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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 7 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.Perhaps 10,000 to 20,000
  • B.About 50
  • C.About 10 million
2.Before horses came, what did dogs pull for Plains peoples?
  • A.Loads on wooden frames called travois
  • B.Mail carts
  • C.Wagons on iron rails
3.Why did many Southwest peoples hold ceremonies for rain?
  • A.Rain fell every day there
  • B.They wanted floods
  • C.Rain was scarce and their crops depended on it
4.Cahokia, near today's St. Louis, was a large city around the year 1100. Who built it?
  • A.Mississippian people
  • B.Spanish settlers
  • C.French fur traders
5.Why did many nations in the East grow corn, beans and squash together?
  • A.The plants help each other grow, and together they make a healthy diet
  • B.They needed no water or sun
  • C.They were the only plants allowed by law
6.Before Europeans brought horses, how did Plains peoples hunt bison?
  • A.From trains
  • B.On horseback with rifles
  • C.On foot, sometimes driving herds over cliffs
7.How did Ancestral Puebloans adapt to the dry Southwest?
  • A.They built homes in cliffs and stored water and crops
  • B.They fished for salmon in the ocean
  • C.They built igloos
8.Which crop, first grown by people in Mexico, spread across much of North America?
  • A.Corn, also called maize
  • B.Wheat
  • C.Rice

LessonPrint · D2.Geo.4.3-5 · Set 7 · free to copy for classroom use

Answer key — Life in North America Before 1492

Set 7. Prints on its own sheet.

  1. 1.Perhaps 10,000 to 20,000
  2. 2.Loads on wooden frames called travois
  3. 3.Rain was scarce and their crops depended on it
  4. 4.Mississippian people
  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.They built homes in cliffs and stored water and crops
  8. 8.Corn, also called maize

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