?
- Name for corn, bean, and squash crops grown by the Iroquois ✓
- Name for the female leaders of Iroquois nations
- Name for the members of the Iroquois League
- Name for the elements of earth, wind and fire given by the Iroquois
What was happening to the Iroquois population before Europeans arrived in the Americas?
- 'Increasing' ✓

Indigenous peoples of North America were divided into different groups from small families to large empires.
Some North American tribes would be both farmers and hunter-gatherers like the Iroquois tribe.
Some well-known empires of North America included the Inuits in the North and Mayans and Aztecs in the South.
European travellers to North America started from the 900s with the Viking and Greenland explorers.

All Native American were the same and part of a single society.

There was a wide range of indigenous nations in the Americas, with many differences between their sizes, social structure and cultures.

Native americans - Native Americans are members of any of the societies who originally inhabited North and South America and the Caribbean Islands
Indigenous - indigenous people are the original inhabitants of a specific area
Nation - a nation is a community of people linked together by shared language, territory, ethnicity, or culture
Empire - an empire is a group of countries or provinces ruled from the centre by a person or group of people
Hunter-gatherers - hunter-gatherers are people who live off hunting, fishing, and harvesting wild food