Suggested levels for Guided Reading, DRA,
Lexile,
®
and Reading Recovery
are provided
in the Pearson Scott Foresman Leveling Guide.
Colonialism and
Native Peoples
Genre
Comprehension
Skills and Strategy
Text Features
Expository
nonfi ction
• Draw Conclusions
Compare and
Contrast
• Answer Questions
• Headings
• Map
• Sidebars
Scott Foresman Reading Street 6.6.4
ISBN 0-328-13678-6
ì<(sk$m)=bdghia< +^-Ä-U-Ä-U
by J. Matteson Claus
13678_CVR_FSD A-B13678_CVR_FSD A-B 11/22/05 11:40:31 AM11/22/05 11:40:31 AM
Suggested levels for Guided Reading, DRA,
Lexile,
®
and Reading Recovery
are provided
in the Pearson Scott Foresman Leveling Guide.
Colonialism and
Native Peoples
Genre
Comprehension
Skills and Strategy
Text Features
Expository
nonfi ction
• Draw Conclusions
Compare and
Contrast
• Answer Questions
• Headings
• Map
• Sidebars
Scott Foresman Reading Street 6.6.4
ISBN 0-328-13678-6
ì<(sk$m)=bdghia< +^-Ä-U-Ä-U
by J. Matteson Claus
13678_CVR_FSD A-B13678_CVR_FSD A-B 11/22/05 11:40:31 AM11/22/05 11:40:31 AM
Date
Event
Vocabulary
advantageous
conquests
counterparts
devastating
immunity
indigenous
massacred
penal
Word count: 2,595
Note: The total word count includes words in the running text and headings only.
Numerals and words in chapter titles, captions, labels, diagrams, charts, graphs,
sidebars, and extra features are not included.
Reader Response
1. Based on what you have read, what do you think will
happen to modern indigenous people, such as the
Yanomami, who are coming into contact with modern
settlers?
2. Who were the first English settlers to arrive in Australia?
What was Australia originally used for? After writing your
answers, tell where in the book you found them.
3. Use a thesaurus to find as many synonyms for indigenous
as you can. Also find at least one antonym. Write a
sentence of your own using one synonym and one
antonym.
4. Using dates from the text, design a time line.
13678_CVR_FSD C-D13678_CVR_FSD C-D 1/25/06 6:41:26 PM1/25/06 6:41:26 PM
by J. Matteson Claus
Colonialism and
Native Peoples
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13678_001-024_FSD 113678_001-024_FSD 1 11/22/05 11:35:16 AM11/22/05 11:35:16 AM
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ISBN: 0-328-13678-6
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The Aztec Empire at its height
3
Introduction
The history of human exploration and colonization is
both stunning and disturbing. The spread of European
civilization brought innumerable benefits for many
European people; the impact on the indigenous, or
native, people, however, has been staggering.
The Age of Discovery in the fifteenth century marked
the beginning of European colonization of the “New
World”—the Americas. The pattern of destruction
established by the earliest military conquests would be
repeated for centuries. One of these first conquests was
the Spanish victory over the Aztecs.
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The Aztecs
Aztec is a term that can refer to both the people
who lived in the city of Tenochtitlán and, more
generally, the native people living in central Mexico.
The Aztec tribes migrated to central Mexico from the
north. In 1325 one tribe of Aztecs, called the Mexica,
built the city of Tenochtitlán (present-day Mexico
City) on an island in the center of a lake.
War was an important part of Aztec culture for
several reasons. Being a soldier meant that one was
part of a privileged upper class. The Aztecs gained
more wealth with each conquest, and they also took
prisoners-of-war to use in human sacrifices that were
part of Aztec religious rituals.
Religion and the Aztecs
The Aztecs were a religious people who held
complex rituals involving drama, dance, and elaborate
costumes. Senior priests were made up of nobles,
and the chief priest was the emperor. The Aztecs
worshipped approximately 1,600 godsone for every
aspect of life. They believed that the gods demanded
human sacrifices.
Feeding the Population
The Aztecs were excellent farmers, whose farming
methods were, in fact, more advanced than those of
the Spaniards who would conquer them. In order to
feed their large population, the Aztecs cultivated all
available land as well as reclaimed land from the lake
for crops. They even terraced the hillsides by cutting
steplike levels into them on which they could plant.
4
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By 1428, the city of Tenochtitlán
formed a triple alliance with the
nearby states of Texcoco and
Tlacopan. By the 1500s, the warlike
Aztecs were able to control a
kingdom of millions of people.
5
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When Cortés and his men were brought to the
city of Tenochtitlán, its beauty and riches stunned
them. The city held towering pyramids and exotic
palaces. The city was huge—about 200,000
people lived there—yet it was spotlessly clean.
6
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7
The Arrival of the Spanish
The Aztec priests warned the emperor,
Montezuma, that they had seen portents that
something was coming. In 1519, that something
arrived in the form of Hernando Cortés and
500 Spanish soldiers. When the Aztecs saw the
Spaniards, they thought the foreigners were gods.
Conquering the Aztecs
The Spanish conquistadors—or conquerors—
came to enrich themselves. They wanted gold and
glory. They saw the Aztecs had much gold and
wealth, and the Spanish set out to conquer them.
The Aztec warriors, who greatly outnumbered
the Spanish invaders, fought with darts, bows,
spears, slings, and stone-edged swords. These
weapons were easily repelled, however, by
the conquistadors’ metal armor. In addition to
the armor, the Spanish had superior weapons:
cannons, muskets, and crossbows. They also rode
horses. The Aztecs had never seen horses before
and were terrified by the beasts.
Still, the Spanish would never have been able
to defeat the Aztecs, who vastly outnumbered
them, if they had not found eager comrades
among the local tribes. These natives hated the
Aztecs who had conquered them, and they were
eager to fight back. Their numbers swelled the
Spanish force to more than 15,000. It took months
of hard fighting, street to street, but eventually
the Spanish defeated the Aztecs at Tenochtitlán.
More than 100,000 Aztecs died defending their
city.
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8
The Aftermath
With the Aztecs defeated, the Spaniards took control
of the empire. They destroyed the city of Tenochtitlán
and built a new, Spanish-style city on its ruins. The new
city was named Mexico City. The Spaniards dominated
the conquered Aztecs.
From Warrior to Slave
During the fighting, much of the Aztec gold
mysteriously disappeared. Cortés was unable to give
his soldiers the gold he had promised them, but he did
reward his comrades with Aztec warriors as slaves. Cortés
punished the once proud warriors for defending their
city by branding them and condemning them to lives of
servitude.
An example of Aztec pictorial writing
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9
The Land
Cortés also rewarded his soldiers
by giving them land. The slaves
were forced to work the land while
the masters reaped the benefits.
Furthermore, much of what the slaves
produced was sent back to Spain—and
so, with all the food being shipped
abroad or consumed by their masters,
many Aztecs died from starvation.
Slaves also died from mistreatment.
Alongside the conquistadors,
missionaries arrived with Cortés. With
the Aztec defeat, Aztec temples and
idols were destroyed and human
sacrifice was banned. Hundreds of
thousands of natives were baptized
in an attempt to convert them to
Christianity.
Friars and priests began educating Aztec nobles. The
nobles learned about Christianity and also how to read in
Latin. They began writing in Latin and abandoned their
own pictorial written language.
Disease
In addition to Christianity, the Spaniards brought new
diseases with them. The Aztecs had never been exposed
to European sicknesses and, therefore, had no immunity
to them. Smallpox alone wiped out nearly half of the
Aztec population. Measles, mumps, and the plague also
obliterated entire villages.
By 1580, just 60 years after the Spaniards’ arrival,
between 80 and 95 percent of the indigenous
population was dead from war, disease, starvation, and
maltreatment. The population of Mexico continued to
decline for another century.
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The Native Americans
Nearly a century after Cortés landed in Mexico, the
English started the first permanent English colony in
North America. In many ways, they followed a pattern
of conquest similar to the Spanish.
Who Were the Native People of Virginia?
The native people who lived in what is now
Virginia did not live under a single rule. In fact, there
were several Native American tribes in the area. The
Powhatan and the Susquehannock lived near the
coast; the Monacan and Manahoac lived in the area
around what is now Richmond; the Cherokee lived in
the area of the Great Smoky Mountains.
Life among the Native Americans
of Virginia
The indigenous people of Virginia lived in wooden
houses—either in dome-shaped wigwams or in oblong
longhouses with roofs made of bark. The houses
were grouped
together in
villages containing
as many as a
thousand people.
10
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11
Food for the Villages
Each village cultivated its own farmland.
Women and children did the farming, planting
corn, beans, pumpkins, melons, and tobacco.
The men hunted the native animals, which
included turkeys, bison, and deer. The Indians
used almost every part of the animals they
killed. The skins were used to make clothing,
and the bones were honed into tools. Deer
horns were even used to make glue.
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12
Religion and the Native Americans
Like the Aztecs, Native Americans worshipped many
gods including gods of the sun and moon. Similarly,
Native American religion was rooted in nature. Prayer
was an important part of Native American festivals, and
rituals included games, music, singing, dancing, and
storytelling.
War and the Native Americans
The indigenous people of Virginia were experienced
fighters who had clear rules about war. They treated war
like hunting: they would lie in wait for their prey, then
attack their opponents unexpectedly. This was different
from the European idea of warfare—an out-in-the-open
fighting style.
The Arrival of the English
The English founded Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607.
They planned their colony as a business investment. Many
of the settlers were businessmen accustomed to having
servants do all the work and were unprepared for the
hardships of colonial life. They did not know how to farm,
nor, except for their leader, John Smith, did they know
how to hunt and fish. Also, they didn’t know how to use
the native plants of the new land. By the summer of 1607,
they were running out of food.
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13
To further complicate matters, the colonists had
trouble with the native peoples who sporadically
attacked their settlements.
Occasionally, the English convinced the Native
Americans to trade with them. The early trading was
advantageous to both groups. The English received
desperately needed food, and the indigenous people
were able to obtain goods like knives and cooking
utensils. When they asked the English to trade “thunder
sticks” (guns), however, the English refused.
Wahunsunacock, the paramount chief, called
Powhatan, of some thirty tribes, knew the English had
come to take the land. He captured John Smith, but
Powhatan’s daughter, Pocahontas, intervened and saved
Smith’s life. Powhatan and Smith forged a friendship, and
for a while, the Powhatan people and the colonists lived
in peace, with the native people teaching the colonists
how to plant corn and trap fish.
The peace didn’t last, however. John Smith had to
return to England for health reasons and Pocahontas and
Powhatan both died. Then, in 1622, Powhatan warriors
attacked and massacred over 400 colonists. Fighting
ensued for the next several decades, with extensive
casualties on both sides. Still, English colonists kept
arriving. The indigenous people were pushed back, and
eventually most fled the area or were killed.
13678_001-024_FSD 1313678_001-024_FSD 13 11/22/05 11:37:03 AM11/22/05 11:37:03 AM
From a German print “People of Australia
and Oceania,” circa 1900
14
The Aftermath
Disease
Just like the Aztecs, the indigenous people of North
America had never been exposed to the diseases brought
by Europeans, and, again like the Aztecs, the native
people of Virginia succumbed by the thousands to
smallpox and other illnesses.
Land
Individual ownership of land was a concept foreign
to Native Americans. They saw how English colonists
came and claimed the land on which the native people
had lived and hunted for generations. Some of the tribes
fought for their lands. Sometimes the colonists were able
to buy land from the Native Americans, but sometimes
the colonists tricked the chiefs into signing treaties giving
up their land. The colonists did not try to force the Native
Americans into slavery, however, as the Spanish did with
the Aztec.
Religion
In some cases, the English tried to convert Native
Americans to Christianity. Pocahontas was baptized and
became a Christian. Mostly, however, English settlers
wished to displace the native peoples and take their land.
War
To a large extent, Native Americans of North Virginia
suffered the same fate as the Aztecs: they were overcome
by superior firepower and disease. Unlike the Aztecs,
however, the native peoples of Virginia were also
outnumbered. No matter how many English settlers they
fought off, more arrived. A century after the Europeans’
arrival, the Native American population was greatly
reduced.
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15
The Australian Aborigines
Nearly two hundred years after the English founded
Jamestown in Virginia, they colonized Australia. Like
the Americas, Australia had a native population.
Unfortunately, the Aborigines, the name used collectively
to describe many distinct groups of the native people of
Australia, fared little better under colonization than their
counterparts in Mexico and Virginia.
The most common theory is that the Aborigines began
inhabiting Australia between 40,000 and 50,000 years
ago. When the English arrived, there were approximately
200 separate Aborigine groups with many different
languages and cultures.
Aborigine groups inhabited many different parts of
the Australian continent. As a result, their way of life
varied from place to place. In general, they were hunter-
gatherers, hunting native animals such as kangaroos
and lizards. Some Aborigine were fishermen. They also
gathered and ate roots, fruits, and other plants.
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Totems were symbols of the
powerful aspects of a thing
or place. For example, an
animal totem represented
the strengths of that animal.
16
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The Dreamtime
Similar to the
religions of the native
people of the Americas,
the Aborigine religion
was rooted in nature.
According to Aborigine
beliefs, the time before the world was created was
known as the Dreamtime. The mythical beings who
lived during the Dreamtime created the world—the
land, the plants, the animals, and the people. Then
these beings were absorbed into the landscape so
that their energies lived in the land. For this reason,
the Aborigines felt connected to their land.
Their daily activities were also connected with
spiritual life. Rituals and ceremonies kept the
Aborigine people in touch with the Dreamtime,
providing wisdom and strength. Tribes sometimes
spent weeks preparing dances, music, chants, body
painting, bark paintings, and wood totems.
Australia the Penal Colony
In 1788, Captain Arthur Phillip arrived from
England with a fleet of ships with 730 prisoners and
200 British soldiers to keep them in line. Thus began
Australian colonization—with a penal colony. Over
the next 80 years, approximately 160,000 convicts
were transported to Australia.
In addition to the convicts, settlers flowed
into Australia. By the 1850s, Australia’s European
population had nearly tripled, from around 400,000
people to 1.1 million.
17
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18
Effects on the Aborigines
As in the Americas, the influx of
colonists had devastating effects on the
native population. European settlers took
lands that were vital to the Aborigines
and also took water sources for their
own exclusive use. In many areas, they
destroyed previously fertile lands by
turning loose their herds of sheep and
cattle to graze. The loss of land was a
harsh blow to the Aborigine way of life.
Religion
The English made little effort to
convert the Aborigines to Christianity. Like
the English settlers in Virginia, Australian
colonizers really just wanted the land. To
the Aborigines, their land was part of their
identity. Their culture was deeply affected
when they were displaced.
Displacing the Aborigines
At first, the Aborigines welcomed
early colonists. When colonists claimed
their lands, however, they fought back by
stealing sheep. For the native people, loss
of land meant loss of hunting grounds
and, thus, loss of food.
The colonists responded with violence.
Like the Native Americans, the Aborigines
were no match for the Europeans and
their guns. The Aborigine people tried
to fight back with spears, but many were
massacred. As recently as 1928, Australian
settlers were still killing Aborigine people.
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19
In addition, as
with other native
peoples, Aborigines
were devastated by
the diseases brought
by Europeans. Entire
villages were destroyed.
On the island of
Tasmania, off Australia’s
southern coast, the entire Aborigine population was
obliterated in the 1800s from a combination of disease,
displacement, and murder.
The Results
By the early twentieth century, the Australian
Aborigine population had been reduced by 90 percent. As
in Mexico and Virginia, the arrival of colonists in Australia
proved to be deadly to the indigenous population.
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Aztecs, Native Americans,
and Aborigines Today
The indigenous populations never really
recovered from colonization. However, each
population continued on in its own way.
When Mexico declared independence
from Spain in 1822, it embraced its Aztec
past. Some of the Aztec religion survived
as well—for example, the Mexican holiday
known as The Day of the Dead comes from
ancient Aztec practices.
In the United States, the Native
American struggle didn’t end in Virginia.
Eventually, settlers in the United States
displaced or conquered all the Native
Americans. Those who survived were forced
to live on reservations. Today, Native
Americans battle difficulties from
unemployment to alcoholism. Popular
attitudes are changing, however, and
Native American culture is now viewed
with more respect. Modern tribes are
creating more opportunities for themselves
while retaining or re-establishing their
identities.
In Australia, Aborigine people were also
sent to reservations. However, in 1976 they
were awarded one-fourth of the Northern
Territories in Australia. It wasn’t until 1993,
though, that they won the right to make
territorial claims in court. Like the Native
Americans, the Australian Aborigines
remain one of the most disadvantaged
groups in their nation. In 1988, Australia
celebrated its 200th anniversary, but the
Aborigines declared it a year of mourning.
20
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Native Americans dance at a powwow
in Montana, 1994. (Inset) A Yanomami
woman of Brazil, dressed for a
ceremony
Conclusion
The history of human colonization is both inspiring
and sobering. On the one hand, it is a huge achievement
to have successfully colonized so many of the varied lands
and environments of our planet. On the other hand, the
wake of destruction left behind by this colonization is
cause for serious thought.
Almost 270 years separated the colonization of
Mexico and Australia, but in both cases, the effects were
the same. Sadly, the same mistakes are made today.
Modern indigenous populations such as the Yanomami in
Brazil are being destroyed as outsiders attempt to claim
their land.
Once destroyed, the culture and knowledge of native
peoples are lost forever.
21
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22
Now Try This
One of the challenges faced by explorers
confronting native people was the language barrier.
When settlers reached Mexico, Virginia, and Australia,
they had to learn how to communicate with the
indigenous tribes.
One way to communicate is through pictures. The
Aztec scribes used picture writing that was bound
in books called codices. These books were a bit like
modern comic books—the pictures told the story.
Unlike modern books, however, Aztec books were
bound on both sides.
When pictures are used in writing, they are often
used as symbols. For example, an eye might not only
represent an eye but might also represent vision or
seeing.
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23
Create your own codex. See if you can effectively
convey a story using pictures. You can either draw your
own symbols and pictures or cut pictures from other
sources. Make sure your story has a beginning, middle,
and end.
1. Write a story outline.
Make an outline of actions or images that
complete a story sequence.
Make sure your story has a beginning, middle,
and end.
2. Decide on symbols that stand for people or events.
Draw pictures that tell your story
Or, cut out pictures from other sources.
Create some order to your pictures so that your
readers can follow your story.
3. Include a legend to explain your codex symbols
to your readers.
For example,
= water, and so on.
Have fun and good luck!
H
e
r
e
s
H
o
w
t
o
D
o
I
t
!
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24
Glossary
advantageous adj. giving a
benefit; favorable
conquests n. acts of winning
in war; taking by force
counterparts n. people or
things that closely resemble
other people or things
devastating adj. causing
destruction
immunity n. resistance to
disease, poison, etc.
indigenous adj. originating
in a particular country
massacred v. killed
needlessly or cruelly
penal adj. of, about, or
given as punishment
portents n. warnings,
usually of coming evil;
omens
13678_001-024_FSD 2413678_001-024_FSD 24 11/22/05 11:38:38 AM11/22/05 11:38:38 AM
Date
Event
Vocabulary
advantageous
conquests
counterparts
devastating
immunity
indigenous
massacred
penal
Word count: 2,595
Note: The total word count includes words in the running text and headings only.
Numerals and words in chapter titles, captions, labels, diagrams, charts, graphs,
sidebars, and extra features are not included.
Reader Response
1. Based on what you have read, what do you think will
happen to modern indigenous people, such as the
Yanomami, who are coming into contact with modern
settlers?
2. Who were the first English settlers to arrive in Australia?
What was Australia originally used for? After writing your
answers, tell where in the book you found them.
3. Use a thesaurus to find as many synonyms for indigenous
as you can. Also find at least one antonym. Write a
sentence of your own using one synonym and one
antonym.
4. Using dates from the text, design a time line.
13678_CVR_FSD C-D13678_CVR_FSD C-D 1/25/06 6:41:26 PM1/25/06 6:41:26 PM