Worksheet 2: Essay Analysis

Read the essay to answer the questions below.

1. List 3 ways Native Americans used fire as a forest management tool.

2. How did European explorers describe the forests of North America?  How did poets and other people of the 19^th century describe them?  Why was there such a difference between the two descriptions?

3. Why do historians face such a challenge when attempting to answer questions surrounding early Native American life?

4. How did Native Americans utilize forest resources in their architecture?

5. Explain why a disruption in the social structure and everyday practices of many Native American tribes occurred soon after contact with Europeans.

6. What are two pieces of evidence historians can use to support the claim that prehistoric people living in North America did have a substantial impact on the environment?

7. How could the debate about the population in the Americas before European contact affect the conclusions scholars draw about the impact Native Americans had on the environment?