MassachusettsHISTORY EXPLORERS GRADES 3–8
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evidence
Information from a source that helps us test a claim.
source
A document, object, image, or account we can examine.
inference
An explanation based on clues; it still needs checking.
migration
Moving from one place to another to live.
immigrant
A person who moves to another country to live.
estimate
An approximate amount, based on available information.
oral history
A recorded interview about someone’s memories and experiences.
community
People connected by a place, relationships, or shared activities.
ancestry
Family origins across generations.
primary source
Evidence created by someone who experienced a time or event.

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Chapter 03 · 1500s–1600s

Across the Atlantic

Ask why Europeans crossed the ocean—and whose stories their maps leave out.

OUR BIG QUESTION

Can one map tell everyone’s story?

Reading:
Read on your own or with a partner.
aquinnah cliffs jpg
Context image: Aquinnah cliffs and Gay Head Lighthouse Image credit

Why sail west?

In the 1500s and 1600s, European explorers crossed the Atlantic Ocean toward North America. Some hoped to find a shorter sea route to Asia. Others sought fish, timber, trade, or wealth. They reached places that were already the homelands of Native peoples. Calling a place “new” depended on whose point of view was being described.

Different kinds of encounters

Encounters included trade and the sharing of information. They also included kidnapping, violence, and the spread of diseases that devastated Native communities. European accounts do not give us every Native person’s perspective. We need to ask who created a source, why it was made, and whose voice is missing.

Read a map like a historian

John Smith explored parts of the New England coast in 1614. A map published with his 1616 account showed the coast using many English place names. Historical maps can be evidence of what a mapmaker knew and wanted readers to notice. Compare an early map with a current one: What stayed the same? What changed? What is missing?

Explore the sources:
Massachusetts DESE · Grade 3 framework ↗ Wampanoag Tribe of Gay Head (Aquinnah) ↗
Your historian’s notebook

Ask questions of a map

Open the built-in source lab below for Smith’s historical map, a current map, his account, and a Native-authored perspective.

“I notice ___. I wonder ___. This map shows the perspective of ___.”
  1. Find the coastline and one place name on both maps. Check the orientation before comparing directions.
  2. On an Atlantic map, locate Europe and North America. Trace the documented route of one explorer from your source.
  3. Write one observation and one question. Explain whose point of view the older map represents.

Talk, draw, or write your response on paper.

Everything you need is here

Open this chapter’s source lab

Across the Atlantic: whose map?. Built-in materials, evidence questions, a student notebook, and teacher notes.

Investigate the sources →
Try it yourself

Check your understanding

Choose an answer for each question. You can reread and try again.

1. Why did some Europeans sail west across the Atlantic?
2. What is a useful question to ask about an old map?

Take a virtual field trip

Context image for Aquinnah: a living homeland. The visit page identifies the image.Aquinnah: a living homelandVineyard & Cape
All field trips →

Investigate with an interactive

John Smith’s New England map, the exact Leventhal collection item linked here.John Smith’s New England mapExploration & mapsTopic illustration; not a screenshot of the activityChamplain’s voyagesExploration & maps
All history interactives →
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