National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Prosperity, American Beginnings: 1492 1690
Four original source accounts, and four related maps, of successful English, French, and Spanish settlements in North America and the Caribbean that explain the qualities of these settlements and their reasons for permanence and prosperity.
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.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Indian Wars, American Beginnings: 1492 1690
Five documents representing the full range of Indian-European antagonisms, struggles for power, and outright warfare among the Spanish, Pueblo, Wampanoag, English, and French in New Spain, New France, New Mexico, and New England.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Hardships, American Beginnings: 1492 1690
Three English, a French, and a Spanish primary account of the staggering losses, misery, and deprivation that characterized early European settlement as well as the resilience needed to overcome those challenges.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Go Ahead, American Beginnings: 1492 1690
A Spanish, an English, and a French account of the enormous challenges in maintaining a colonial presence in North America and of the potential national loss-of pride, wealth, and possibility for expansion-if nations abandoned these...
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Rivalry Iii, American Beginnings: 1492 1690
Two maps of English and French rivalries in North America, and two side-by-side accounts of the English and French perspectives on King William's war over power, trade, and economic dominance of the continent.
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,...
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
Etc: Early Discoveries and Explorations, 1497 1621
A map of the eastern coast of North America showing early European exploration from the voyages of Cabot (1497 and 1498) to the founding of New Netherlands in 1621. The map shows voyage routes, coastal features, rivers, and settlements...
University of Calgary
University of Calgary: Latin America & the Conquistadors
Information about the way the Spanish conquistadors were able to conquer the indigenous people they met.
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.
Curated OER
Giacomo Gastaldi, La Nuova Francia
Thirty two primary sources-historical documents, literary texts, and visual images-that explore the expectations and the realities of European exploration of the New World.
Virginia Tech
Digital History Reader: Demographic Catastrophe: Native Population
When Christopher Columbus discovered the New World he and his entourage brought with them not only the views of Europeans, but also diseases of Europeans. This was catastrophic to the natives in the Caribbean Islands and Meso-America as...
Other
Bringing History Home: Communities Long Ago
This Grade 1 unit explores U.S. communities in a historical context. By exploring their own community's buildings and services of both long ago and today, children in non-Native American communities are introduced to concepts of change,...
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: The Columbian Exchange
In this interactive lesson supporting literacy skills, students watch video dramatizations that tell the story of the Spanish explorers who arrived in the Americas with Columbus and introduced European, African, and Asian plants and...
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of American History: Jamestown, Quebec, Santa Fe: Three North American Beginnings
Explore the origins of Canada and the United States as Jamestown, Quebec, and Santa Fe celebrate their 400th anniversary.
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: Primary Source Set: Settlement Houses in the Progressive Era
This collection uses primary sources to explore settlement houses during the Progressive Era.
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: Primary Source Set: Cross Cultural Colonial Conflicts
A collection of primary sources which explores cross-cultural conflicts during the Colonial period of United States history.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: New World: Part Ii, American Beginnings: 1492 1690
Two European maps of Florida and Roanoke, and a British and a French account-with associated engravings of these settlements-that promote a European interpretation of and claim over these areas.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Northwest Passage, American Beginnings: 1492 1690
Four maps examining the hunt for a Northwest Passage and three English accounts detailing the curiosity, greed and optimism that fueled English exploration of North America.
University of Groningen
American History: Outlines: Early Settlements
The early 1600s saw the beginning of a great tide of emigration from Europe to North America. Spanning more than three centuries, this movement grew from a trickle of a few hundred English colonists to a flood of millions of newcomers....
The Newberry Library
Newberry: Migration and Settlement: Map 5: Fremont Survey: Missouri Oregon, 1843
Lesson plan on migration and settlement in the U.S. ca. 1843, uses primary source map of the Missouri-Oregon survey done by Fremont and supplemental resources.
Teachnology
Teachnology: Explorers Teaching Theme
Enhance teaching about explorers with this collection of resources including lesson plans, activities, interactive websites and more.
Curated OER
National Park Service: Cabrillo National Monument
This website contains a wealth of information concerning the life of Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, the National Monument that was built in his memory, and his discovery of California.