This concept engages students in analysis of historical evidence through an analysis of historical evidence of early life in the region that would become the nation’s capital, with a focus on the region’s early geography and ecology, indigenous cultures, colonial structures and free and enslaved black life. Students analyze the history of the Indigenous Nations through different perspectives and primary sources, including a discussion of the limitations of European perspectives in understanding the societies of Indigenous Nations and enslaved peoples, as well as the limitation of the written historical record. Students should use sourcing to critically evaluate how we know what we know about the past, and to understand the ways in which Indigenous Nations and enslaved Black people experienced, challenged and resisted colonialism.