Website
University of Groningen

American History: Essays: Europe's North South Conflicts Reach the Americas

For Students 9th - 10th
An essay detailing early English and French exploration and settlement in the New World to challenge Spanish control.
Handout
University of Groningen

American History: Outlines: The Literature of Exploration

For Students 9th - 10th
Had history taken a different turn, the United States easily could have been a part of the great Spanish or French overseas empires. Its present inhabitants might speak Spanish and form one nation with Mexico, or speak French and be...
Handout
Texas State Historical Association

Texas State Historical Association: Early European Exploration and Development

For Students 9th - 10th
A chronological timeline of early European exploration and development in Texas spanning from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries.
Website
Curated OER

National Park Service: Los Castillos Del Viejo San Juan: Guardianes Del Caribe

For Students 9th - 10th
A great site for Spanish Exploration. See one of the greatest fortresses in the Western Hemisphere. King Phillip IV called it "The front and vanguard of all my West Indies, and consequently the most important of them all and the most...
Handout
Other

Texas Bob: The Journey of Alvar Nunez Cabeza De Vaca

For Students 9th - 10th
An English translation of Cabeza De Vaca's first-hand account of his journey and quest to claim territory from Florida to Mexico for Spain.
Handout
Other

Texas Bob: Spain's First Occupation of East Texas 1690

For Students 9th - 10th
Father Damian Massanet's first-hand account of Spain's first occupation of East Texas in the year 1690.
Unit Plan
Smithsonian Institution

National Museum of American History: Jamestown, Quebec, Santa Fe: Three North American Beginnings

For Students 9th - 10th
Explore the origins of Canada and the United States as Jamestown, Quebec, and Santa Fe celebrate their 400th anniversary.
Graphic
Other

American Journeys: Map of the Spanish Entrada Into North America [Pdf]

For Students 9th - 10th
Map showing the routes taken by fourteen Spanish explorers in the Americas between 1509 and 1543.
Unit Plan
Annenberg Foundation

Annenberg Learner: American Passages: Exploring Borderlands:christopher Columbus

For Students 9th - 10th
This passage features explorer Christopher Columbus as an author documenting his travels and experiences through letters and such. Click on "Christopher Columbus Activities" for related artifacts and activities.
Website
Mariners' Museum and Park

Mariners' Museum: Francisco Pizarro

For Students 5th - 8th
A not-so-nice, yet successful Spanish explorer, Francisco Pizarro is featured in a biography for conquering Peru and working his way up the Pacific coast to discover land in Central America. Check out his route and details of his...
Website
Mariners' Museum and Park

Mariners' Museum: The Ages of Exploration: Age of Discovery

For Students 4th - 8th
This Age of Discovery page presents naval artifacts and explorers of the 15th century to the early 17th century. It looks at European explorers who journeyed to North and South America, the search for the Northwest Passage, and...
Interactive
PBS

Pbs Learning Media: The Columbian Exchange

For Students 3rd - 8th
In this interactive lesson supporting literacy skills, students watch video dramatizations that tell the story of the Spanish explorers who arrived in the Americas with Columbus and introduced European, African, and Asian plants and...
Article
Bullock Texas State History Museum

Bullock Museum: American Indians

For Students 9th - 10th
Immerse in the campfire stories of the people who defined Texas. Find out about how the two Americas: the Europeans' version, and the American Indians' version, started changing forever.
Website
Curated OER

National Park Service: Cabrillo National Monument

For Students 9th - 10th
This website contains a wealth of information concerning the life of Juan Rodriguez Cabrillo, the National Monument that was built in his memory, and his discovery of California.
Website
Curated OER

National Park Service: De Soto National Memorial

For Students Pre-K - 1st
A description of Hernando De Soto's involvement in expeditions in the New World, hinting at but not fully describing his exploration of La Florida and much of the rest of southern North America prior to his deat.
Graphic
University of Texas at Austin

University of Texas: Exploration and Settlement Before 1675

For Students 9th - 10th
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
Handout
Other

Organization of American States: Simon Bolivar

For Students Pre-K - 1st
An informative exploration of the life of Simon Bolivar, the man known in South America as the "Liberator," because he led revolutions against Spanish colonial overlords in Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, and Colombia.
Article
Khan Academy

Khan Academy: Us History: 1491 1607: Environmental/health Effects in New World

For Students 9th - 10th
European arrival in the Americas decimated both indigenous people and previously-flourishing ecosystems.
Unit Plan
Library of Congress

Loc: Parallel Histories: Coronado

For Students 9th - 10th
A brief description of Coronado's life and adventures with links to original and related documents, including illustrations and explorer notes.
Website
Other

Ships of Discovery: Columbus's Lost Ships

For Students 5th - 8th
We all know about the Nina, Pinta, and the Santa Maria, but what about the rest of Columbus' ships? He was a busy man after the initial discovery. This site is by a group of archaeologists who try to find historic underwater wrecks....
Lesson Plan
Texas State Historical Association

Texas State Historical Association: European Exploration [Pdf]

For Teachers 4th - 8th
An activity guide where learners refer to the Texas Almanac, which is free to download, for information needed to complete assigned tasks. In this lesson plan, students are asked to research Spanish and French explorers and create a...
Handout
Internet History Sourcebooks Project

Fordham University: Modern History Sourcebook: Chronicles of the Incas, 1540

For Students 9th - 10th
This site from Fordham University "provides quite a lot of information about the Incan economy--a redistributive typical of all early civilizations."
Handout
Wikimedia

Wikipedia: History of Honduras

For Students 9th - 10th
Explore the tremendous amount of information on the history of the Central American country of Honduras ranging from Pre-Columbian times to the present.
Handout
University of Groningen

American History: Outlines: The First Europeans

For Students 9th - 10th
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...