Open Door Team
Open Door Web Site: The Struggle Between France and Britain for North America
Although France and England were fighting in Europe, wars spilled over into North America too before the French and Indian Wars.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Missions, American Beginnings: 1492 1690
A Spanish Franciscan and a French Jesuit report on the reciprocal relationship between natives and Catholic missionaries as Europeans settled New France and New Spain.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Cities & Towns, American Beginnings: 1492 1690
Four accounts of the visits to and growth of colonial cities in Spanish, British, and French New World settlements that demonstrate why certain communities developed successfully.
Success Link
Success Link: Explorer Poetry Booklet
After a study of explorers in the Americas, students write poetry to show what they know about individual explorers. This lesson plan gives guidelines, ways to adapt the lesson, a graphic organizer, and scoring guide.
McGraw Hill
Mc Graw Hill Higher Education: Old World, New Worlds
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.
Khan Academy
Khan Academy: Cusco School Artist, Saint Joseph and the Christ Child
Paintings that celebrated St. Joseph as a youthful, caring father skyrocketed to popularity during the 16th and 17th centuries, both in Spain and throughout the Spanish Empire. This particular painting of the lively, vigorous St. Joseph...
Walled Lake Consolidated Schools
Loon Lake Elementary School: Hernando De Soto
A biography of Hernando De Soto (1500?-1542), a Spanish explorer who led the first European expedition to reach the Mississippi River. His group arrived at the river in 1541 during a search for gold. De Soto also took part in the Spanish...
University of Texas at Austin
University of Texas: Exploration and Settlement Before 1675
A great map showing the explorations of Spanish, French, and English explorers in North America between 1530 and 1675. A detailed key identifies each explorer and route. From the Perry-Castaneda Collection
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Rule, American Beginnings: 1492 1690
Three documents reflecting official views of how to rule and regulate a successful colony in New France, Jamaica, and the Spanish Indies. Includes teacher reasources for framing discussion.