Explore Iowa History
Discover the people, places, events, and ideas of Iowa history. Explore hundreds of articles, images, videos and websites. Create your own story of Iowa as you go to unexpected places and search the past and present. Travel down side trails and uncover artifacts as you explore your Iowa pathway.
Iowa Pathways is an online learning environment that challenges students to create their own story of the state as they explore the people, places, events and ideas of Iowa. This award-winning Web site helps students choose topics that interest them, build research questions and examine relationships among Iowa concepts—past to present.
What is your Iowa story? Find your Iowa pathway
Agriculture is an occupation. It's a lifestyle and a business. It involves producing crops and raising livestock.
Food for your cat or dog.
Breakfast snacks.
Aircraft flight controls.
Internet data centers.
Construction machinery.
A community is a place where people live. In Iowa people live in rural areas, towns or cities.
When Iowa's first European settlers moved into the territory we know as Iowa, they wasted no time in setting up education for their children.
When people talk about “the environment” what do they mean?
The environment is made up of landforms, plants and animals. Climate and weather make up the environment.
Can you imagine living in a place with no government? The earliest Iowans realized people survive best when there are laws and rules in place.
The story of Iowa started long before people ever lived on the land. Earthquakes, volcanoes, floods and ice helped form the landscape of this area for over 1 billion years.
Think about what you were doing one year ago.
Talk to someone who remembers living on a farm in Iowa during the Great Depression in the previous century.
If you've ever hiked through a woods or traveled down a river in one of Iowa's state parks you get an idea of what transportation meant to native Iowans.
Wars have been a part of Iowa's history since the first inhabitants arrived. Early Indian tribes fought among themselves.
Pathways
Discover hundreds of connected articles exploring themes in Iowa history. Get started.
Media Artifacts
View hundreds of photos, videos and more. You may be surprised at what you uncover.
Timeline
Explore Iowa history milestones and their connection to U.S. and world events. Compare and contrast events across different themes in history. View Iowa's past in a whole new way.
Quest
Use this guide to help create your own story of Iowa history. Are you ready for a challenge?
Teacher Resources
Iowa Pathways teacher resources support a wide variety of educational needs. Find it all in Teacher Resources.