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Unit Plan
Annenberg Foundation

Annenberg Learner: American Passages: Exploring Borderlands:christopher Columbus

For Students 9th - 10th
This passage features explorer Christopher Columbus as an author documenting his travels and experiences through letters and such. Click on "Christopher Columbus Activities" for related artifacts and activities.
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Website
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Harcourt: Biographies: Christopher Columbus [English]

For Students 9th - 10th
Fascinating biography on Christopher Columbus. You can also find his biographical timeline, links to additional information, and books related to his life.
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Primary
Mariners' Museum and Park

Age of Exploration: Christopher Columbus: The Third Voyage

For Students 9th - 10th
Christopher Columbus' third voyage was disastrous for him. Find out what problems he had, and read a letter he wrote hoping for intercession with Ferdinand and Isabella to help him with his problems.
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Website
Library of Congress

Loc: An Ongoing Voyage: Christopher Columbus: Man and Myth

For Students 9th - 10th
Part of a larger exhibit from the Library of Congress, this site explores some of the motivations and expectations of Christopher Columbus as a result of his voyages.
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Handout
Mariners' Museum and Park

Age of Exploration: Christopher Columbus: The Second Voyage

For Students 9th - 10th
A report of Christopher Columbus' second voyage to the New World. Find out what islands he visited in the Caribbean, and discover how successful he was in finding riches.
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Handout
Other

National Maritime Museum: Ships and Seas: Christopher Columbus

For Students 9th - 10th
Learn about Christopher Columbus's reason for sailing west instead of east. Also, discover what he found on his voyages and his return journeys.
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Website
Library of Congress

Loc: 1492: An Ongoing Voyage

For Students 9th - 10th
An exhibit by the Library of Congress supplies diverse facts on the famous 1492 voyage. The exhibition first examines the encounter between the European explorers and the native people. They explore five geographical areas: The Caribbean...
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Unit Plan
Enchanted Learning

Enchanted Learning: Christopher Columbus

For Students 3rd - 5th
Enchanted Learning offers a description of the life of Christopher Columbus (1451-1506) and his travels. Contains a global map indicating his route.
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Website
Internet History Sourcebooks Project

Fordham University: Medieval Sourcebook: Christopher Columbus Journal

For Students 9th - 10th
This site from the Fordham University contains excerpts from the journal of Columbus during his voyage of 1492. This is a great site to check out on the subject.
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Website
A&E Television

History.com: Columbus Day

For Students 9th - 10th
This collection includes a description of the life and work of Christopher Columbus, along with a discussion of why Columbus Day is a controversial holiday. Includes video.
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Article
A&E Television

History.com: Christopher Columbus: How the Explorer's Legend Grew and Then Drew Fire

For Students 9th - 10th
Christopher Columbus has long been exalted as a heroic figure in American history: the first explorer to establish a European presence in the New World. Americans have celebrated his arrival as far back as 1792, the 300th anniversary of...
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Primary
Library of Congress

Loc: Exploring the Early Americas: Columbus and the Taino

For Students 9th - 10th
An on-line exhibit displaying copies of Columbus' journals, other writings about his voyages and findings, as well as information and artifacts of the Taino, the Native Americans Columbus encountered on San Salvador.
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Primary
Mariners' Museum and Park

Mariners' Museum: Education: Christopher Columbus: First Voyage

For Students 9th - 10th
This resource provides information about Christopher Columbus and his voyages.
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Article
A&E Television

History.com: 10 Things You May Not Know About Christopher Columbus

For Students 9th - 10th
Check out 10 things you may not know about the explorer who sailed the ocean blue in 1492 for example, Columbus didn't set out to prove the earth was round.
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Unit Plan
Read Works

Read Works: Columbus Reports on His First Voyage, 1493

For Teachers 10th - 12th
[Free Registration/Login Required] Abridged from the full text located at the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, this passage provides a primary source and a discussion of Christopher Columbus' first voyage. Paired texts, a...
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Lesson Plan
National Endowment for the Humanities

Neh: Edsit Ement: What Was Columbus Thinking

For Teachers 5th - 8th
These lesson plans guide students' thinking about the effects Columbus' journey to the New World had on Native Americans and uses primary sources such as excerpts from Columbus' diary and letters to Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand.
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Lesson Plan
National Endowment for the Humanities

Neh: Edsit Ement: Other Worlds the Voyage of Columbus

For Teachers 9th - 10th
This site has a lesson plan designed for grades 9-12. The lesson plan deals with understanding the culture from which Columbus came, Renaissance Europe, and the culture he found in the New World.
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Primary
University of Maryland

Early Americas Digital Archive: Columbus, Letter From the Fourth Voyage

For Students 9th - 10th
The complete text of a letter written by Christopher Columbus describing his fourth voyage.
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Primary
University of Maryland

Early Americas Digital Archive: Columbus, Letter to Santangel

For Students 9th - 10th
The complete text of a letter written by Christopher Columbus to Santangel describing the results of his first voyage.
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Website
University of Calgary

European Voyages of Exploration: 15th & 16th Centuries

For Students 9th - 10th
This award-winning website from the University of Calgary's History Department is both impressive and extensive. It focuses on Portuguese and Spanish expeditions of the 15th and 16th centuries (the sitemap provides a good outline of...
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Website
Library of Congress

Loc: American Treasures of the Library of Congress: Columbus's Three Voyages

For Students 9th - 10th
View one of the top treasures in the Library of Congress, the parchment on which is written the earliest description of Columbus's first three voyages to the New World.
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Website
Other

Ships of Discovery: Columbus's Lost Ships

For Students 5th - 8th
We all know about the Nina, Pinta, and the Santa Maria, but what about the rest of Columbus' ships? He was a busy man after the initial discovery. This site is by a group of archaeologists who try to find historic underwater wrecks....
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Primary
CommonLit

Common Lit: "Columbus and the Egg" by Barbara Radner

For Students 4th - 6th
This is a historical fiction story about Columbus, the explorer who came to the Americas from Spain in 1492. This is a story about what might have happened long ago when he was back in Spain. A specific purpose for reading and vocabulary...
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Handout
The History Cat

The History Cat: The Voyages of Zheng He

For Students 9th - 10th
Read about the Chinese explorer, Zheng He, who lived from 1371 to 1433. He commanded massive fleets and made seven voyages, traveling to East Africa, India, and Arabia, making stops in other regions along the way. He even brought a...