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Life in North America Before 1492 is a free printable Grade 3 to Grade 5 social studies worksheet on how nations lived and traded before Europeans arrived, aligned to C3 Framework indicator D2.Geo.4.3-5. It prints 8 questions with an answer key on its own sheet of paper, in 25 versions that each ask different questions, so no two students in the class work from the same page. Print it from the browser or download it as a PDF — no account, no email.

Set 3 of 25 · the same problems every time you open this link.

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Set 1 has all 25 in a single PDF. All 25 sets ask different questions.

Life in North America Before 1492

D2.Geo.4.3-5

NameDate

Choose the best answer.

1.About how many people may have lived in Cahokia at its largest?
  • A.About 10 million
  • B.Perhaps 10,000 to 20,000
  • C.About 50
2.How did peoples of the Pacific Northwest use their forests and rivers?
  • A.They built adobe pueblos
  • B.They herded cattle and horses
  • C.They built cedar plank houses and fished for salmon
3.How did Ancestral Puebloans adapt to the dry Southwest?
  • A.They built igloos
  • B.They built homes in cliffs and stored water and crops
  • C.They fished for salmon in the ocean
4.Which is true of the peoples of North America before 1492?
  • A.They all spoke one language
  • B.There were hundreds of nations with different languages and ways of life
  • C.No one lived in North America
5.Why did many nations in the East grow corn, beans and squash together?
  • A.They were the only plants allowed by law
  • B.They needed no water or sun
  • C.The plants help each other grow, and together they make a healthy diet
6.Before Europeans brought horses, how did Plains peoples hunt bison?
  • A.From trains
  • B.On foot, sometimes driving herds over cliffs
  • C.On horseback with rifles
7.Cahokia, near today's St. Louis, was a large city around the year 1100. Who built it?
  • A.Mississippian people
  • B.French fur traders
  • C.Spanish settlers
8.Before horses came, what did dogs pull for Plains peoples?
  • A.Loads on wooden frames called travois
  • B.Wagons on iron rails
  • C.Mail carts

LessonPrint · D2.Geo.4.3-5 · Set 3 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Life in North America Before 1492

Set 3. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.Perhaps 10,000 to 20,000
  2. 2.They built cedar plank houses and fished for salmon
  3. 3.They built homes in cliffs and stored water and crops
  4. 4.There were hundreds of nations with different languages and ways of life
  5. 5.The plants help each other grow, and together they make a healthy diet
  6. 6.On foot, sometimes driving herds over cliffs
  7. 7.Mississippian people
  8. 8.Loads on wooden frames called travois

Last reviewed 2026-09-05. Aligned to D2.Geo.4.3-5 of the C3 Framework for Social Studies State Standards.