Colonial Activities

Take a hike! When DeSoto explored Georgia, most of his men walked. He didn't blaze a new trail, but rather followed the well established trails of the native people. These were not roads as we have them today, but footpaths through the forests. Find a trail in your area and walk it. Try to go as part of a group- DeSoto didn't travel alone, why should you? Try to imagine yourself as a Spanish explorer, complete with helmet, armor and heavy clothing exploring a completely foreign environment. Or as a Creek, traveling much lighter, along familiar paths through your homeland.

Visit a Spanish Mission. The Spanish presence in Georgia is often overlooked, but they were here. They established missions, and attempted to Christianize the natives. Many sites of Spanish settlements and missions are still preserved today in various parts of the country. Visit one and learn more about these explorers who conquered, colonized, and Christianized areas in the Americas.

Don't speak! By the early 18th century, the Creeks found themselves between the English and the Spanish, and traded with both. The English spoke English, the Spanish spoke Spanish and the Creeks spoke various dialects of Muscogee, so how did they communicate? Trade can be a great motivator, and the Creeks learned to communicate with their neighbors, and their neighbors with them. Try to communicate with your friends without speaking your own language. How do you think you would do as a trader on the frontier?

Think about leather. Before the Europeans came and established trade with the Creeks, the Creeks fashioned their clothing from leather. Leather is much harder to work with than cloth, and the Creeks didn't have the types of leatherworking tools that are available today. If you had to fashion your clothes from leather, and didn't have an easy way to cut and shape the leather, what would your clothes look like? After thinking this over, go back to Theodore De Bry Copper Plate Engravings, 1590-1591, and see if your ideas were similar to what the Creeks came up with.

Get cooking! Before the Europeans, the Creeks had no metal pots to cook in, so how did they cook their food? Try cooking meet over a campfire on a spit, or grill. Bake bread in the hot ashes ( You can use aluminum foil to keep the ashes out of the bread, but remember, the Creeks didn't.) You can roast corn or bake potatoes the same way. Taste the difference cooking over fire makes in your food. Remember to make sure it is legal to have a fire in whatever area you are planning to cook. Also remember to make sure the fire is completely out and the ashes are cold before you leave the area.

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