Everything about the first peoples of Illinois: study cards, the traps to dodge, a practice quiz at three levels — Foundation, On-Level, and Challenge — and a lab where you label an Illiniwek village, put the story in order from Cahokia to today, sort then from now, and argue what Cahokia’s mounds prove. Work here, or print it and use a pencil — both count.
One word on a card: “Indian”. It covers hundreds of different nations, and tells you nothing about any of them.
There is no one “Indian” people — there are many nations, each with its own name, language and land. Name the nation you mean. And say “are”, not “were”: Native nations are still here.
Two things people get wrong
⚠️People often think…
The people who lived here lived in tipis.
Tipis belong to the Plains, where people followed buffalo across open grassland. Here in the woodlands people built WIGWAMS and longhouses — homes that stay put, because the food here did. The house matches the land.
Wigwams in the woodlands, tipis on the Plains.
⚠️People often think…
Cahokia is the old name for Chicago.
Different place, different time. Cahokia was a city of enormous earthen mounds near present-day St. Louis, at its height around a thousand years ago. Chicago is three hundred miles northeast and was incorporated in 1837.
Cahokia: mounds, near St. Louis, 1,000 years ago.
Worth knowing cold
The dates, in order
One date, one event. Notice how much happens before any European arrives.
about 1050Cahokia is at its height — a city of mounds near what is now St. Louis, larger then than London.
about 1350Cahokia is largely emptied. People move and reorganize; the mounds are still standing today.
1673French explorers arrive. They came to TRADE.
1818Illinois becomes a state. American settlers come for LAND — a different purpose entirely.
1833A treaty signed under enormous pressure removes many nations from this land.
todayTheir descendants are citizens of nations that exist right now.
Before, then, now — one land
1Watch one
Why did the French and the American settlers want such different things?
Ask what the French came for in 1673: furs, to trade.
Trading needs partners, so they mostly wanted people to stay and trade with them.
Ask what the settlers came for after 1818: farmland, to own.
Land cannot be shared the way trade can — which is why the pressure and the treaties followed. ✓
2Do one with me
Fill in who, where and when.
Homes built in the woodlands here were called
The French came in 1673 in order to
Native nations today are best described with the word
💬One sentence, then you move on
Why is naming the nation better than saying “Indian”?
3Try one
Cahokia was a city of what?
I want a hint first
They are huge hills built by people carrying baskets of earth, one load at a time.
Where this goes
Where this lives
The place names all around you — Illinois, Chicago, Kankakee, Peoria — are Native words. Seeing them as names from living nations rather than decorations.
What this feeds
Next unit is explorers, colonies and a new nation — what came onto this land next.
Name one place near you whose name comes from a Native language.
One card at a time — tap “Show me” to check yourself, then Next. Start at Foundation; when those feel easy, climb.
Helpful Hints
🪜 From Cahokia to today — the ladder
Native nations for thousands of years → Cahokia, the mound city (about 1050–1350) → the Illiniwek and Potawatomi farming, hunting, trading → the French arrive to trade (1673) → statehood and settlers (1818) → the Treaty of Chicago forces the Potawatomi west (1833) → Native people in Illinois today.
1050 · 1350 · 1673 · 1818 · 1833 · today.
🤝 The whole topic in one idea
This land had cities, farms, calendars and trade routes long before Illinois. Newcomers traded, then took, and treaties moved nations west — but the nations did not disappear. Native people are part of Illinois today.
Before, then, now — one land.
⚠️ Traps the test loves
Say ‘are’, not ‘were’. Native nations are still here.
Cahokia is NOT Chicago. Cahokia is a 1,000-year-old mound city near St. Louis.
Wigwams here, not tipis — tipis are for the Plains.
Many nations, not one ‘Indian’ people. Name the nation.
A treaty signed under pressure is not a free choice.
The French came to TRADE (1673); American settlers came for LAND (after 1818).
🪶 Three peoples — the chart
People
Where
How they lived
Today
Mississippians (Cahokia)
near St. Louis, about 1050–1350
a mound city of up to 15,000; corn farming; long-distance trade; a sun calendar
the city was left empty; descendants are among many nations
Illiniwek (Illinois Confederation)
the Illinois River valley
summer villages, the Three Sisters, bison hunts, winter camps
the Peoria Tribe, in Oklahoma
Potawatomi
the lakeshore — Chicago and DuPage
fishing, farming, wild rice, birchbark canoes
the Prairie Band Potawatomi Nation, in Kansas; families in Chicago
Three peoples, three homelands, all still remembered — and two still nations.
🎯 How the test will ask
A picture of a mound — “who built it and how?” (the Mississippians, baskets of earth by hand).
An object found at Cahokia — “what does it tell us?” (where it came from = who they traded with).
Events to order — 1050, 1350, 1673, 1818, 1833, today.
“Was the treaty fair?” — a signature under pressure and broken promises.
✅ Before the test, can you…
Name three Native nations of Illinois and where each lived?
Explain what Cahokia was and how we know?
Say what the Three Sisters are and how they help each other?
Tell what the 1833 treaty did and why it wasn’t a free choice?
Say where Native people of Illinois are today?
Pick your level
Look back at anything you missed — the hint that appeared is exactly what to reread tonight.
How sure did you feel?
Workshop
Work like a historian: label a summer village, put Cahokia to today in order, sort what came before from what newcomers brought, then make a claim you can back.
Your practice never leaves this device. There is no account and no sign-in. Your work is saved in this browser only, and you can erase it whenever you want.
Your practice record — saved on this device
This is your record of the module on screen — it stays here and goes nowhere. Independent means you got it right on the first tap; supported means you got it after the explain-and-retry, or marked ‘I had it’ on a revealed answer. Both count, and neither is a grade. If your teacher asks, copy the row or show them this screen.
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Topic
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Level
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Independent
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Supported
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Hints used
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Cards studied
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Lab
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Traps met
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Explained in own words
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The answer key is for a teacher: it prints only from here, for the unit on screen. Print the study packet prints the study pages and a blank quiz — never the answers.