Grade 3: Alabama in American History and Government I: Geography and Settlement

Geography

People and the Environment

Indigenous Alabama and European Exploration

Early Colonization

Locate map features, using geographic terminology to describe them.

Explain how geographic features, including land regions and river systems, connect Alabama to other states.

Research and share information on the development of the state and national park systems and the benefits parks provide.

Locate and describe the significance of state and national symbols, landmarks, and monuments.

Explain the economic, geographic, and social impact of natural disasters over time.

Describe how Alabama’s environment has been positively and negatively affected by human activity over time.

Compare and contrast the roles of anthropologists, archaeologists, and paleontologists.

Describe Indigenous cultures, governments, and economies in the Southeast prior to European colonization.

Explain reasons for European expeditions and the establishment of early settlements and colonies in North America during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

Explain why interactions and conflicts occurred between Europeans and Indigenous peoples in the Southeast from 1519 to the early 1700s, including differing beliefs regarding culture, land use and ownership, religion, and trade.

Describe French expeditions and colonization of Alabama, including the efforts of the LeMoyne brothers (Iberville and Bienville), establishment of forts, relationships with Indigenous peoples, and fur trade.

Identify the Equator, International Date Line, Prime Meridian, Tropic of Capricorn, and Tropic of Cancer, using cardinal and intermediate directions.

Locate points on a grid using latitude and longitude coordinates.

Use the map scale to calculate the distance between two locations.

Interpret thematic maps to compare and contrast Alabama to other states.

Describe the geographic features and natural resources of Alabama regions, including the Alabama Ridge and Valley, Black Belt, Cumberland Plateau, Highland Rim, Lower Coastal Plain, Piedmont, and Upper Coastal Plain.

Identify major river systems of Alabama and their points of origin, including the Alabama, Black Warrior, Cahaba, Chattahoochee, Coosa, Mobile, Perdido, Tallapoosa, Tennessee, and Tombigbee Rivers.

Locate state and national parks within Alabama and explain their historical and economic significance.

Identify changes that took place in prehistoric/pre-contact cultures in the Southeast between the Paleo, Archaic, Woodland, and Mississippian periods.

Describe key characteristics of different tribes in Alabama in the Mississippian Period, contrasting social customs, political organization, and religious practices.

Trace and compare routes of early explorers of North and South America.

Describe key parts of Hernando de Soto’s expedition through Alabama and explain its effects on Alabama’s Indigenous peoples.

Locate on maps the French settlements in early Alabama, including Mobile (1702), Fort Toulouse (1717), and Fort Condé (1723), and describe their significance.