Exploros | French Exploration in Texas

French Exploration in Texas

Students look at an animated map of the La Salle expeditions and predict where he intended to land on the third expedition. Then they examine the goals of La Salle’s third expedition and French colonization. Next they analyze the competition between the French and the Spanish, especially in Texas. Finally, they learn about Fort St. Louis and write two descriptions of events there—once from the point of view of a French settler and once from the point of view of a Karankawa Indian.

This learning experience is designed for device-enabled classrooms. The teacher guides the lesson, and students use embedded resources, social media skills, and critical thinking skills to actively participate. To get access to a free version of the complete lesson, sign up for an exploros account.

Overview

In this experience, students look at an animated map of the La Salle expeditions and predict where he intended to land on the third expedition. Then they examine the goals of La Salle’s third expedition and French colonization. Next they analyze the competition between the French and the Spanish, especially in Texas. Finally, they learn about Fort St. Louis and write two descriptions of events there—once from the point of view of a French settler and once from the point of view of a Karankawa Indian.

If you have access to leveled readers about La Salle or French exploration, assign them to the students in parallel to this experience.

Estimated duration: 40-50 minutes

Vocabulary words:

destination
establish
claim
captive

Objectives

Discuss why the French wanted to establish colonies in North America.
Describe why La Salle built a fort in Texas.
Identify why La Salle’s expedition led to conflicting territorial claims between France and Spain.

Engage

French explorer René Robert Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, mistakenly landed in Texas in 1685. In this lesson, you will learn about the role that the French settlements played in the development of Texas.

Old ships approaching land lit by sunrise

La Salle’s third expedition landed at the mouth of Matagorda Bay, on the Texas coast;
painted by Theodore Gudin (1844)

Objectives

Discuss why the French wanted to establish colonies in North America.
Describe why La Salle built a fort in Texas.
Identify why La Salle’s expedition led to conflicting territorial claims between France and Spain.

Watch an animated map of the three trips made by La Salle. The purple route brought him to Texas after he missed his original destination.

Based on the map, where do you think La Salle wanted to land?

Post your answer

Sample answers: Mississippi River, New Orleans.

Help students apply what they know from the map to infer an answer: La Salle made two trips down rivers: the Ohio River and the Mississippi River. On his third trip, he entered the Gulf of Mexico and landed farther west than he had already explored. Maybe he wanted to explore new territory, or maybe he overshot his destination. If the latter, he was probably trying to get back to the Mississippi River.

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