European Exploration: Motives, Navigation & Claims — Drills · Grade 7 Social Studies
Chapter: Colonial Worlds & New YorkWhat these drills covers
By the end of European Exploration: Motives, Navigation & Claims you should be able to:
- I can explain what European sailors wanted and why the land routes stopped working.
- I can name the technologies that made ocean voyages survivable.
- I can explain what a European claim to American land actually rested on.
4 questions, written answer, each with a worked explanation.
Vocabulary used: context, primary source, interpretation, charter, navigation.
Problem 1
What happened in Hudson’s 1609 voyage relevant to New York?
Answer and explanation
Under Dutch sponsorship, he sailed into the river later bearing his name; this became part of Dutch commercial and territorial interest.
Problem 2
What is one distinction between technological capacity and political authority?
Answer and explanation
A tool can enable movement or observation without granting the right or practical ability to govern another community.
Problem 3
Does a sponsor’s plan prove that a voyage achieved it?
Answer and explanation
No. It establishes a stated aim. Routes, records, exchanges, and later actions are needed to investigate what actually happened.
Problem 4
What does a royal charter fail to establish by itself?
Answer and explanation
It does not establish Native consent, actual settlement throughout the grant, or uncontested authority over everyone living there.