Ducksters
Ducksters: Middle Ages for Kids: Kievan Rus
Kids learn about the Kievan Rus from the Middle Ages and Medieval times. Explore this Eastern European empire that was the start of the Russian culture.
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.
National Endowment for the Humanities
Neh: Edsit Ement: Mapping the Past
Students will examine European world maps from the Middle Ages, the Age of Discovery, and the period of New World exploration. They will then look at maps that record the early exploration of the American West and collect present-day...
Library of Congress
Loc: Mediterranean World on the Eve of Conquest
The Library of Congress provides an essay on the reasons for exploration during the 15th century.
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.
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,...
British Library
British Library: The Search for the Northwest Passage
Detailed third grade lessons help students understand what skills and knowledge were required in order to become an explorer. Includes specific lessons on John Cabot, Jacques Cartier, and Henry Hudson.
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.
National Endowment for the Humanities
Neh: Edsit Ement: Other Worlds the Voyage of Columbus
This site has a lesson plan designed for grades 9-12. The lesson plan deals with understanding the culture from which Columbus came, Renaissance Europe, and the culture he found in the New World.