Laurie Carlson - Colonial Kids: An Activity Guide to Life in the New World

An Actvty gude to Lfe n the New World

Laurie Carlson

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Carlson, Laurie M, 1952

Colonial kids : an activity guide to life in the New World / Laurie Carlson,

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references.

Summary: Gives instructions for preparing foods, making clothes and creating other items used by European settlers in America, thereby providing a description of the daily life of these colonists.

ISBN 1-55652-322-X (alk. paper)

1. United StatesSocial life and customsTo 1775Activity programs. 2. United StatesHistoryColonial period, ca. 1600-1775Activity programs. 3. ChildrenUnited StatesHistory17th centuryActivity programs. 4. ChildrenUnited StatesHistory18th centuryActivity programs. [1. United StatesSocial life and customsTo 1775. 2. United StatesHistoryColonial period, ca. 1600-1775. 3. United StatesHistory17th century. 4. United StatesHistory18th century. 5. Handicraft.] I. Title.

E162.C33 1997
973.20712dc21

97-13105

CIP
AC

1997 by Laurie Carlson
All rights reserved
First edition
Published by Chicago Review Press, Incorporated
814 North Franklin Street
Chicago, Illinois 60610
ISBN 1-55652-322-X
Printed in the United States of America
10 9

For Dana, Caanan, Trelene, and Trevor; Rachel and
Tom; Heidi; Curt, Liza, and Gretchen; Kendra and
Atlefrom your loving Aunt L.

Plant a Garden

Note to Readers

The term Native North Americans is used to represent those people who lived in America prior to European settlement. For brevity, when it is clear that the text is referring to one or more Native North American tribes, the term Indians is used to refer to all these people.

What would you say if your parents told you they were taking you to an unknown land called the New World, where strange and unusual animals and plants lived? The trip would be made in a boat not much larger than a school bus. What if they mentioned there might be sea monsters, pirates, and, oh yes, worms in your food, during the sea voyage? And you would probably never be able to return to your homeland? Quite an adventure, wouldnt you agree?

A lot of children came to the New World and probably some of them really didnt want to. For most, though, the New World, and the opportunities that might be there were far better than where they had been living.

Look back into your own familys historyif they settled in North America before it became the nation it is today, they were colonists.

The North American colonies were settled by immigrants who came here and eventually formed their own countriesthe United States of America, Canada, and Mexico.

There were people already here when the newcomers stepped off their ships. Native North Americans (North American Indians) already had built villages, even cities. They sometimes welcomed the new people, and sometimes fought them.

Native North Americans lived in villages all along the Atlantic coast when the European explorers arrived. Each Indian nation had its own territory, customs, style of dress, and language. The people hunted, fished, and planted gardens. They made things they needed out of wood, hide, bone, and shell.

Villages were usually small because too many people in one place would use up all the food. Many more people could survive in villages where gardens were planted.

Extra food was traded to other villages. People traded for items they couldnt gather or make. The Native North Americans depended on the land, the seasons, the weather, and on trading with each other for their survival.

Nations and villages sometimes fought each other over territory or tradejust like the European and Asian nations.

At the beginning of the colonial era in the New World, European explorers went everywhere they could looking for the most valuable things they knewgold, jewels, spices, even the fountain of youth.

They were able to travel because ship building and navigation had become refined and well developed. Ship building, map making, and charting the night sky made it possible for explorers to head across the ocean, looking for great riches.

The first colonists were soldiers who, in their search for riches found rich land instead. Soldiers from one country fought soldiers from other countries to claim the most land. Kings and queens were eager to snap up the biggest piece of the New World for their country and sent explorers and soldiers to do this for them.

The colonists that came after the explorers came to stay. They built towns and raised families. They wanted to live in a country where they could have freedom and opportunitythe very things they couldnt find in Europe.

Norsemen from ancient Scandinavia, led by Leif Ericson (a sailor from Greenland) were the first Europeans to land in North America. Ericson sailed in the summer of 1001 A.D. landing in eastern Canada and later exploring it. There they discovered a new plant, one they had never seen beforegrapes. The men filled their boat with timber, grapes, and vines to take back to Greenland to show evidence of their discovery. In honor of this new discovery, they called this new land Vinland.

Sagas are stories or very long poems that were spoken aloud. Sagas told about the history of a family. Norsemen wrote down the saga of Erik the Red. Thats one way people today learned about the Greenland colonies.

Why not use a notebook to write your own familys historya family saga? You can start as far back as anyone remembers, and tell the story up to today. Try to write down all the obstacles and difficulties your family faced, and how they overcame them. Keep the notebook to pass on to your own children and grandchildren.

NOT ALL NORSEMEN were Vikings. Vikings were pirates who raided ships and villages, killing and stealing from others to gain their fortune.

In 1492, Christopher Columbus set out from Spain with three ships, trying to find a sea route to Asia by going west across the Atlantic Ocean. Ten weeks later he came to an island, Hispaniola, and thought he had landed in India, so he called the natives he met Indians. He soon realized that he hadnt landed in Asia, so he made four more trips, from Spain, still searching for a route. On some voyages, his crew of 150 included about fifty twelve- and thirteen-year-old boysthat was one-third of his crew!

As soon as the news about Columbuss trips spread through Europe, other kings and queens sent ships and people to claim and settle the land for their own country.

Spanish colonists settled in southern Florida and the Caribbean Islands. Dutch colonists settled in what is now New York. Swedish colonists settled in what is now Pennsylvania. French ships carried settlers to the southeastern coast and into Canada. English ships brought most of the colonists who settled in New England and Virginia.