Colonial Kids: An Activity Guide to Life in the New World

Colonial Kids: An Activity Guide to Life in the New World — page 5
gold jewels spices even the fountain of youth They were able to travel because ship building and navigation had become refined and well developed Ship building map making and charting the night sky made it possible for explorers to head across the ocean looking for great riches The first colonists were soldiers who in their search for riches found rich land instead Soldiers from one country fought soldiers from other coun tries to claim the most land Kings and queens were eager to snap up the biggest piece of the New World for their country and sent explorers and soldiers to do this for them The colonists that came after the explorers came to stay They built towns and raised families They wanted to live in a country where they could have freedom and opportunity the very things they couldn't find in Europe Norsemen from ancient Scandinavia led by Leif Eric son a sailor from Greenland were the first Euro peans to land in North America Ericson sailed in the summer of 1001 A D landing in eastern Canada and later exploring it There they discovered a new plant one they had never seen before grapes The men filled their boat with timber grapes and vines to take back to Greenland to show evidence of their discov ery In honor of this new discovery they called this new land