Cultural Exchange Interview

Map of Tenochtitlán and Mexico, created in 1524 by one of Cortés' men

Take a moment to consider which European explorer during the Age of Discovery you found most fascinating. Now, imagine you are that explorer, and just arrived in Africa or the Americas. It is critical that you learn everything about the culture so you can report back to your funders in Europe and convince them of the civilization's value.

In order to collect this evidence, you decide to interview a native. Come up with five questions to ask a native that will help you better understand the culture. The questions may be about topics like the economy, people, technologies, landscape, achievements, resources, or even struggles.

Then, ask your original questions to a coursemate posing as a native in the culture you discovered. Be sure to accurately represent the native's responses by summarizing his or her answers, and providing at least two direct quotations from the interview.

Finally, weigh the incentives and consequences of continuing to explore and develop a relationship with this civilization. Write a three-to-four sentence paragraph that explains whether you feel the native's responses to your questions are strong enough for you to justify future explorations.

Use the Interview Template to help guide you through the assignment. Before you begin, access the Explorer's Interview Checklist to be sure you include all of the items required for full credit. If you use resources outside of this course to complete the assignment, please submit a Works Cited document. If you need assistance, visit the Student Resources section for information on citing any resources that you use.

After completing this assignment, please submit your work to the dropbox.