Hello, I'm Mr. Marchant and I'll be your history teacher for today.

I'm really looking forward to starting our learning journey together and my role will be to make sure that you can meet today's learning objective.

Welcome to today's history lesson where we are gonna be working on explaining the impact of the expansion of European empires on Native Americans.

This is part of our unit on the European conquest in the Americas where we've been asking ourselves, why was that conquest so devastating for Native Americans? So this lesson is really gonna work on drawing all our prior knowledge together and using that to produce a coherent explanation of why so many Native American lives were ended and absolutely changed by the arrival of Europeans in the new world.

There are four key words which are gonna help us navigate today's lesson.

Those are Native Americans, devastation, dispossess, and exploitation.

Native Americans are members of any of the peoples who are the original inhabitants of North and South America and the Caribbean Islands.

Devastation refers to great destruction or damage.

To dispossess someone is to take their land away.

And treating people unfairly or cruelly for your own benefit is called exploitation.

Today's lesson is gonna be split into two parts.

And to start with, we are gonna be focusing on the major impacts on Native Americans.

European conquests in the Americas was devastating for Native Americans.

Indigenous populations declined significantly and European countries claimed control over the majority of the Americas.

Five major impacts of European colonisation led to Native American devastation.

Those were disease, dispossession, conflict, exploitation, and cultural change.

We'll summarise our understanding of all five of these European impacts on Native Americans to make sure we feel secure about each of them.

So let's begin by thinking about the impact of disease.

Diseases like smallpox were unknowingly carried to the Americas by Europeans.

Native Americans lacked immunity to these diseases.

Because they'd never come across conditions such as smallpox before, their bodies were not well equipped to fight them.

Diseases were the main killer of Native Americans.

The overwhelming majority of Native Americans who died after Europeans began to arrive in the Americas, died because of contact with European diseases.

Now, let's think about the impact of dispossession on Native Americans.

Europeans dispossessed Native Americans and religion was often used as a justification for this, especially when Native Americans were not Christians.

This was often used as a justification for being able to take the land away from them.

Many Native Americans were forced onto reservations, much smaller areas of land that were reserved just for Native Americans as their original lands were taken away.

Another impact of the European arrival in the Americans on Native Americans was conflict.

Many wars were fought between European settlers and Native Americans.

A clear example of this can be seen in the image on the screen showing fighting between the Spanish and the Aztecs during the Conquest of Tenochtitlan.

Conflict was often over land and control in the Americas, and it led to many, many deaths.

So let's just check our understanding of similar information we've summarised so far.

What impact was forcing Native Americans onto reservations and example of? Conflict, disease, or dispossession? Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to hear the correct answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said that forcing Native Americans onto reservations is an example of dispossession as an impact of European conquest and colonisation in the Americas.

And let's try a second question.

We have a statement on the screen and it says, "Europeans conquered the Americas easily because they had better weapons and technology." Is that statement true or false? Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to see the correct answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said that that statement is false, but we need to be able to justify our answers here.

So we have two justifications on the screen.

The one reads, "Diseases killed millions of Native Americans and left a smaller number of indigenous people to resist the conquest.

The other justification says so many Europeans settled in the Americas that they quickly outnumbered Native Americans and overpowered them.

So which one of those two justifications is correct? Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to see the right answer.

So well done to everybody who said that the first justification A, was the correct one.

Diseases killed millions of Native Americans and left a smaller number of indigenous people to resist the conquest.

An easy example of this to consider is the Conquest of Tenochtitlan where so many Native Americans, so many Aztecs suffered from smallpox at the same time the Spanish were attacking them, that many could not focus on fighting the Spanish.

Another one of our major impacts of European conquest in the Americans on Native Americans was exploitation.

Native Americans were sometimes enslaved or forced to work for Europeans.

The work was often dangerous, especially when it was in activities such as mining.

On the screen, you can see a drawing of Native Americans mining silver.

Now this happened across the Americans, including at locations such as Potosi where thousands of Native Americans died as they were forced to mine for silver for the Spanish.

And cultural change was another major impact on Native Americans of the European conquest of the Americans.

Europeans attempted to convert Native Americans to Christianity.

Indigenous religions and cultural practises were often attacked as a result.

Sometimes Native Americans were even executed for resisting Christian religious ideas and practises.

So let's just check our understanding of some of that new information we summarised.

What impact was the conversion of Native Americans to Christianity an example of? Conflict, cultural change, or exploitation? Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to see the right answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said that converting Native Americans to Christianity would be an example of cultural change.

So now that we've checked our knowledge and made sure it's secure, we can put our understanding of the major impacts on Native Americans into practise.

On the screen, you can see a table with multiple examples of impacts of European colonisation of the Americas on Native Americans.

I want you to categorise each of the examples of European impacts on Native Americans.

One has been completed for you, so you know how to approach the others.

So the example that's been completed says the Powhatans and English settlers fought three wars against one another between 1609 and 1646.

Well, we know that wars involve fighting, which tells us it's an example of conflict as an impact of European settlement in the Americas.

So that's why conflict has been written in the column on the right hand side.

So pause the video here and press play when you are ready to check each of your answers on this categorization activity.

Okay, well done for all of your hard work on that task, a lot of specific examples for us to think about there.

So let's make sure we categorise them correctly.

So for the second example that said smallpox was introduced to Mexico by Europeans unknowingly in 1520.

Well this is an example of disease as an impact of the European arrival in the Americas.

Our third example that says Spanish priests burned down Aztec temples is an example of cultural change.

The fourth example that says by 1650, the English had forced the Powhatans onto reservations is an example of dispossession.

Our fifth example that says up to 240,000 Native Americans died in fighting during the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire is an example of conflict as an impact.

And our final example that says 13,000 Native Americans were forced to mine silver for the Spanish at Potosi each year.

Well, that's an example of exploitation.

Native Americans being forced to do something for the benefit of the Spanish.

So really well done for all your hard work on that task, especially if you categorised each of those examples correctly.

So now we're ready to move on to the second and final part of today's lesson where we are gonna focus on our writing and explaining Native American devastation.

So why was the European conquest in Americas so devastating for Native Americans? Well we've already looked at five major reasons we can give to answer this question.

Those five key factors which help explain devastation are disease, dispossession, conflict, exploitation, and cultural change.

And if we are writing an answer to explain why there's devastation, we should be referring to at least one of these factors as part of our work.

So let's look at a model answer together.

Imagine we'd been asked, "Why was the European conquest in Americas so devastating for Native Americas?" We could respond with a paragraph that looked like this.

"Conflict was one reason why the European conquest in the Americas was devastating for Native Americans.

For example, up to 240,000 Native Americans died in fighting during the Spanish conquest of the Aztec Empire.

The Powhatans and English settlers fought three wars against one another between 1609 and 1646.

This shows that there were many conflicts between Europeans and Native Americans, which took place in many parts of the Americans.

This meant that conflict led to many indigenous deaths and devastation." Now that paragraph, that model answer was an example of some of the best work we could produce when we are thinking about why the European conquest of the Americas was so devastating.

But what made it so good? Well, we are gonna break down that paragraph and look at some of its best features together.

So if we look at the first sentence that said, "Conflict was one reason why the European conquest of the Americas was devastating for Native Americans." Straight away, this is quite a good answer because it's identified a clear type of impact.

It's given us a clear reason why the European arrival in the Americas was devastating, because of conflict.

Another thing that's really good about this answer is it offers specific factual detail.

By this we mean it offers specific examples of conflict occurring that would've affected Native Americans.

So in this specific answer, it talks about 240,000 Native Americans dying during fighting as the Spanish conquered the Aztec Empire.

And it also mentions about three wars occurring between the Powhatans and the English settlers in the early 17th century.

But there's more about this paragraph that's really good, more than just where it identifies a reason for devastation and examples to back it up.

We can also see in this answer that it offers a lot of explanation to say why conflict could be classed as devastating.

So it tells us that there were many conflicts, not just one, but many, that these happened in many different parts of the Americas as well.

And that as a result of all those things together, there were many indigenous deaths.

So clearly conflict was something that affected many different Native Americans and therefore could be considered as something that led to devastation.

So there's a very clear explanation in this answer and that also makes it really strong.

So let's just check our understanding of how we can produce and structure a really good written explanation.

We have a statement on the screen that says, "You don't need explanations if you have lots of detailed examples." Is that statement true or false? Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to hear the correct answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said that that statement was false.

We need to be able to justify our response.

You can now see two justifications on the screen.

The first says that, "Explanations show you understand why your examples are relevant to the topic." And the second says that, "Explanations show you have lots of factual knowledge for the topic.

Which one of those justifications is better? Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to reflect on your response.

Okay, well done to everybody who said that statement A was the much better justification.

In fact, it's the only correct one we could use here because we know explanations are important as they show you understand why your examples are relevant to the topic.

Your responses to an explanation question shouldn't just keep adding more and more factual details.

They also need to say why those details, why your examples matter, how they answer the question.

And let's try another question.

"Identify the best sentence for explaining why diseases from Europe devastated Native Americans." So our first reads, "Diseases like smallpox arrived in Mexico in 1520 and spread across the Americas." The second sentence says, "Indigenous people lacked immunity to diseases like smallpox." And the third sentence says, "Indigenous people lacked immunity to diseases like smallpox, so many of them died." Which one of those gives the best explanation for why diseases from Europe devastated Native Americans? Pause the video here and press play when you're ready to see the correct answer.

Okay, well done to everybody who said the best sentence for explaining devastation was C.

In statement A, the first sentence, we are just getting more factual detail.

In the second, we are getting some explanation.

Indigenous people lacked immunity, but the third is the best because it really clearly ties this back to the idea of devastation, of lots of damage and destruction.

But if people lacked immunity to diseases like smallpox, that's gonna lead to many of them dying.

That explanation helps your reader to see really clearly that disease was leading to devastation, and that's why it's the best of these three.

So now we are ready to put all of our understanding into practise.

I want you to answer this question, "Why was the European conquest of the Americas so devastating for Native Americans?" Now we are gonna split our thoughts on this question into two parts.

For the first task, I want you to write your own explanation sentence to complete the paragraph below.

That paragraph reads so far, "Cultural change was one reason why the European conquest in the Americas was so devastating for Native Americans.

For example, Spanish priests burn down Aztec temples.

This shows that." So you need to complete that paragraph by writing your own explanation sentence.

Pause the video here and press play when you are ready to reflect on your response.

Okay, really well done for your hard work on that task.

So I asked you to write your own explanation sentence to complete the partial paragraph you were given.

Your answer may have included that, "Cultural change was one reason why the European conquest of the Americans was so devastating for Native Americans.

For example, Spanish priests burned down Aztec temples.

This shows that Native Americans were pressured to change their religion.

So conquest involved indigenous beliefs being disrespected and changed, which could be devastating for their culture." So really well done.

You wrote a response that looked vaguely similar to that.

And now that we've worked on completing a partially completed paragraph, I want you to write one of your own entirely.

Write one complete paragraph to explain why the European conquest in the Americas was so devastating for Native Americas.

Now, as part of your answer, it will be helpful for you to remember the following success criteria, your paragraph should identify a type of impact that led to devastation.

Make sure you do that in your first sentence.

You should support that impact with a clear example.

That's where we are looking for our factual detail.

Make your example as specific as possible.

And then you need to remember to explain how your example demonstrates devastation.

Why would this lead to devastation for Native Americans? So pause the video here and press play when you are ready to reflect on your response.

Okay, really well done for your hard work on that task.

I was asking a lot of you.

So let's see what we could have produced.

Your answer may have included the following paragraph.

"Disease was one reason why the European conquest in the Americas was so devastating for Native Americans.

For example, smallpox was introduced to Mexico unknowingly by Europeans in 1520 and spread quickly.

Because smallpox had not existed in the Americas before, indigenous populations lacked any immunity to the disease.

This meant that smallpox was able to kill millions of Native Americans and led to more devastation than any other European action." So my model explained why disease was so devastating, but your answer may also have offered an explanation for why dispossession, exploitation, or conflict was so devastating for Native Americans.

So well done for all of your hard work on that task.

And now we've reached the end of our lesson, which means we're in a good position to summarise our learning from today.

We've seen that the European conquest of the Americas devastated Native American populations.

European diseases were responsible for the greatest amount of Native American deaths.

Europeans exploited Native Americans to gain workers and land for themselves.

And Native Americans faced cultural as well as physical forms of devastation.

So well done for all of your hard work today.

It's been a real pleasure to work through this lesson with yourselves and to reflect and to question why the impact of European colonisation of the Americas was so devastating for the indigenous population there.

I look forward to working with you again in future.