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Website
Library of Congress

Loc: Online Exhibition: The Cultures and History of the Americas

For Students 9th - 10th
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...
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Primary
Internet History Sourcebooks Project

Fordham University: Medieval Sourcebook: Columbus' Letter to the King and Queen of Spain

For Students 9th - 10th
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.
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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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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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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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Activity
Constitutional Rights Foundation

Constitutional Rights Foundation: The Columbian Exchange

For Students 9th - 10th
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...
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Unknown Type
Stanford University

Beyond the Bubble: Creating Columbus Day

For Students 9th - 10th
[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...
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Primary
Library of Congress

Loc: Discovery and Exploration

For Students 9th - 10th
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...
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Lesson Plan
NASA

Nasa: From Stargazers to Starships: The Round Earth and Christopher Columbus

For Teachers 9th - 10th
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...
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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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Lesson Plan
Better Lesson

Better Lesson: Want to Trade?

For Teachers K - 1st
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...
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Interactive
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: The Columbian Exchange

For Students 3rd - 8th
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...
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Primary
National Humanities Center

National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Contact: First Impressions

For Teachers 9th - 10th
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.
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Article
Hartford Web Publishing

World History Archives: Hartford Web Pub.: Pre Columbian Hispaniola

For Students 9th - 10th
This site describes the Arawak and Taino Indians on the island of Hispaniola. Read about their lifestyle, housing, dress, food, and religion.
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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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Activity
Cengage Learning

Literature of Discovery and Exploration

For Students 9th - 10th
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...
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Unit Plan
Library of Congress

Loc: The Cultures and Histories of the Americas

For Students 9th - 10th
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.
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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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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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Website
Internet History Sourcebooks Project

Fordham University: Jewish History Sourcebook: Expulsion From Spain

For Students 9th - 10th
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.
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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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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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Handout
Wikimedia

Wikipedia: Columbus Day: Opposition to Columbus Celebrations

For Students 9th - 10th
Read about the reasons many believe that Christopher Columbus should not be celebrated, namely his devastating impact upon native populations.
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Activity
Geographypods

Geographypods: Renaissance Day: Discovering the 'Lost World'

For Students 7th - 9th
Gain knowledge of how exploration, mapping, and voyages of the Renaissance period shaped and changed our understanding of the modern world.