Visit such Spanish sites in Puerto Rico as El Morro, the fort that provided the keystone to protection of the Spanish Empire that spread across the Caribbean. Many photographs and drawings.

Excellent site about Latin America from the Brooklyn Children's Museum. Explore ancient beliefs and rituals, celebrations, culture, the land, animals, and the history of Latin America.

A bilingual overview about the French colonization of the New World. Primary source documents are provided on this Library of Congress site.

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...

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...

Information about the role Portuguese-born and sponsored explorers played in the exploration and colonization of North America.

This is a brief overview of the Native American cultures, languages, and diversity amont the many tribes that lived in North America prior to European contact.

This site from Geographia.com covers the history of Brazil from the arrival of the Portuguese to the present. Specific explorers are mentioned and information is given on independence from colonization.

This site from The History Place provides a timeline of significant events between (1000-1700) win the discovery and colonization of the New World.

Read about the Dutch colonization of the Hudson River Valley in this comprehensive essay about the Dutch in America. Pages 3-7 deal with the Dutch colonies.

Information on the fur trade and its impact on Native Americans. The demands of the Europeans for fur increased competition among the Native American groups. It changed the character of warfare among Native American populations and...

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...

This site details the initial contact of the European colonizers with the Caribbean islands. The site explains how the Caribbean became colonized and also has maps, quotes, and artwork.

Spanish culture had a great impact on the economy, politics, and even geography of the Southwest, California, and Mexico. Read about the Spanish settlements and the structure of the social classes that left an impact the continues even...

Although brief, this article points out the opposing views of the New World of America in European eyes during the exploration and early colonization period.

Read about the slave trade and use of slaves in agriculture and mining in Spanish America in the New World. Find out why it was expedient to use African slaves.

The development of a multi-ethnic society developed in New France. Find out how this happened and what made up the social hierarchy. Primary source documents are provided on this Library of Congress site.

Essay examining the cultural and environmental changes spanning 300 years in the pre-Revolutionary South as three worlds, Native American, European, and African collide. Site includes guiding questions for student discussion and scholars...

Read this good description of the encomienda system that was set up by the Spanish to reward the Spanish colonizers in the New World and to subjugate the indigenous people by requiring their labor on the granted land.

A good resource that provides the life history of Moses Austin, one of the founders of the lead industry in America. Before he died, he had a vision of establishing an American colony in Spanish controlled Texas.

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.

This resource describes the political events that preceded the Spanish to support efforts by Christopher Columbus to head west across the Atlantic.