University of Groningen
American History: Essays: First European Exploration and Exploitation
Essay on the exploitation and decimation of indigenous peoples as a result of European exploration, settlement, and colonization in North and South America.
Texas Education Agency
Texas Gateway: Exploration and Colonization of America
Given short summaries about the reasons for European exploration and colonization of North America, students will compare English and Spanish settlements in the New World.
Khan Academy
Khan Academy: Us History: 1491 1607: European Exploration in the Americas
A quick comprehension check over European Exploration in the Americas.
University of California
Uc Santa Barbara: What Brought the Europeans to America?
Short essay addresses reasons that brought the Europeans to America. Covering many important points, he also provides compelling reasons and a map.
Texas State Historical Association
Texas State Historical Association: Early European Exploration and Development
A chronological timeline of early European exploration and development in Texas spanning from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: The European Presence in North America 1492 1690
Primary source material on European presence in North America between 1492 and 1690 covers the topics of contact, exploration, settlement, permanence, and power. Includes notes and discussion questions.
Georgia Department of Education
Ga Virtual Learning: Ap Us History: Native Populations & European Exploration
AP U.S. History learning module explores the encounter and interactions between European explorers and Native populations in America. Complete set of resources, interactive material, assignments and assessment.
OpenStax
Open Stax: Portuguese Exploration and Spanish Conquest
From a chapter on "Early Globalization: The Atlantic World, 1492-1650," this section describes the importance of Portuguese exploration of the Atlantic and Spanish exploration of the Americas.
Annenberg Foundation
Annenberg Learner: America's History in the Making: Mapping Initial Encounters
Columbus' arrival laid the basis for encounters between Europeans, Native Americans, and Africans. This unit examines how these contacts altered the way of life of peoples around the globe.
Texas State Historical Association
Texas State Historical Association: European Exploration [Pdf]
An activity guide where learners refer to the Texas Almanac, which is free to download, for information needed to complete assigned tasks. In this lesson, students are asked to research Spanish and French explorers and create a 'living...
The Newberry Library
Newberry: Shakespeare's the Tempest and Utopias of the European Renaissance
Newberry Library learning module uses primary source material of Shakespeare in a lesson on how Renaissance writers and artists portrayed European exploration of America. Students read excerpts from works of Renaissance literature to...
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Exploration, American Beginnings: 1492 1690
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.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Mit: Open Course Ware: The Conquest of America
Consider these resources while illustrating the natives' response to Europeans settling into the Americas.
Library of Congress
Loc: Discovery and Exploration
This American Memory site documents the discovery and exploration of the Americas with both manuscripts and published maps, many of which date from the European Age of Discovery. The site includes 22 map titles and descriptions, as well...
Mariners' Museum and Park
Mariners' Museum: The Ages of Exploration: Age of Discovery
This Age of Discovery page presents naval artifacts and explorers of the 15th century to the early 17th century. It looks at European explorers who journeyed to North and South America, the search for the Northwest Passage, and...
Mariners' Museum and Park
Age of Exploration: Changing View of the World: The Development of Map Making
Read a summary of the history of map-making and the maps that were produced as a result of European exploration in the Americas. See examples of these maps and find out more about each one in this exhibit from the Mariners' Museum.
Gilder Lehrman Institute of American History
Gilder Lehrman Institute: Age of Exploration
[Free Registration/Login Required] Learn about the exploration of the Americas. Site includes primary source documents, videos, essays, and lesson plans to help students research the exploration of the new land.
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...