Curated OER
Kentucky
For this Kentucky reading comprehension worksheet, students read a 2-page selection regarding the state and they answer 10 true or false questions pertaining to the selection.
University of Groningen
American History: Essays: First European Exploration and Exploitation
Essay on the exploitation and decimation of indigenous peoples as a result of European exploration, settlement, and colonization in North and South America.
Georgia Department of Education
Ga Virtual Learning: Ap Us History: Native Populations & European Exploration
AP U.S. History learning module explores the encounter and interactions between European explorers and Native populations in America. Complete set of resources, interactive material, assignments and assessment.
OpenStax
Open Stax: Portuguese Exploration and Spanish Conquest
From a chapter on "Early Globalization: The Atlantic World, 1492-1650," this section describes the importance of Portuguese exploration of the Atlantic and Spanish exploration of the Americas.
Mariners' Museum and Park
Age of Exploration: The Great Exchange
A great description and explanation of the exchange that took place between the Old World and New World as a result of European exploration. Find examples of plants, animals, and diseases that were traded as a result of exploration and...
Mariners' Museum and Park
Mariners' Museum: The Ages of Exploration: Age of Discovery
This Age of Discovery page presents naval artifacts and explorers of the 15th century to the early 17th century. It looks at European explorers who journeyed to North and South America, the search for the Northwest Passage, and...
Mariners' Museum and Park
Age of Exploration: Changing View of the World: The Development of Map Making
Read a summary of the history of map-making and the maps that were produced as a result of European exploration in the Americas. See examples of these maps and find out more about each one in this exhibit from the Mariners' Museum.
Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
Gilder Lehrman Institute: Age of Exploration
[Free Registration/Login Required] Learn about the exploration of the Americas. Site includes primary source documents, videos, essays, and lesson plans to help students research the exploration of the new land.
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: Primary Source Set: Exploration of the Americas
This collection uses primary sources to explain the early exploration of the Americas.
University of Groningen
American History: Outlines: The First Europeans
The first Europeans to arrive in North America -- at least the first for whom there is solid evidence -- were Norse, traveling west from Greenland, where Erik the Red had founded a settlement around the year 985. In 1001 his son Leif is...
The British Museum
British Museum: Explore World Cultures: Iron Age
Learn about the art of the Iron Age in this historical overview and image gallery with detailed descriptions of each piece, from the collection of the British Museum.
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...
The Newberry Library
Newberry: Exploration and Encounter: Map 3, Captain Cook and Hawaii, 1778
Map and primary source information provide first-hand account of exploration and encounters between Europeans and Hawaiians. Includes lesson plans for k-12, links to reference material and supplemental resources, and curators notes.
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston: European Paintings Collection Highlights
Explore a selection of the MFA's holdings of over 1,400 paintings from across Europe, featuring masterworks from the middle ages to the mid-twentieth century. Click on 'View All Works' to access the collection.
Khan Academy
Khan Academy: Pre Colonization European Society
The Church, disease, and large urban centers dictated societal structure in European societies before the colonization of the New World. Read more about Europe during the Middle Ages.
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.
The History Cat
The History Cat: Age of Exploration: The Columbian Exchange
A fascinating look at the exchanges that took place around the world after the Americas were discovered. This covered the gamut from diseases which wiped out 90% of the native peoples in North and South America, to farm animals, tools,...
University of Calgary
European Voyages of Exploration: Geography and Cartography
This site provides information on mapmaking and cartograohy of the early explorers. Includes pictures of maps.
Louisiana Department of Education
Louisiana Doe: Louisiana Believes: Social Studies: Grade 5: The Age of Exploration in the Americas
Read and study the sources about the European Age of Exploration. As you read the four sources, think about the ways in which exploration during this time period impacted the Americas.
British Library
British Library: Discovering Literature: Travel, Trade and Exploration in the Middle Ages
Medieval Europeans were fascinated by the lands that lay beyond their own continent. This article looks at the real and imaginary travels of explorers and tradesmen through works including The Book of John Mandeville, The Travels of...
EL Education
El Education: A Buccaneer's Guide to the Age of Exploration
A Buccaneer's Guide to the Age of Exploration depicts European world-wide exploration and exploitation through a collage-style book of text, hand-drawn and water-colored illustrations, maps, timelines, and diagrams. The book chronicles...
OpenStax
Open Stax: Europe on the Brink of Change
From a chapter on "The Americas, Europe, and Africa Before 1492," this section describes the European societies that engaged in conversion, conquest, and commerce and discusses the motives for and mechanisms of early European exploration.
The British Museum
British Museum: Explore World Cultues: Medieval Europe
Learn about the art of medieval Europe in this historical overview and image gallery with detailed descriptions of each object, from the collection of the British Museum.
The History Cat
The History Cat: Age of Exploration: Christopher Columbus
The story of Christopher Columbus, of how he became an explorer, his encounter with the Arawak people in the Caribbean, and the exaggerated tales he told the King and Queen of Spain when he returned to Europe.