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Overview:
Throughout history, explorers have searched for the quickest, easiest, and most lucrative routes between two locations. In what is now the U.S. state of Arizona, Spanish explorers sought the "Seven Cities of Cibola," American explorers sought the best stagecoach and railroad routes, and Mormons sought new locations for settlement in the White Mountains. This lesson will delve into how Arizona topography has influenced exploration.
[Note: A similar lesson detailing the exploration of your own state or country would be a useful complement in a history class and introduce a new way for your students to see the region. Research and good topographic maps of the location are necessary for maximum effect.]
Connections to the Curriculum:
Geography, social studies, language arts
Connections to the National Geography Standards:
Standard 17: "How to apply geography to interpret the past"
Time:
Four to five hours
Materials Required:
- Computer with Internet access
- Blank Xpeditions outline maps of Arizona, one for each small group
- Colored pencils
- Writing materials
Objectives:
Students will
- examine maps and draw exploration routes;
- map actual explorers' routes based on historical research; and
- learn how topography has influenced exploration.
Geographic Skills:
Acquiring Geographic Information
Organizing Geographic Information
Answering Geographic Questions
Analyzing Geographic Information
S u g g e s t e d P r o c e d u r e
Opening:
Review with your students the following concepts:
- Essential features on a complete map—date, orientation, grid, scale, title, author, index, legend, and sources
- How to read topographic and shaded relief maps
- Highlights of Spanish exploration in the New World (note that Arizona was not only a destination but also a crossroads for many different exploration parties)
Have students answer the question: What effect does topography have on exploration? Their responses should refer to the ways in which mountain ranges, rivers, and valleys can affect exploration.
Development:
Have students form small groups, and give each group an outline map of Arizona.
Have each group propose routes crossing the state from north to south and from east to west, using paper maps or the maps at MapMachine for guidance. Ask them to ignore contemporary cultural improvements such as bridges and highways or to propose routes that explorers might have chosen before the advent of trains, automobiles, and airplanes. How would an early party cross a natural barrier such as the Grand Canyon? How would the routes of parties on horseback or hauling wagons differ from those of parties traveling on rivers?
Have student groups research historic exploration routes into and across the territory that is now the state of Arizona. They should draw these routes on their maps in different colors. Do these routes correspond with the routes that students have proposed? If they differ, how and why do they differ?
Closing:
Discuss the challenges of exploring a landscape for the first time without a map.
Suggested Student Assessment:
Ask your students to write a short essay that answers the following questions:
- What are some factors that may have influenced the students' decisions versus those of the original explorers?
- How has topography influenced the paths that explorers traveled?
Extending the Lesson:
Use overhead transparencies to show the progress of migration within Arizona. How did routes and directions of migration change among Spanish, early American, and later Mormon parties? Did topography or technology play a greater role over time?
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