United Learning
The Great Age of Exploration (1400-1550)
Delve into the Age of Exploration with this activity-packed resource! Complete with a pre-test, discussion questions and quiz for a 30-minute video on the period, map activities, timeline of discoveries, vocabulary, etc. this is a...
Curated OER
Prince Henry the Navigator
Sanges, Portugal is of great significance in the world of ancient exploration. It was what was believed to be" Land's End," but as we now know it wasn't! Learn all about the travels and navigational triumphs of Prince Henry the...
Curated OER
King John II of Portugal & Columbus: The Period of Discovery
Having an interesting reading passage can really help some kids get into history. Here are five reading comprehension and recall questions related to the provided reading passage. They'll read about King John II of Portugal, his...
Curated OER
It’s a Big, Big World
Students examine the role of the explorers. In this explorers and conquistadors, students create word puzzles (Wordles) regarding the time period in history. Students conduct research regarding a particular explorer and create foldables...
Curated OER
Oh, California
Learners begin this lesson by charting information about the relationship between the Spanish missionaries and Native Americans at a California mission. Then, students identify the dynamics of those relationships that would have made...
Royal Collection Trust (UK)
Royal Collection: Artist's Illustrations of Plants in English Gardens
From the Royal Collection in London, this is a short biography and selection of floral illustrations that made up part of the 154 plate "Flower Book" by the gentelmen gardener Alexander Marshal (c.1620-1682).
Mariners' Museum and Park
Mariners' Museum: Exploration Through the Ages
A history of the world from the perspective of those who sailed the seas in great waves of exploration, from ancient times through the nineteenth century. Learn about the explorers, their ships, the tools they navigated by, and their...
British Library
British Library: The Search for the Northwest Passage
Detailed third grade lessons help students understand what skills and knowledge were required in order to become an explorer. Includes specific lessons on John Cabot, Jacques Cartier, and Henry Hudson.
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: Modern History Sourcebook: Vasco Da Gama
This site from Fordham University provides a look into the thoughts of Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama by examining his journal entries during his voyage to India.
Walled Lake Consolidated Schools
Loon Lake Elementary: Explorers: The Age of Exploration
This Age of Exploration table is an organized, concise overview of famous explorers from the 15th to the 17th centuries.
Other
Radford University: Prelude to European Settlement of Virginia
This site traces the early voyages of explorers from Portugal and Spain who were trying to find new resources.
Read Works
Read Works: The Doctrine of Discovery, 1493
[Free Registration/Login Required] Abridged from the full text located at the Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History, this excerpt desribes the contents of the Papal Bull "Inter Caetera" issued by Pope Alexander VI. Paired texts...
Read Works
Read Works: Columbus Reports on His First Voyage, 1493
[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...
Other
Slippery Rock University: The Treaty of Tordesillas
Some very basic information on the Treaty of Tordesillas and geographic information related to South America.
ibiblio
Ibiblio: 1492: An Ongoing Vogage: Inventing America
Archived exhibition reveals how European writers and mapmakers thought about America during the Age of Discovery. Describes the allegorical images Europeans sometimes used to portray America and features the Gutierrez map, drawn in 1562,...