|At-Home Expedition Activities|
| + Innovative Iowans Activity: Pack Your Wagon
+ Blood Run National Historic Landmark Walking Tour
+ Blood Run National Historic Landmark Word Search
+ Featured Videos Showcasing Blood Run and Sergeant Floyd Monument
+ Early Exploration and Settlement Crossword
+ Additional primary source sets, videos and more!
The first people to live in what we now call Iowa may have arrived some 8,000-10,000 years ago. They lived along the edges of the receding glaciers and hunted large game animals. Gradually, groups began to plant and harvest gardens of corn, beans, pumpkins and squash and gather nuts, berries and fruits to supplement their meat supply. By around 1,200 C.E., corn had migrated along the Gulf Coast and up the Mississippi to tribes in the Upper Midwest who became known as the Oneota culture.
In the late 1600s, European explorers began paddling up and down the Mississippi River, passing along Iowa's eastern border. The first two major expeditions were by Frenchmen. In 1673, Louis Jolliet led a crew down the Fox River from Lake Michigan. The crew included Father Marquette, a Catholic priest who kept a diary of the expedition. They crossed over to the Wisconsin River and sailed southwest into uncharted territory. The Marquette and Joliet expedition included the first Europeans to visit the land.
Explore the activities, videos and additional resources in this at-home expedition to discover more about the history of early exploration and settlement in Iowa. Also, learn about two featured national historic landmarks – Sergeant Floyd Monument and Blood Run – that have deep ties to this expedition theme.