Library of Congress
Loc: American Memory: Touring Turn of the Century America
This collection contains thousands of photographs from the Detroit Publishing Company and gives viewers the opportunity to explore America from the period of 1880 to 1920. Images include rural America, city life, men and women at work,...
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: Primary Source Set: Exploration of the Americas
This collection uses primary sources to explain the early exploration of the Americas.
OpenStax
Open Stax: Portuguese Exploration and Spanish Conquest
From a chapter on "Early Globalization: The Atlantic World, 1492-1650," this section describes the importance of Portuguese exploration of the Atlantic and Spanish exploration of the Americas.
Wisconsin Historical Society
American Journeys: Eyewitness Accounts Early American Exploration/settlement
A collaborative project of the Wisconsin Historical Society and National History Day, this site contains over 18,000 pages of primary source, eyewitness accounts of North American exploration starting with the Vikings.
Library of Congress
Loc: Parallel Histories: Exploration and Early Settlement
Read about the Spanish conquistadors who explored what was to become Spanish America. Included are links to digital collections from the Library of Congress and the National Library of Spain.
University of Groningen
American History: Essays: Europe's North South Conflicts Reach the Americas
An essay detailing early English and French exploration and settlement in the New World to challenge Spanish control.
Khan Academy
Khan Academy: French and Dutch Exploration in the New World
An overview of the French, Dutch, and English explorers in the late 1500's and early 1600's.
Library of Congress
Loc: Exploring the Early Americas: Interactive Presentations
Interactive collection of presentations from the Library of Congress provides glimpses into the fascinating history of pre-Columbian Americas.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: America in Class: Early Visual Representations of the New World
A lesson that examines how Native Americans were portrayed by artists in the sixteenth century, whose aim was to convey their appearance to a European audience, and thereby encourage investment in future New World explorations. By...
Library of Congress
Loc: The Atlantic World: America and the Netherlands
Available in both English and Dutch, this Library of Congress and Library of the Netherlands collaborative project offers over 11,000 digitized images relating to the Dutch in America. Includes a letter describing the purchase of...
Mariners' Museum and Park
Mariners' Museum: The Ages of Exploration: Age of Discovery
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...
Annenberg Foundation
Annenberg Learner: American Passages: Puritan and Quaker Utopian Promise
This unit explores the documented perceptions of Native Americans, religious faiths, physical challenges of new lands and how the combination of immigrants and Native Americans shaped the New World. Click on "Activities" for related...
Annenberg Foundation
Annenberg Learner: American Passages: Race and Identity in Antebellum America
This unit features authors of Antebellum America and how they portray the American identity through their literature. Click on the tabs to explore the various resources available to enhance this unit.
Huntington Library
Early English Exploration and Settlement of the Colony of Virginia
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...
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Living the Revolution: America, 1789 1820: Religion
Primary resource material on post-Revolution America, 1789-1820, which explores the topic of religion and national identity in the early republic. Includes questions for discussion and links to supplemental material.
Library of Congress
Loc: America's Story: Daniel Boone First Saw the Woodlands of Kentucky
Explore the wilderness of Kentucky with Daniel Boone. Here is a brief summary of his travels. Also features a portrait of Boone, a photograph of his cabin, and a beautiful engraving of Cumberland Gap.
PBS
Pbs: They Made America
Companion site to the four-part series on looking at America through inventors. Focuses on inventors from the early days of the country to modern day. From Robert Fulton and Samuel Colt, to Ted Turner and Russell Simmons, this site...
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Living the Revolution: America, 1789 1820
Over thirty primary sources explore the American Revolution covering the topics of early republican life, religion, politics, expansion, and equality. Includes notes and discussion questions.
University of Groningen
American History: Outlines: Early Settlements
The early 1600s saw the beginning of a great tide of emigration from Europe to North America. Spanning more than three centuries, this movement grew from a trickle of a few hundred English colonists to a flood of millions of newcomers....
Khan Academy
Khan Academy: French and Dutch Exploration in the New World
Outline text explaining how the French, Dutch, and English explorers began to make inroads into the Americans in the late 1500s and early 1600s.
Texas State Historical Association
Texas State Historical Association: Early European Exploration and Development
A chronological timeline of early European exploration and development in Texas spanning from the sixteenth to the nineteenth centuries.
Other
Radford University: Prelude to European Settlement of Virginia
This site traces the early voyages of explorers from Portugal and Spain who were trying to find new resources.
Henry J. Sage
Sage American History: America and the British Empire
Article illustrating the connection between America and the British Empire. The author points out that much of early American history is part of British history. Outlines British history since 1066.
Other
Museum of Unnatural History: Virtual Exploration Society: Colonel Percy Fawcett
Read about the exciting adventures of Col. Percy Fawcett as he mapped the jungles of South America in the early 20th century.