Handout
Wikimedia

Wikipedia: South America

For Students 9th - 10th
Offers an overview of the continent of South America, featuring information about politics, geography, and population statistics. Click on the name of a country to discover more details.
Interactive
Quia

Quia: The English Colonies

For Students Pre-K - 1st
Test your knowledge of the thirteen colonies with these interactive games. You'll find matching, concentration, flashcards, and a word search, along with a list of terms to refresh your memory.
Website
Library of Congress

Loc: France in America

For Students 9th - 10th
A bilingual overview about the French colonization of the New World. Primary source documents are provided on this Library of Congress site.
Lesson Plan
Huntington Library

Early English Exploration and Settlement of the Colony of Virginia

For Teachers 5th
For this lesson, 5th graders learn about the individuals and groups who first founded the different colonies in America and what their motivations were. Students participate in a reader's theater activity, create a poster that would...
Article
Digital History

Digital History: Overview of the Colonial Era

For Students 9th - 10th
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...
Unit Plan
Library of Congress

Loc: America as a Religious Refuge

For Students 9th - 10th
One of the primary reasons for colonization of the New World was to escape European religious persecution. This site provides stories of religious nonconformists, militants, zealots, reformers, and the faithful.
Unit Plan
Mariners' Museum and Park

Mariners' Museum: Captive Passage: The Transatlantic Slave Trade

For Students 9th - 10th
Online exhibition from the Mariners' Museum chronicles the plight of African slaves from the beginning of their journey when they are torn from their homeland all the way to the shores of the Americas. Caught up in the lucrative...
Website
University of Groningen

American History: Essays: Spain's Territorial Conquest in the Americas

For Students 9th - 10th
The history of Spanish territorial conquest in the New World is the history of the succession of conquistadors who often overwhelmed native empires, but were sometimes overwhelmed themselves. Read about the conquistadors who came to the...
Article
Khan Academy

Khan Academy: Motivation for European Conquest of the New World

For Students 9th - 10th
God, gold, and glory motivated European nations to explore and create colonies in the New World. This article discusses the Crusades and how they influenced European colonization projects.
Article
Siteseen

Siteseen: Land of the Brave: The Original 13 Colonies

For Students 9th - 10th
An illustrated guide to American colonization and the original 13 Colonies.
Website
PBS

Pbs: Africans in America the Haitian Revolution

For Students 9th - 10th
This site, which tells of L'Ouverture's role in the revolution, is part of a larger PBS documentary on Africans in America. Included are a teacher's guide and a narrative of the topic. Also, make sure to use the links at the bottom of...
Article
Ducksters

Ducksters: Colonial America the Pilgrims and Plymouth Colony

For Students 6th - 8th
Learn about the Eurpoean colonization of America.
Article
Khan Academy

Khan Academy: Pre Colonization European Society

For Students 9th - 10th
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.
Article
Siteseen

Siteseen: Land of the Brave: Salutary Neglect

For Students 9th - 10th
Salutary neglect was a long-standing British policy in the thirteen colonies which allowed the colonists to flout, or violate, the laws associated with trade. There were no effective enforcement agencies and it was expensive to send...
Unknown Type
Khan Academy

Khan Academy: European Colonization

For Students 9th - 10th
A self-assessment of European colonization in the America's.
Unit Plan
University of Minnesota

University of Minnesota: Immigration: Racial Encounters in Colonial America

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Copper plate engravings offer one example of the racialization of colonized peoples. At the turn of the 17th century, most Europeans' visual conceptions of the Americas came from the engravings of the workshop of Flemish print-maker...
Article
CommonLit

Common Lit: "The Road to American Independence" by Jessica Mc Birney

For Students 9th - 10th
This informational text recounts America's road to independence, starting from the beginning of English colonization in North America and ending with the final battle of the American Revolution. A specific purpose for reading and...
Lesson Plan
National Humanities Center

National Humanities Center: America in Class: Failed European Colonies in the New World

For Teachers 9th - 10th
Lesson that examines some of the reasons European efforts to establish colonies in the New World were often met with failure. It focuses on the story of nine Jesuit priests who started a small colony on Chesapeake Bay in the hopes of...
Article
Khan Academy

Khan Academy: French and Dutch Exploration in the New World

For Students 9th - 10th
An overview of the French, Dutch, and English explorers in the late 1500's and early 1600's.
Lesson Plan
Library of Congress

Loc: American Memory: Colonial Settlement 1600s 1763

For Teachers 9th - 10th
The settlement of the colonies in America is the focus of this article. The course of events is divided into topics and time periods, making it easier to understand. Note is made of the effects to the already present Native Americans as...
Website
Library of Congress

Loc: Portuguese in the u.s.: Celebrating the Portuguese Communities in America

For Students 9th - 10th
Information about the role Portuguese-born and sponsored explorers played in the exploration and colonization of North America.
Handout
Siteseen

Siteseen: Land of the Brave: Peter Stuyvesant

For Students 9th - 10th
Overview and biographical facts on the life of Peter Stuyvesant who was involved in the early colonization of America and the Dutch New York Colony.
Article
Siteseen

Siteseen: Land of the Brave: Leif Ericson Facts

For Students 9th - 10th
Covers information about the life of Leif Ericson and his involvement in the exploration and the discovery of the New World leading to the colonization of America.
Activity
Other

Universidad De Chile: La America Espanola Colonial

For Students 9th - 10th
Description of the colonial period in South America during the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries. Provides information about the governmental structure during the colonial period, the economy, and the problems of the times. Gives some...