Library of Congress
Loc: Online Exhibition: The Cultures and History of the Americas
Examine some of the rare books, maps, prints and other artifacts in this online exhibition. The exhibition explores several themes on the cultures and history of the Americas. The collection focuses on the period of pre-contact through...
Internet History Sourcebooks Project
Fordham University: Medieval Sourcebook: Columbus' Letter to the King and Queen of Spain
Fordham University provides the full text of a letter written about 1494 from Christopher Columbus to the King and Queen of Spain regarding the Islands of Hispaniola.
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt
Harcourt: Biographies: Christopher Columbus [English]
Fascinating biography on Christopher Columbus. You can also find his biographical timeline, links to additional information, and books related to his life.
University of Calgary
European Voyages of Exploration: 15th & 16th Centuries
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...
Annenberg Foundation
Annenberg Learner: American Passages: Exploring Borderlands:christopher Columbus
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.
Constitutional Rights Foundation
Constitutional Rights Foundation: The Columbian Exchange
Article and activity in which students about the Columbian Exchange answer questions for discussion and then analyze and prepare a solution to the contemporary problem resulting from the introduction of non-native deer to California's...
Stanford University
Beyond the Bubble: Creating Columbus Day
[Free Registration/Login Required] Assessment in which students use a primary source excerpt from President Benjamin Harrison's proclamation of Columbus Day as a national holiday in 1892 and their knowledge of history to answer a given...
Library of Congress
Loc: Discovery and Exploration
This American Memory site documents the discovery and exploration of the Americas with both manuscripts and published maps, many of which date from the European Age of Discovery. The site includes 22 map titles and descriptions, as well...
NASA
Nasa: From Stargazers to Starships: The Round Earth and Christopher Columbus
Despite popular myth, people of the 15th century actually realized that the earth was round. Some scientists had even estimated the size of the Earth. Here's an interesting explanation from a section of an online textbook on the...
Library of Congress
Loc: Exploring the Early Americas: Columbus and the Taino
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.
Better Lesson
Better Lesson: Want to Trade?
Students will write about what they would trade for gold and practice inventive spelling in the process. After reading "In 1492", students will discuss how Christopher Columbus traded with the natives and then write what they would trade...
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: The Columbian Exchange
In this interactive lesson supporting literacy skills, students watch video dramatizations that tell the story of the Spanish explorers who arrived in the Americas with Columbus and introduced European, African, and Asian plants and...
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Contact: First Impressions
English, Spanish, and Portuguese maps and letters of about the voyages of Christopher Columbus, John Cabot, and Portuguese explorer, Gaspar Corte Real, which describe impressions of the lands explored.
Hartford Web Publishing
World History Archives: Hartford Web Pub.: Pre Columbian Hispaniola
This site describes the Arawak and Taino Indians on the island of Hispaniola. Read about their lifestyle, housing, dress, food, and religion.
Library of Congress
Loc: An Ongoing Voyage: Christopher Columbus: Man and Myth
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.
Cengage Learning
Literature of Discovery and Exploration
Teaching approach that examines the writings of European New World explorers from the late 1400s through the 1600s. Includes Christopher Columbus, Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca, Rene Goulaine de Laudonniere, Pedro Menendez de Aviles, Fray...
Library of Congress
Loc: The Cultures and Histories of the Americas
An online exhibit of a vast array of documents, artifacts, and maps detailing cultures in the Americas including the indigenous groups as well as Europeans after contact. From the Library of Congress.
National Endowment for the Humanities
Neh: Edsit Ement: Other Worlds the Voyage of Columbus
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.
Library of Congress
Loc: 1492: An Ongoing Voyage
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...
Internet History Sourcebooks Project
Fordham University: Jewish History Sourcebook: Expulsion From Spain
This site from the Fordham University gives a detailed and accurate picture of the expulsion and its immediate consequences for Spanish Jewry. It was written in Hebrew by an Italian Jew in April or May, 1495.
Internet History Sourcebooks Project
Fordham University: Medieval Sourcebook: Christopher Columbus Journal
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.
National Endowment for the Humanities
Neh: Edsit Ement: What Was Columbus Thinking
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.
Wikimedia
Wikipedia: Columbus Day: Opposition to Columbus Celebrations
Read about the reasons many believe that Christopher Columbus should not be celebrated, namely his devastating impact upon native populations.
Geographypods
Geographypods: Renaissance Day: Discovering the 'Lost World'
Gain knowledge of how exploration, mapping, and voyages of the Renaissance period shaped and changed our understanding of the modern world.