Pbs Learning Media: World Explorers: Samuel De Champlain

Hernando De Soto was a Spanish conquistador who mercilessly exploited the native peoples in the new world, enslaving them, killing them, and plundering their gold and silver. His actions made Spain a wealthy country and helped to...

Learn about French explorer Rene-Robert Cavelier de La Salle. He established Fort Frontenac on the Great Lakes. He then traveled across the Great Lakes and explored the length of the Mississippi River, establishing Louisiana Territory at...

Learn about the life of Francisco Vazquez de Coronado, a Spanish explorer who traveled through the American Southwest and was the first European to reach the Colorado River and the Grand Canyon. [4:45]

Juan Ponce de Leon was a Spanish explorer and conquistador who is commonly thought to have been on a search for the fountain of youth. He is remembered for colonizing the Caribbean, and for discovering Florida and trying to establish a...

Examines the Italian explorer John Cabot. He is believed to be the first European to set foot on mainland North America, landing in Newfoundland. His voyages to the new land were financed by King Henry VII of England. [4:23]

Amerigo Vespucci was an Italian explorer who is recognized as the first person to understand that the new land was not Asia. He did this by applying his cartography skills and mapping the stars he saw in the Southern Hemisphere. He is...

Ibn Battuta, a learned Muslim explorer, traveled throughout Africa and Southeast Asia for thirty years and documented his experiences, providing an invaluable record of the Muslim world in the 14th century. [4:21]

Even today, the Italian explorer Christopher Columbus is a controversial figure. Learn about his life and voyages, and why there is so much disagreement about his legacy. [4:48]

Learn about the life of Marco Polo, a Venetian explorer who traveled 6,000 miles from Venice in the 13th century, to meet Kublai Khan in Asia, where no European had ever journeyed. The trip lasted twenty-four years. Later, his memories...

What is a media baby? Discuss at what age children should be exposed to electronic media. After reading an article, they identify the types of media products for infants and toddlers. Learners will predict the effects of media on the...