Which Native American figure helped the Pilgrims by teaching them agricultural techniques and serving as an intermediary?

• A. Squanto
• B. Sacagawea
• C. Pocahontas
• D. Tamanend

Answer: (A)

Recognizing a historical figure who bridged cultures and helped the Pilgrims survive by teaching farming and serving as an intermediary. Squanto did precisely that. He had spent time in Europe and learned English, so he could speak with the Pilgrims and with the local Wampanoag leader Massasoit. He showed the settlers how to plant native crops—like corn, beans, and squash—and how to use fish as fertilizer to revitalize soil, which supported their first successful harvest. He also helped arrange a treaty between the Pilgrims and the Wampanoag, acting as a key translator and mediator. The other figures were important in different times or contexts: Sacagawea aided later explorers, Pocahontas helped in a different colonial setting, and Tamanend is known for early relations in another region; none of them fit the specific combination of farming instruction and intermediation for the Pilgrims as neatly as Squanto.