The Lewis & Clark expedition

The Lewis & Clark expedition ______________________________May 1804 – September 1806

- 2 officers who was sent to explore the continent (maps)

It really happened, it’s a real story who become a myth

8,000 miles (13 000 km), almost 2 years ½ by boat, on foot & on horseback

There was only 1 victim during the expedition because of a disease, he was called Floyd (his name on the map is where he died, it’s not the noun of a city)

It was something extraordinary at the time

Thomas Jefferson has decided of the exploration

Sioux : are divided

Fort Mandan : where they add new persons

Blackfeet, Shoshone, Nez Percé are people they met during their journey

Who they recruited ?

- 2 captains (officers) https://www.archives.gov/education/lessons/lewis-clark

Meriwether Lewis (add a picture), he was Jefferson’s military aide and William Clark

The all group was called The Corps of Discovery : from 33 (the Permanent Party) to 59 people including 5 non-commissioned officers (sous-officiers) & mostly privates (ordinary soldiers), one Native Indian woman (Sacagawea) and one African American, Clark’s slave called York + seaman

They were extremely young, the average age was 27

They were looking for the North-West passage, for a river but there is no river. The goal was to find a water to the Pacific

It started in Saint Louis in May 1804

Video of National Geography : It they made it, they would forever change the course of history. It was ambitious and difficult to cross. It was like a journey on the Moon. There were unknown animals, monsters. It was also an unknown territory.

The river crafts : What were the type of boat they used ? 2 main different types of boats. There was a Keelboat (add a picture) and also Pirogues (big canoes) and Dugout canoes (hollowed tree trunks). They paddled the river.

What were the others aims ?

- The representation of the West at the time

They thought that…

California was an island

There were volcanoes, mountains salt

The Rockies : no higher than the Appalachians, no big deal

There were extraordinary animals : unicorns, mastodons …

Up to the Mandan villages : known by trappers, fur-traders but between the Mandan villages and the Pacific : the unknown, uncharted (map) territory, unknown wildlife, unknown native people

5 people wrote their journals, it’s why we know things

- Mandan earth lodges (people they met) add picture of their lodges and tepees

They lived mainly on hunting, gathering & agriculture

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