European Colonization Teacher Resources

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.

When European colonizers came to American shores, the plague they brought with them killed almost 90% of the indigenous population. But why was there no existing plague in the "New World" that affected Europeans? [12:08]

This site details the initial contact of the European colonizers with the Caribbean islands. The site explains how the Caribbean became colonized and also has maps, quotes, and artwork.

A chart of statistics concerning European colonialism towards the end of the imperialist 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...

Read about the colonization in the New World by many European countries. Hyperlinks to you to more specific topics.

Nearly 100 years before the American Revolution, another war of independence took place on American soil -- against Spanish colonizers. Coordinated by Tewa leader Po'Pay, the Pueblo Revolt of 1680 saved Indigenous cultures from...

The White Man's Burden was another name for Imperialism. It was an ethnocentric idea that emerged from Darwin's Theory of Evolution to explain why white people were living in what they believed were more advanced civilizations than...

Describes the beginning of the slow process of colonizing the Mississippi Region.

In the mid-1700s, the control of Florida moved back and forth between the Spanish and English. Learn about the historic events which contributed to this through this resource.

Learn about the Eurpoean colonization of America.

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.

European arrival in the Americas decimated both indigenous people and previously-flourishing ecosystems.

A map showing the European colonization of the African continent before and after the Berlin Conference of 1885, when the most powerful countries in Europe at the time convened to make their territorial claims on Africa and establish...

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,...

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.

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...

This 5th grade unit is an introduction to Native American history in the 19th and 20th centuries. The lessons focus on U.S. government policies that have determined the official relationship between the government and Native American...

Become a geography whiz as you learn how the United States was settled. Discover how the continent was irrevocably changed by European colonization, the events that caused the wholesale displacement and decimation of the land's original...

[Free Registration/Login Required] Thomas Bender presents a documentary tying together American history with the world. He discusses the development of United States nationalism, globalization, and economics during the discovery of the...

Through his fiction and non-fiction works, Nigerian author Chinua Achebe has sought to repair the damage done to the continent of Africa and its people as a result of European colonization. This is best exemplified in his most famous...

An overview of the French, Dutch, and English explorers in the late 1500's and early 1600's.

African leaders responded in diverse ways to European colonization. Armed resistance, trade embargos, and forming alliances with European powers are a few methods. Read the example of one African state (Ethiopia) that retained their...

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.