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Lesson Plan
Curated OER

Growing up Spanish in America

For Teachers 7th - 12th
Young scholars explore Hispanic culture. In this cultural diversity instructional activity, students read Wachale by Ilan Stavans and respond to discussion questions about the story. Young scholars journal about their impressions of...
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Primary
Curated OER

History Matters: Pedro Naranjo Relates the Pueblo Revolt, 1680

For Students 9th - 10th
Read about the resistance in 1680 by the New Mexico Pueblo Indians who resisted the Spanish attempts to subjugate them. Find out about the leader, El Pope, who was able to lead the resistance for ten years.
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Primary
Digital History

Digital History: Coexistence and Conflict in the Spanish Southwest

For Students 9th - 10th
Read the testimony of a Pueblo Indian, captured by the Spanish after the Revolt of 1680, giving his ideas of why the Indians attacked the Spanish and destroyed the images of Christianity they found.
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Graphic
Other

Smith College: Vistas: Visual Culture in Spanish America

For Students 9th - 10th
A collection of photographs, artwork, and architecture of Spanish America from pre-1500 through the 1900s.
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Handout
Other

New Mexico Office of the State Historian: Pope

For Students 9th - 10th
Read this fascinating information about Pope, the leader of the Pueblo Revolt of 1680. Learn how he was able to unite several tribes of Pueblo Indians who did not even speak the same language into a force that was able to push out the...
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Unit Plan
Annenberg Foundation

Annenberg Learner: American Passages: Bartolome De Las Casas

For Students 9th - 10th
This resource features Native American activist, Bartolome de las Casas, one of the first Europeans to speak on cruelty directed towards the Native Americans. Click on "Bartolome de las Casas Activites" for related artifacts and activities.
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eBook
OpenStax

Open Stax: Colonial Societies 1500 1700: Spanish Exploration & Colonial Society

For Students 11th - 12th
Examines the establishment of Spanish settlements in America, the differences between them, and the conflicts the Spanish had with other European interests and with the native peoples.
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Handout
Other

American Journeys: Background on Francisco Palou and Father Junipero Serra

For Students 9th - 10th
Find background information about the life of Father Junipero Serra and his biographer, Father Francisco Palou. Read about the missions they established in California and their work in converting Native Americans to Christianity. Click...
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Website
Curated OER

National Park Service: The Forts of Old San Juan: Guardians of the Caribbean

For Students 9th - 10th
Visit such Spanish sites in Puerto Rico as El Morro, the fort that provided the keystone to protection of the Spanish Empire that spread across the Caribbean. Many photographs and drawings.
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Primary
Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History

Gilder Lehrman Institute: History Now: Bartolome De Las Casas Debates the Subjugation of the Indians

For Students 9th - 10th
[Free Registration/Login Required] Read a summary of Bartolome de Las Casas' views about the horrors of Spanish encomienda system and his arguments for proper treatment of Native Americans. Find a link to a translation of his book where...
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Primary
Other

American Journeys: Life of Father Junipero Serro, Founder of Franciscan Missions

For Students 9th - 10th
This study of Junipero Serra's (1723-1789) life was first published in 1913. It's made available here with some great features. You can search the book for key terms, read background information on the author and the subject, print or...
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Website
Curated OER

National Park Service: Los Castillos Del Viejo San Juan: Guardianes Del Caribe

For Students 9th - 10th
A great site for Spanish Exploration. See one of the greatest fortresses in the Western Hemisphere. King Phillip IV called it "The front and vanguard of all my West Indies, and consequently the most important of them all and the most...
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Primary
Other

American Journeys: Revolt of the Pueblo Inidans

For Students 9th - 10th
Read the background of the Pueblo Revolt of 1680 before accessing the document which is a translation of an excerpt of a book titled Revolt of the Pueblo Indians of New Mexico and Otermin's Attempted Reconquest, 1680-1682. This document...
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Article
Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History

Gilder Lehrman Institute: History Now: The Pueblo Revolt

For Students 9th - 10th
[Free Registration/Login Required] Read an essay about the Pueblo Revolt of 1680 and find out why the Southwest Native Americans rebelled against the Spanish, and were successful in keeping the Spanish out of their pueblos for only...
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Website
University of Groningen

American History: Essays: Spain's Territorial Conquest in the Americas

For Students 9th - 10th
The history of Spanish territorial conquest in the New World is the history of the succession of conquistadors who often overwhelmed native empires, but were sometimes overwhelmed themselves. Read about the conquistadors who came to the...
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Website
Country Studies US

Country Studies: Encomiendas

For Students 9th - 10th
Read this good description of the encomienda system that was set up by the Spanish to reward the Spanish colonizers in the New World and to subjugate the indigenous people by requiring their labor on the granted land.
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Unit Plan
Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

Harcourt: School Publishers: Castillo De San Marcos

For Students 5th - 7th
"The Castillo de San Marcos is the oldest European fort built of stone blocks in the United States. It is located in the town of St. Augustine, Florida."
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Website
Digital History

Digital History: Slavery and Spanish Colonization

For Students 9th - 10th
Read about the slave trade and use of slaves in agriculture and mining in Spanish America in the New World. Find out why it was expedient to use African slaves.
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Website
Digital History

Digital History: The Black Legend

For Students 9th - 10th
Read about the Black Legend which vilified the Spanish treatment of Indians they enslaved, resulting in the decimation of many Indian populations. Bartolome de Las Casas criticized the enslavement of Indians and suggested using African...
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Website
Digital History

Digital History: Spanish Colonization

For Students 9th - 10th
Spanish culture had a great impact on the economy, politics, and even geography of the Southwest, California, and Mexico. Read about the Spanish settlements and the structure of the social classes that left an impact the continues even...
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Website
Other

New Mexico Genealogical Society: Settlement of New Mexico

For Students 9th - 10th
A good look at the settlement of New Mexico by Spanish soldier-colonists and their families in the late 16th century. See the results of their treatment of the indigenous Pueblo Indians in 1680.
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Handout
Mariners' Museum and Park

Exploration Through the Ages: Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo

For Students 9th - 10th
Juan Rodriquez Cabrillo is known for exploring the California coast and claiming the land for Spain, but he did so many other things prior to that.See why Cabrillo wa so important to the Spanish in the New World.Be sure to click on...
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Website
University of Calgary

University of Calgary: The Caribbean: First Contact

For Students 9th - 10th
This site details the initial contact of the European colonizers with the Caribbean islands. The site explains how the Caribbean became colonized and also has maps, quotes, and artwork.
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Website
Duke University

Duke University: The Pueblo Revolt of 1680

For Students 9th - 10th
The story of the Pueblo Revolt of 1680 is told with a timeline showing events leading up to the revolt, a narrative of the revolt itself and its consequences, and brief biographies of many of those involved in Spanish America, and the...