History: sources, eras, and turning points, Western Hemisphere (grade 6) · lesson

Tenochtitlan, a city on a lake

💡 To understand an event, find the order things happened in and the reasons a source gives for them.

The Aztecs built their capital, Tenochtitlan, on an island in a lake in Mexico. Farmers piled mud and plants in the shallow water to make garden beds called chinampas. Stone roads called causeways joined the island to the shore.

In 1519, Spanish soldiers led by Hernán Cortés came. They joined with Native groups who were enemies of the Aztecs. A disease called smallpox, which came from Europe, killed many people in the city. In 1521 the city fell.

When you read about an event, look for dates and words like first, then, and after. Also look for words like because and so. They point to causes.

🧠 Let's work it out

A passage says the Spanish had Native allies, and smallpox killed many people.

Those are two causes the text gives.
If a choice says the island had no roads, check the text.
It says causeways joined the island to the shore. So that choice is wrong.

What do you think comes next?

chinampa: a garden bed built up in shallow lake water
causeway: a raised road across water
cause: something that makes another thing happen

Primary sources and point of view

💡 Ask who made a source, when, and why, and check it against other sources.

A primary source was made by someone who was there at the time. Letters, diaries, and drawings from the past are primary sources. A secondary source is made later by someone who studied the past, like a textbook or a video.

Every writer has a point of view. A Spanish soldier and a writer from an Inca family might tell the same battle in very different ways. A leader writing to his king may want to look good.

Historians compare sources. If two sources from different sides agree on a detail, that detail is more likely true. This is called corroboration.

🧠 Let's work it out

A Spanish leader writes to his king about how he won a city.

Ask: who wrote it? The winner.
Why? To please the king.
Whose side is missing? The Native people's.

What do you think comes next?

primary source: something made by a person who was there at the time
secondary source: something made later that explains the past
point of view: the way a person sees events, based on who they are
corroboration: checking one source against others

How early peoples kept records

💡 Different peoples found different ways to keep records, and each way fit their needs.

The Maya, in southern Mexico and Central America, made a writing system with picture signs called glyphs. They carved glyphs on stone to record names, dates, and events.

The Inca, in the Andes of South America, did not write words the same way. They tied knots in colored cords called quipu. The knots stood for numbers, such as taxes and crops.

Other peoples used other tools. In Mesopotamia, people pressed wedge shapes into soft clay. In Europe, the printing press came much later, around 1450.

🧠 Let's work it out

Match the people to the place and tool.
Inca means Andes and quipu.
Maya means Central America and glyphs.
Wedge shapes on clay means Mesopotamia, which is not in the Americas at all.

What do you think comes next?

glyph: a picture sign used in writing
quipu: knotted cords the Inca used to record numbers

The Columbian Exchange

💡 After 1492, plants, animals, and diseases crossed the ocean both ways and changed life on every continent.

Columbus sailed to the Americas in 1492. After that, ships carried living things back and forth across the Atlantic. This is called the Columbian Exchange, after Columbus.

Corn, potatoes, and tomatoes were first grown by Native farmers in the Americas. They spread to Europe and the rest of the world. Wheat, sugarcane, horses, and cattle went the other way, to the Americas.

Diseases moved too. Smallpox from Europe killed huge numbers of Native people, who had never had it before.

🧠 Let's work it out

A list shows crops in Italy in 1400: wheat, olives, grapes. By 1800 it also has tomatoes and corn.

What changed in between? The year 1492.
Tomatoes and corn came from the Americas.

What do you think comes next?

Columbian Exchange: the movement of plants, animals, and diseases between the Americas and the rest of the world after 1492

🔗 Khan Academy: The first global age (1200 to 1750) · Khan Academy ↗

From conquest to independence

💡 European empires ruled most of the Americas for centuries, and different groups broke free in different ways.

Columbus landed in the Caribbean in 1492. In 1532, Francisco Pizarro and Spanish soldiers captured the Inca ruler Atahualpa. Spain and Portugal ruled most of Central and South America after that.

The United States broke free from Britain first, in the American Revolution. Its leaders were free colonists, and slavery stayed legal in many states.

Haiti was a French colony where enslaved people grew sugar. In 1791 they rose up. Led by people such as Toussaint Louverture, they won in 1804. Haiti became the first nation formed by a successful revolt of enslaved people, and it ended slavery. Brazil broke from Portugal later, in 1822.

🧠 Let's work it out

To compare two revolutions, ask the same questions of each.
Who led it?
What changed after?
In the United States, free colonists led, and slavery stayed.
In Haiti, enslaved people led, and slavery ended.

What do you think comes next?

independence: freedom from rule by another country
revolution: a big change, often when people overthrow their rulers