Other
Historical Scene Investigation: The Starving Time in Jamestown
Students will work with primary resources such as diary entries to investigate a historical situation: the starving time in Jamestown. This interactive site raises questions that will enable students to use 21st century skills to...
National Geographic
National Geographic: John Smith Map of 1612
Presents the map published in 1612 that was developed from Captain John Smith's explorations of the Chesapeake Bay region, and used as the main reference for close to seventy years.
Stanford University
Sheg: Document Based History: Reading Like a Historian: Pocahontas
[Free Registration/Login Required] Students use primary source documents to investigate central historical questions. In this investigation, students use evidence to explore whether Pocahontas actually saved John Smith's life and...
![Howard County Public School System: Which John Smith Is Telling the Truth? [Pdf] Lesson Plan](https://d15y2dacu3jp90.cloudfront.net/images/attachment_defaults/resource/large/FPO-knovation.png "Howard County Public School System: Which John Smith Is Telling the Truth? [Pdf] Lesson Plan")
University of Maryland
Howard County Public School System: Which John Smith Is Telling the Truth? [Pdf]
Students will read two accounts of John Smith's meeting with Powhattan and evalute which one is likely to be more accurate based upon the reliability of the sources.
PBS
Pbs: Nova: John Smith's Bold Endeavor
A historian discusses the relationship between John Smith and Pocahontas, and, more broadly, the competing expectations of the Indians and English colonists in terms of the relationship of the two groups.
Huntington Library
Huntington Library: Settlement of the Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay Colonies
In this lesson, 5th graders learn about the people who founded the New England colonies and the role that religion played in shaping them. Includes background information for the teacher. Students explore primary resource readings on the...
Huntington Library
Huntington Library: American Indians and English Settlers in Colonial America
In this lesson plan, 5th graders examine the relations between Indians and the settlers in the 1600s and 1700s. Background information for teachers is included. Students will work in groups to look at three different colonies and read...
Library of Congress
Loc: John Smith, Leader of Jamestown
An overview of the life of John Smith, and his relationship with Pocahontas, who supposedly saved his life. Features a portrait, a photograph of the John Smith Memorial, and a fresco from the early 1900's.
Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation
History Is Fun: The Life of John Smith [Pdf]
A one-page biography of John Smith who was a leader of the Jamestown Colony in its early days.
Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation
History Is Fun: Life at Jamestown [Pdf]
A 16-page history of the establishment and growth of the colony of Jamestown. Covers the early challenges, the starving time, the Virginia Company, the conflict with Powhatan, the beginnings of the tobacco economy, the introduction of...
Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation
History Is Fun: Life at Jamestown [Pdf]
An extensive collection of resources for learning about the colony of Jamestown. Includes essays, lesson plans, biographies, the economics of tobacco, information about laws, leadership, and a culminating project where young scholars...
National Geographic
National Geographic: Exploring the Chesapeake: Then and Now
Resource provides an interactive map that takes you to places on the Chesapeake Bay that John Smith explored and you find out the historical events that occurred. Pictures and drawings of time accompany the explanations.
Utah Education Network
Uen: Themepark: Liberty: United States Colonial History
Find a large collection of internet resources organized around colonial history. Links to places to go, people to see, things to do, teacher resources, and bibliographies.
National Women’s History Museum
National Women's History Museum: Pocahontas
Among the most famous women in early American history, Pocahontas is credited with helping the struggling English settlers survive.
Smithsonian Institution
Smithsonian: National Museum of the American Indian: Queen of America
Pocahontas is that rare historical figure who captivated people in her own time and in every generation that followed. Take a closer look at the story of Pocahontas and Captain John Smith in this Frieze of American History from the...
University of Groningen
American History: Outlines: The Colonial Period
The early settlers to the New World began to map strategy for their own system of government. This site details that strategy and what kinds of events spawned the idea of representative government.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Harcourt: Biographies: John Smith 1580 1631
Presented here is a brief biography on Captain John Smith, one of the original settlers of Jamestown and explorer of New England.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Harcourt: Biographies: John Smith
Learn of one of the first leaders in American settlement. With experience, courage and wisdom, John Smith was invaluable to starting the first European settlement in the United States. (In Spanish)
Digital History
Digital History: English Colonization Begins
Understand why the English saw opportunity in making settlements in the New World. After the stumbles in Newfoundland and Roanoke Island, read about the ultimately successful founding of Jamestown Colony.
Other
The National Center: Settlement of Jamestown
"The Settlement of Jamestown" by John Smith from The National Center, including the famous account of Smith being saved by Pocahontas.
Other
Virtual Jamestown: Powhatan (D. 1618)
Read about Powhatan, the leader of the Powhatan federation of Indians and the father of Pocahontas. Through his dealings with John Smith of the Jamestown establishment, Powhatan became an important connection between the Indians and the...
Other
Virtual Jamestown: John Smith (1579 1631)
This site provides biographical information about John Smith. The site is illustrated with historical prints and maps depicting events from Smith's life.
Other
Univ. Of Virginia: Account of Virginia by John Smith
This resource from the University of Virginia contains the full text of Captain John Smith's "Map of Virginia, with a Description of the Country, the Commodities, People, Government and Religion," an excerpt from "Travels and Works of...
Other
Virtual Jamestown: "Proceedings of the English Colony"
Brief excerpts from "The Proceedings of the English Colony in Virginia," an account written by Captain John Smith and published in 1612 of his time in Jamestown.