PBS
Pbs Learning Media: Primary Source Set: Exploration of the Americas
This collection uses primary sources to explain the early exploration of the Americas.
Wisconsin Historical Society
American Journeys: Eyewitness Accounts Early American Exploration/settlement
A collaborative project of the Wisconsin Historical Society and National History Day, this site contains over 18,000 pages of primary source, eyewitness accounts of North American exploration starting with the Vikings.
Library of Congress
Loc: Online Exhibition: The Cultures and History of the Americas
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...
Colonial Williamsburg Foundation
Colonial Williamsburg: Numismatics: Coins and Currency in Colonial America
Valuable lessons in the history of Europeans' early exploration and settlement of America can be gained by following the money used in trade. Coins and Currency exhibition lets you examine evidence of Spanish, British, Dutch, French, and...
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: 15th & 16th Centuries
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...
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...
University of Groningen
American History: Essays: Europe's North South Conflicts Reach the Americas
An essay detailing early English and French exploration and settlement in the New World to challenge Spanish control.
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...
OpenStax
Open Stax: Colonial Societies 1500 1700: Spanish Exploration & Colonial Society
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.
McGraw Hill
Mc Graw Hill Higher Education: Old World, New Worlds
This article from McGraw-Hill Higher Education discusses European exploration in the late 1400s and 1500s and its impact on English colonization hundreds of years later.
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.
State Library of North Carolina
N Cpedia: John W. Kinchelo, Iii: American Indians at European Contact
Native Americans inhabited the New World long before European explorers began establishing settlements on the land. This entry addresses the challenges the natives had to face upon Europe's arrival, trials in relationships, and how...
Other
Texas Bob: The First Europeans in Texas: 1528 1536
One of the first Europeans to penetrate the interior of Texas, read Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca's account of his shipwreck and eventual return to the Spanish Court.
Library of Congress
Loc: American Memory: Colonial Settlement 1600s 1763
The settlement of the colonies in America is the focus of this article. The course of events is divided into topics and time periods, making it easier to understand. Note is made of the effects to the already present Native Americans as...
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: America in Class: Early Visual Representations of the New World
A lesson that examines how Native Americans were portrayed by artists in the sixteenth century, whose aim was to convey their appearance to a European audience, and thereby encourage investment in future New World explorations. By...
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.
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.
Khan Academy
Khan Academy: Us History: 1491 1607: Quiz 1
Take this five question quiz over the Native Americans and European exploration in the Americas.
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.
Alabama Learning Exchange
Alex: Zagat's Guide to the Columbian Exchange
This is a unit plan designed for a class that meets for approximately 60-96 minutes. It is also recommended that this project be used to conclude a unit that covers European exploration and the Columbian Exchange. Students will work...
Annenberg Foundation
Annenberg Learner: American Passages: Exploring Borderlands:christopher Columbus
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.
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.
Library of Congress
Loc: Exploring the Early Americas: Competition for Empire
Part of a larger site, the primary sources here deal with the competition among the European countries in establishing a foothold in the New World.