Unit Plan
Wisconsin Historical Society

American Journeys: Eyewitness Accounts Early American Exploration/settlement

For Students 9th - 10th
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.
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.
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...
Activity
Library of Congress

Loc: America's Story: Daniel Boone First Saw the Woodlands of Kentucky

For Students 3rd - 8th
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.
Website
Texas State Library and Archives Commission

Texas State Library and Archives Commission: Native American Relations in Texas: Introduction

For Students 9th - 10th
How did a Spanish explorer become a "medicine man and the first European trader in Texas"? Who authored the "first ever written description of Texas Indians"? Read this brief article to begin learning about the early relations between...
Website
Discovering Lewis & Clark

Discovering Lewis & Clark: David Thompson, Lewis, Clark, Jefferson

For Students 9th - 10th
This web site is a group effort devoted to Lewis and Clark, the explorers. This section of the site describes David Thompson's role in their expeditions.
eBook
Khan Academy

Khan Academy: French and Dutch Exploration in the New World

For Students 9th - 10th
Outline text explaining how the French, Dutch, and English explorers began to make inroads into the Americans in the late 1500s and early 1600s.
Website
A&E Television

History.com: Amerigo Vespucci

For Students 5th - 8th
Amerigo Vespucci was an Italian-born merchant and explorer who took part in early voyages to the New World on behalf of Spain around the late 15th century. By that time, the Vikings had established settlements in present-day North...