National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: America in Class: Failed European Colonies in the New World
Lesson that examines some of the reasons European efforts to establish colonies in the New World were often met with failure. It focuses on the story of nine Jesuit priests who started a small colony on Chesapeake Bay in the hopes of...
Digital History
Digital History: The Meaning of America
Although brief, this article points out the opposing views of the New World of America in European eyes during the exploration and early colonization period.
University of Groningen
American History: Outlines: Native American Cultures
The America that greeted the first Europeans was, thus, far from an empty wilderness. It is now thought that as many people lived in the Western Hemisphere as in Western Europe at that time -- about 40 million. Estimates of the number of...
University of Groningen
American History: Essays: Spain's Territorial Conquest in the Americas
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...
Khan Academy
Khan Academy: Us History: 1491 1607: Environmental/health Effects in New World
European arrival in the Americas decimated both indigenous people and previously-flourishing ecosystems.
Independence Hall Association
U.s. History: Native American Society on the Eve of British Colonization
This is a brief overview of the Native American cultures, languages, and diversity amont the many tribes that lived in North America prior to European contact.
Digital History
Digital History: Spanish Colonization
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...
Library of Congress
Loc: France in America: New Societies
The development of a multi-ethnic society developed in New France. Find out how this happened and what made up the social hierarchy. Primary source documents are provided on this Library of Congress site.
Library of Congress
Loc: America's Story: Independence for Liberia
The story of how Joseph Jenkins Roberts, an African American from Virginia, developed Liberia into an independent country.
Other
The Fur Trade: Its Impact on Native America
Information on the fur trade and its impact on Native Americans. The demands of the Europeans for fur increased competition among the Native American groups. It changed the character of warfare among Native American populations and...
Other
American Journeys: French and English Approaches to Exploration [Pdf]
A lengthy lesson plan that examines French and English approaches to exploration and colonization in reference to religious factors. Using primary sources from French missionary Gabriel Sagard and Wiliam Bradford, first governor of...
Annenberg Foundation
Annenberg Learner: United States History Map: Colonists
Use these interactive maps to see and read about the colonization of the New World by several European nations. When you are finished looking at the maps, test your skills with the European Colonies Challenge.
Huntington Library
Early English Exploration and Settlement of the Colony of Virginia
In this lesson, 5th graders learn about the individuals and groups who first founded the different colonies in America and what their motivations were. Students participate in a reader's theater activity, create a poster that would...
Mariners' Museum and Park
Mariners' Museum: Captive Passage: The Transatlantic Slave Trade
Online exhibition from the Mariners' Museum chronicles the plight of African slaves from the beginning of their journey when they are torn from their homeland all the way to the shores of the Americas. Caught up in the lucrative...
Other
Understanding Race: Society: 1800 1850s: Resisting Slavery
An overview of slave revolts and abolitionist efforts during the first half of the nineteenth century, leading up until the Civil War. Read about the Underground Railroad, the colonization movement, and various anti-slavery books.
Auburn University
Auburn University: Richard Hakluyt
A fascinating excerpt of Richard Hakluyt's Discourse of Western Planting written in Old English, and dealing with English colonization. Also includes a short biography of the noted English geographer.
Khan Academy
Khan Academy: Motivation for European Conquest of the New World
God, gold, and glory motivated European nations to explore and create colonies in the New World. This article discusses the Crusades and how they influenced European colonization projects.
University of Groningen
American History: Essays: Nieuw Amsterdam
This site lists the reasons why the Dutch trading companies were slower in colonization than the other New World countries.
Khan Academy
Khan Academy: French and Dutch Exploration in the New World
An overview of the French, Dutch, and English explorers in the late 1500's and early 1600's.
Curated OER
Educational Technology Clearinghouse: Maps Etc: Northwestern South America, 1916
A physical and political map of northwestern South America in 1916 showing the boundaries for Columbia, Venezuela, the Guianas, Ecuador, Peru, and Bolivia at the time. The map uses color-contouring to show elevations from sea level to...
Digital Public Library of America
Dpla: American Empire
This exhibition explores the origins, development, and eventual fall of the American empire and maps the diverse and rocky terrain of the American empire to show how it informs contemporary conversations on heritage, citizenship, racism,...
Digital History
Digital History: Overview of the Colonial Era
The year 1492 marks a watershed in modern world history. Columbus's voyage of discovery inaugurated a series of developments that would have vast consequences for both the Old World and the New. It transformed the diets of both the...
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Indian Relations, American Beginnings: 1492 1690
One modern historical assessment and several original accounts of the mistrust, negotiations, alliances, trading, and disease transmission between European colonizers and native peoples in North America.
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,...