online les

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• havo, vwo
• Leerjaar 2

AMERICA

This lesson is all about getting to know the American history.

Read carefully, there are questions about the history later.

Indians

The indians are the indigenous (inheems) peoples of America. They were there before the settlers, people from Europe came to claim the land. They are called Indians because Columbus believed he had arrived in India in the year 1492. Each Indian tribe (stam) had their own language, culture, music, writing system and rules. Most Indians believe that trees, plants, animals etc. think and feel in the same way as humans and are therefore more responsible towards nature. Indians were traditionally hunter-gatherers (jagers en verzamelaars) and they lived in Tipis.

Indians are now called "Native Americans". There are especially designed programmes as to ensure that their languages and cultures don't die. Some of the Indians still live in reservations but most of them live in cities. Famous Indian tribe names are: Sioux, Cherokee, Apache and Creek

Trail of Tears

The arrival of the Europeans meant new dangers for the Indians. Many of them died because of European diseases such as smallpox (waterpokken). Many Indians also died because of violence cause by wars between Europeans and the Indians. The Indians were living on land that the Europeans wanted to use for farming, so they had to go. 

The Europeans won and a new law called The Indian Removal Act 1830 was enforced (ingevoerd). This meant that all the Indians had to move into especially designed areas or camps, called "Reservations". They were forced to move to these parts and on their way to the West over 4000 Indians of the Cherokee tribe died. This journey is called the Trail of Tears (tocht der tranen) this took place in 1838. The Cherokee people call it Nunna daul Isunyi, "het pad waarop we huilden". On these reservations the Indians were forced to learn English and children were taken away from their parents to live with white Americans, to prevent (voorkomen) them from learning the Indian culture.

Indian Citizen Act

Only in 1924, the American president at that time enforced a law called the Indian Citizen Act, which declared (verklaren) that all Indians living within the territory of the United States official citizens (inwoners) of America.Indians are now called "Native Americans". 

There are especially designed programmes as to ensure that their languages and cultures don't die. Some of the Indians still live in reservations but a bunch (veel) of them live in cities. The reservations are still the main living area for Indians. They have their own laws and rules. American rules and laws can differ (afwijken) from the rules in the reservations. 

Famous Indian tribe names are: Sioux, Cherokee, Apache and Creek, Dakota

What does indigenous mean?

1. Oudste
2. Officiële
3. Inheems
4. Volk

Explain the Trail of Tears

Match the correct year to the event

Trail of Tears

The Indian Removal Act

The Indian Citizen Act

The Arrival of Columbus

1924

1830

1838

1492

Vertaal:
Hunter-gatherers

Vertaal:
Smallpox

Rediscovering of America

After the Vikings discovered America somewhere around 1000 A.C. but this wasn't successful. It wasn't until 1492 that Columbus was the first discoverer who tried to reach America. The new continent was regarded (aangezien) as a new opportunity (kans) to exploit. This meant that they wanted to find as much gold or other metals to sell in Europe. The British people lived in Jamestown a small town merely (enkel) existing of tents. The settlers weren't very good at farming their own crop as the land was different from the land in Europe, making it impossible for some vegetables to grow in America. They wouldn't have survived the winter if the Indians hadn't fed them food that they had cultivated.

Growth

The year 1619 marked a turnpoint for the exploitation camps as this was the first time that women and black Africans arrived in America. Between this year and approximately 1700 the colonies grew incredibly fast. This was, however, at the expense (ten koste van) of the Indians, who a aforementioned (eerder gezegd) died of European diseases or violence. 

In 1624 the Dutch arrived in America claiming New Amsterdam as their territory which they had to turn over to (overgeven aan) the British. A famous place in New York is Wall Street. The name derives of "waal" or refers to the wall built to protect the settlement against the Indians. Wall Street used to be to trade slaves as it was a slave market trading place..

Boston Tea Party

More and more British settlers had never been to their 'home' country so they no longer felt connected to England. The British crown, however, kept enforcing taxes (belasting) as they needed money to fun (betalen) the expedition (expeditie) trips of their discoverers (ontdekkers). After the Sugar Act 1764 and the Stamp Act 1765 the British also enforced the Tea Act 1773 which made the American settlers pay more for a cup of tea. The settlers no longer accepted this which led to the Boston Tea Party. In a harbour in Boston American colonists , disguised (vermomd) as Native Americans dumped a ships tea cargo overboard.

Hoe komt Wall Street aan zijn naam?

1. Van 'waal'
2. Van de muur om de kolonie
3. Van een iemand die in Wallonië woonde
4. Van het wal aan de kade

Why were the Indians important for the survival of the first settlers in Jamestown?

What happened in 1619 and why was it important?

What was the main reason that the British let their settlers pay so many taxes?

Independence

After all the taxes the settlers have had to pay, they didn't want to be part of England anymore. They no longer felt connected to the country and its culture. This eventually led to the War of Indepence 1776 - 1783. This war was between the British soldiers who were sent to fight and the American settlers who had  been living in America and who had never even been to England. This war was eventually won by the Americans. George Washington played a huge role in this war. His efforts were deemed (geacht) very important and was promptly (meteen) chosen to become President of the United States of America in 1789.

Underground railroad

Slavery had long been an important economic trade for America as well as for Europe. But somewhere around 1800 there was no longer unity (eenheid) among the country about this topic. The North never had anything to do with slavery and wanted to abolish (afschaffen) it. The anti-slavery group in the Norht helped slaves escape the South, this was called Underground Railroad. The South, however, relied (steunen) greatly on slavery and was likely to go bankrupt (falliet) if slavery was stopped.

The North and South became direcht opponents (tegenstanders). After a few failed tries to compromise, a war seemed to be the only way out. The last 'drop' was the election of Abraham Lincoln as President, who was very much anti-slavery. This war is called the Civil War and it started in 1881 and was won by the Northern part of America in 1885 at the expense of 600.000 lives.

The war had been terrible and the South had been nearly completely destroyed (verwoest).  Lincoln tried to enforce a Reconstrution - a plan to rebuild everything - but was brutally murdered in 1865 before the Reconstruction was finalised (afgesproken).

Jim Crow Laws

Jim Crow laws were laws that enforced race segregation (rassenscheiding).  The laws mandated (verplichtten) racial segregation in all public areas. The Supreme Court, America's highest legal department, ruled that black people were ' seperate but equal' . In buses, trains, restaurants, libraries etc. now had especially dedicated places for black and white people to make sure they were always seperated. 

Brown vs. the Board was a lawsuit (rechtszaak) during which a lawyer argued that it went against the civil rights of America to have differences in education based on race.  This was the first trial in which the court ruled against the Jim Crow Laws.

What was the name of the war started in 1776?

1. The war of blood
2. The war of justice
3. The war of slaves
4. The war of independence

Who won the Civil war?

1. The Northern part of America
2. The Southern part of America

Which lawsuit was focussed on equal education?

What does 'race segregation' mean?

1. rassenscheiding
2. rassenafscheiding

Assignment

Write 100-150 words about what you've learned today.

Hand it in on ELO.

Deadline Wednesday March 31^st 23.59