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You will now explore two interactive activities that look at the Lewis and Clark expedition from different perspectives.
- Step 1:
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In the first activity, you will travel through a short Lewis and Clark journey simulation produced by National Geographic. As you work through the simulation, you will be asked to make decisions for the expedition team and then will get feedback on the potential consequences of those decisions. Expedition journals are referenced throughout the journey.
To begin, go to Go West Across America with Lewis and Clark.
- Step 2:
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In the next activity, you will look at a 1932 map that shows the Lewis and Clark journey from the perspective of the Shoshone Indians.
Go to Re-Mapping History: Whose journey is represented here?
- Step 3:
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Maps of the routes of the Lewis and Clark expedition, like the one you explored in the first activity, have tended to represent the West as empty country, there for the exploring and taking. The map in the second activity, made for a biography of Sacagawea, is a little different.
- How does the cartographer of the second map get across the point that the landscape Lewis and Clark "discovered" was already someone's home at the time, and would later be named and settled in new ways?
- Does it make a difference to imagine this territory as already well explored by the time Lewis and Clark arrived?
- Does it make a difference to imagine Indians as "explorers?"
- Are women's journeys different from men's? If so, how?
- Can you imagine re-mapping another historical event in a way that would change your understanding of the event?
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