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.
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.
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...
The British Museum
British Museum: Explore World Cultures: Iron Age
Learn about the art of the Iron Age in this historical overview and image gallery with detailed descriptions of each piece, from the collection of the British Museum.
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.
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston: European Paintings Collection Highlights
Explore a selection of the MFA's holdings of over 1,400 paintings from across Europe, featuring masterworks from the middle ages to the mid-twentieth century. Click on 'View All Works' to access the collection.
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.
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.
British Library
British Library: Discovering Literature: Travel, Trade and Exploration in the Middle Ages
Medieval Europeans were fascinated by the lands that lay beyond their own continent. This article looks at the real and imaginary travels of explorers and tradesmen through works including The Book of John Mandeville, The Travels of...
EL Education
El Education: A Buccaneer's Guide to the Age of Exploration
A Buccaneer's Guide to the Age of Exploration depicts European world-wide exploration and exploitation through a collage-style book of text, hand-drawn and water-colored illustrations, maps, timelines, and diagrams. The book chronicles...
PBS
Pbs Nova: The Vikings
This site, a companion to the NOVA program on PBS, examines the Vikings and whether or not their reputation as "barbarians" is founded. Content includes a look at a Viking Village, the Norse people, Viking ships, the Viking alphabet, and...
Library of Congress
Loc: Portuguese Mapping the New World
The Library of Congress provides a discussion of the importance of Portugal in the "European Age of Discovery and Exploration." Includes links to related pages within this same Library of Congress site.
Pamela Seed
The Art and Science of Fifteenth Century Navigation: Latitude
Chronicle of the changes that occurred in various areas when latitude was identified in 1516. Site includes links to the changes in maps, compass roses, and the science of sailing.
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...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Neh: Edsit Ement: Cave Art
This site contains very detailed lesson plans for teaching about cave art, specifically the Lascaux Cave. Within the site there are links to the Lascaux Cave website where students can explore the caves. The site also contains detailed...
Library of Congress
Loc: Map Collections 1500 2002
This collection provides maps dating back to 1500 up to the present. The collection includes: cities, towns, discovery and exploration, conservation and environment, military battles, cultural landscapes, transportation, communication,...
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: Perspectives on the French and Indian War
A collection that uses primary sources to explore perspectives on the French and Indian War.
Other
The Map as History: Europe's Colonial Expanision 1820 1939
European countries began exploring and seeking to dominate the rest of the world during the 15th and 16th centuries, thanks to their ability to control sea routes and to the discovery of the American continent. In the 19th century,...
University of Groningen
American History: Essays: Portugal & Spain: Quest for Monopoly in the East
Essay on Spain and Portugal quest for control of trade, exploration and colonization, and their eventual displacement by Northern Europeans.
British Library
British Library: Discovering Literature: Saints and Sanctity in Medieval England
This article explores how medieval Europeans memorialized the lives of real and fictional Christian saints, transforming them into superheroes and celebrities of the Middle Ages.