Dutch West India Company Teacher Resources

How did the Dutch East India Company flourish while other trade companies floundered? Learn more about the ways that the Vereenigde Oostindische Compagnie, or the VOC, used interest rates, monopolization, and violence to maintain their...

Explore the earliest American cities in this presentation, which details the demographics, geography, and characteristics of New York, Pennsylvania, and the Carolinas, among others. These slides help to fill in the gap between the...

What patterns appear in the treatment of Jewish and Quaker immigrations to New Netherland? Your class members will work together to read and discuss the religious restrictions placed on immigrants to Dutch New York.

There are many ways to analyze a civilization's failure or success. Learn about the different perspective with which one can view Western civilization, including economics, politics, or narrative.

Clarify the history and conditions of modern-day Africa with a video by Crash Course World History. As high schoolers learn about Joseph-Desire Mobutu, the Rwandan Genocide, and the first democratic election in the Democratic Republic of...

The moment Christopher Columbus's ships touched the shores of a New World, the old world changed forever. But has it been for the better? High schoolers consider the effectiveness, benefits, and drawbacks of the Columbian Exchange with a...

Young scholars become history detectives as they research, and later discuss, various theories about Rapa Nui. They study written language using symbols and create their own symbol language.

Can war be an indication of a growing civilization? Crash Course World History explores the ways that wealth and power work together to form and defend empires throughout the history of mankind.

Is flipping a switch and lighting up a room normal or miraculous? It depends where—and when—you live. Crash Course World History covers historical uses of energy, current uses of energy, and the possible future uses of energy with an...

Can climate change contribute to political unrest? Explore this intriguing question with a video from Crash Course World History that examines the Little Ice Age from the thirteenth to the nineteenth centuries, particularly in the...

World War I was one of the more complicated and complex conflicts of the twentieth century—but who started it? High schoolers watch a video from Crash Course World History ponders whether Germany, Austria, or Russia were to blame for...

Who is to blame for widespread famine? Crash Course World History guides high schoolers through a video about droughts, famines, and whether the weather or human activity is at fault for each.

The Middle East during the Bronze Age was made up of many different civilizations, but based on economic, trade, and familial connections, one could consider the region as its own civilization. Learn more about the Middle East during the...

Why was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand significant enough to begin the First World War? Crash Course World History provides a video that covers the events of July and August 1914, including the political implications of...

Thomas Malthus posed the most famous, and most easily disproven, theory about projected population growth in economic history. What did he get wrong—and why? Explore the Malthusian Theory of Population with a Crash Course video that...

Is violence inevitable, or can peace overcome war? A Crash Course World History discusses how Leo Tolstoy influenced Mohandas Gandhi to use nonviolent resistance against British Imperialism, and how Gandhi's example became a model for...

When your class thinks of medieval history, they probably think of European castles and knights. But they may not know that the Heian period in Japan, which coincided with the Middle Ages in Europe, saw a significant development in...

Does war hinder the growth of nation-states, or does it facilitate development? A video from Crash Course World History examines this question in the context of Latin America, particularly how the lack of international war in Central and...

Humans cannot survive without water, and neither can civilizations. A brief history of ancient civilizations and their dependence on—and management of—water demonstrates how states either flourish or flail based on the availability of...

The only thing your high schoolers may know about Vikings is that they wore horns on their helmets—and according to a Crash Course World History video, that's not even true! Watch a short description of Vikings as tradesmen rather than...

The pupils in your class have never known a time without constant conflict between the countries in the Middle East. An informative video from Crash Course World History covers the history of the Israeli/Palestine situation, the battle...

The 1979 Iranian Revolution changed the identity of Iran, and in many ways, the Middle East as a whole. High schoolers learn more about the Persian region, history, and government in a brief but explanatory video from Crash Course World...

While this lesson focuses on a study of the Hudson River, it could be used as a template for a discussion of map skills, converting measurements, and plotting a route. The lesson includes vocabulary and other resources to make it a...

Students track down their town's oldest standing man-made landmark. By learning more about the oldest structure in their area (whether it's a church, store, graveyard, bridge, etc.), they discover interesting details about their town's...