Native American-European Contact is a cross-curricular lesson plan that explores the nature of the first encounters between Native Americans and Europeans in colonial Pennsylvania. Drawing on the concept of worldview, students learn to think critically about the cultural differences between Europeans and Native Americans, and how those differences shaped interaction and potential misunderstandings between the groups as they negotiated trade and diplomatic relationships.

The online unit is broken out into the following sections:

Lesson Overview
Introduction
Activities Overview
Activity 1. Imaging and Imagining Encounter
Activity 2. Worldviews in contact, conflict, or cooperation?
Activity 3: Worldviews in Action: Diplomacy
Activity 4. Worldviews in Action: Trade 
Primary Sources
Glossary
Resources

This unit was created by Kathryn Wilson.

Image: Detail from Kort abeskrifning om beskrifning om provincien Nya Swerige uit America… [A short description of the province of New Sweden], by Thomas Campanius Holm, 1702, Society Collection  (Am 1702 Cam).