English colonies · 1607-1676

Jamestown and Plymouth: colonies on Native land

The first lasting English colonies in North America were built in the homelands of the Powhatan and the Wampanoag. Students explore how both sides first needed each other, why relations broke down, and how the first Thanksgiving is remembered in different ways.

Teach it live New Open on the map
Length
50 minutes
Ages
11–14
On the map
3 steps, AD 1492 to AD 1650
Live lesson
7 rounds, 3 on the map
Worksheet
Two A4 pages, with Classroom
You need
A projector; phones for live

Live lesson · new in Classroom

Teach it live. The class answers on their phones.

Put the board on the projector. Students join with a six-digit code, no account needed, and tap the map: where was the frontier, where did the grain come from. Their pins drop in together when you reveal, and the closest student takes the round.

€19 per month: every lesson live, every worksheet, cancel anytime. Rome at its height runs live for free.

A live lesson on the projector: the class's pins on the map around Alexandria, the closest students listed beside it A student's phone: the question and a map to tap
7 rounds
3 places to find on the map, quiz questions, a class vote and a one-line answer.
About 15 minutes
Run it as the map step, or to open the discussion. You move on with the space bar.
A report
Every answer, per student and per round, to read back or print after the lesson.
1

Introduction

5 min

Read aloud

The first lasting English colonies in North America were built in the homelands of the Powhatan and the Wampanoag. Students explore how both sides first needed each other, why relations broke down, and how the first Thanksgiving is remembered in different ways.

By the end of the lesson, students can

  • Locate Jamestown and Plymouth and name the Native nations whose land they were built on.
  • Explain why the early English colonists depended on Native help and trade.
  • Describe how relations broke down, up to King Philip's War of 1675-1676.
2

Explore the map

15 min

Project the map, or let students follow on their own devices. Each step opens the map at the right year and place.

a

AD 1492

Tsenacommacah

Open the map in 1492 over Chesapeake Bay and find the labels Powhatan and Pamunkey. This was Tsenacommacah, the land of about 30 nations led by Wahunsenacawh, known as Chief Powhatan. In 1607 the English built Jamestown here. Whose permission did they ask?

Open this view on the map
b

AD 1492

Wampanoag country

Move north to Cape Cod Bay, still in 1492, and find Wôpanâak (Wampanoag). In 1620 the Mayflower settlers built Plymouth on the site of the Wampanoag village of Patuxet. What had happened to its people?

Open this view on the map
c

AD 1650

Colonies grow

Jump to 1650 and zoom out over the coast from Virginia to Massachusetts. Find Virginia, New Amsterdam and Massachusetts Bay. How much land do the colonies hold, and what is happening to Native homelands?

Open this view on the map
3

Class discussion

15 min

Pick two or three. They run from what happened to why it mattered.

  1. In the "Starving Time" of 1609-1610, most Jamestown colonists died. Why did they depend so heavily on Powhatan food?
  2. Pocahontas was captured by the English in 1613, married John Rolfe and died in England in 1617. Many historians doubt the story that she saved John Smith. Why do such stories grow?
  3. Tobacco made Virginia rich from about 1612. How did tobacco farming change the colony's need for land and workers?
  4. In 1621 the Wampanoag leader Massasoit made an alliance with Plymouth. What did each side gain?
  5. In 1675 Metacom, Massasoit's son, led a war against the New England colonies. What had changed in 50 years?
4

Game round

10 min

Play one round of Rule History as Elizabeth I, after whom Virginia was named. Afterwards, discuss: English rulers granted land in America that already belonged to Native nations. What did they know about those nations, and what did they choose to ignore?

Open Rule History
5

Worksheet

5 min

This worksheet comes with Classroom

€19 per month unlocks every worksheet, every live lesson and the class workspace. The free lesson prints without a subscription.