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Source set · 7 sources ✓ Lesson ready

What happened when Europe and the Americas met?

Columbus, Cortés, Aztec accounts, Spanish law, and the Columbian Exchange give competing views of the encounter.

Timeline of key events →

Teach it

✓ Lesson ready

A ready-to-run lesson for this set: Historian’s Lab: Station Rotation. Slides include a hook, one slide per source, directions, a take-a-stand vote, an exit ticket, and a teacher script in the speaker notes.

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1. Hook: a striking quote 3-5 min

It appears to me, that the people are ingenious, and would be good servants
Christopher Columbus, journal of his first voyage (October 1492)

Ask: Columbus wrote this within days of landing. What does his first impression tell us about what he wanted from these lands?

2. Main activity: Historian’s Lab: Station Rotation

Grouping: Four stations, groups of 4 to 6, rotating every 7 minutes

Materials (printables are in the Lesson Plan Doc)
  • Four station cards (printable pages in the Lesson Plan Doc)
  • Station recording sheet (in the Lesson Plan Doc)
  1. Launch 3 min
    At each station students record: who wrote it, for whom, and one thing it shows. They also rate how reliable the source is for understanding the other side (1-5).
  2. Rotate 28 min
    Four stations, 7 minutes each.
  3. Compare perspectives 7 min
    Ask: Which sources were written by Europeans and which by Indigenous people? How does that change what we learn?
  4. Take a stand 7 min
    Use the vote slide.
  5. Exit ticket 5 min
    Students answer on a slip before leaving.

Take a stand: What was the most important result when Europe and the Americas met?

  • A. Conquest of powerful Indigenous empires (Cortés, Aztec accounts)
  • B. Forced labor and slavery, and Spain’s attempt to limit it (Columbus, New Laws of 1542)
  • C. The exchange of plants, animals, and diseases (Columbian Exchange)
  • D. The meeting and mixing of cultures and knowledge (Codex Mendoza, Cieza de León)

3. Pacing options

15-minute bell-ringer

  • 3 min Hook: Columbus
  • 8 min Run Station 2 as a whole class: compare Cortés with the Aztec account
  • 4 min Exit ticket question 1

Full 50-minute lesson

  • 4 min Hook: Columbus
  • 3 min Launch
  • 28 min Four stations
  • 7 min Compare perspectives
  • 5 min Vote and exit ticket
  • 3 min Buffer

4. Exit ticket

  1. Choose one corner and defend it with a source.
  2. Why is it important to read both Cortés and the Aztec accounts of the same events?

5. Differentiation

Support

  • This set has no Adapted Docs yet; read key passages aloud or chunk them for struggling readers.
  • Start struggling readers at Station 3 (the Codex Mendoza image).
  • Give the recording sheet with the author already listed for each station.

Extension

  • Research why parts of the New Laws were revoked after settler opposition. What does that tell you about Spain’s control over its colonies?
  • Compare the Codex Mendoza (made by Indigenous artists for Spanish officials) with Cortés’s description. Who was each made for?

Suggested sequence

  1. Columbus's Journal of His First Voyage
    Journal · Fordham University · World: Early Modern (1450-1750) · Grades 6-8, 9-12 · ⏱ 15 min
    Extracts from Columbus's 1492 journal describing the islands and peoples he encountered.
    Ask: What do Columbus's descriptions reveal about his goals?
    Open with this source to frame the question.
    Original ↗Copy DocHIPP / HAPPSourcing, Contextualization, Corroboration
  2. Cortés: Second Letter to Charles V (1520)
    Letter · Fordham University · World: Early Modern (1450-1750) · Grades 9-12 · ⏱ 30+ min
    Cortés's description of Tenochtitlan and Moctezuma to the Spanish king.
    Ask: How did conquistadors justify their actions to the crown?
    Original ↗Copy DocSOAPSToneHIPP / HAPP
  3. Aztec Accounts of the Conquest of Mexico
    Document · Fordham University · World: Early Modern (1450-1750) · Grades 6-8, 9-12 · ⏱ 20 min
    Nahua accounts of the arrival of Cortés and the fall of Tenochtitlan.
    Ask: How does the conquest look from the Aztec side?
    Original ↗Copy DocSOAPSToneHIPP / HAPP
  4. Codex Mendoza
    Image · Bodleian Libraries · World: Early Modern (1450-1750) · Grades 9-12 · ⏱ 15 min
    Digitized 16th-century Aztec codex on history, tribute, and daily life.
    Ask: What does the Codex Mendoza reveal about the Aztec empire?
    Original ↗See-Think-WonderOPTIC
  5. The New Laws of the Indies (1542)
    Document · Fordham University · World: Early Modern (1450-1750) · Grades 9-12 · ⏱ 15 min
    Spain's laws limiting the encomienda system and the enslavement of Indigenous people.
    Ask: What did the New Laws try to change, and how well were they enforced?
    Original ↗Copy DocSOAPSToneHIPP / HAPP
  6. Chronicles of the Incas (Cieza de León)
    Document · Fordham University · World: Early Modern (1450-1750) · Grades 9-12 · ⏱ 15 min
    A Spanish soldier's description of Inca roads, storehouses, and government.
    Ask: How did the Inca run an empire without writing?
    Original ↗Copy DocSOAPSToneHIPP / HAPP
  7. The Columbian Exchange (DPLA Primary Source Set)
    Document collection · Digital Public Library of America · World: Early Modern (1450-1750) · Grades 6-8, 9-12 · ⏱ Varies
    Digital Public Library of America primary source set, 'The Columbian Exchange': curated sources from U.S. libraries, archives, and museums, with a teaching guide.
    Ask: How did the Columbian Exchange change both hemispheres?
    Close with this source before writing.
    Original ↗Sourcing, Contextualization, CorroborationHIPP / HAPP

Culminating writing prompt

Using evidence from at least three sources in this set, write an argument that answers the question: “What happened when Europe and the Americas met?” Cite each source by title, explain how its author, audience, and purpose affect its reliability, and respond to at least one counterargument.

Printable writing sheet (make a copy)

Students can plan with the Claim-Evidence-Reasoning organizer.