This page goes directly to the homepage of Colonial Williamsburg, which historically reenacts the life of early English settlement in Virginia.

Find out the similarities and differences between the governments of the English colonies in this detailed account of early colonial government from the 1904 text written by Henry William Elson, History of the United States of America.

Background information about the literary traditions of the pre-Colonial and Colonial period. Includes information about Native American oral traditions and Native American cultures. Follow the links to the Early American era and to...

Learn about the waterways in Virginia that colonists used to expand their way of life, especially for tobacco sales.

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....

The Spanish gained an early foothold in the colonies, quickly becoming the most powerful European power in the New World.

The early settlers to the New World began to map strategy for their own system of government. This site details that strategy and what kinds of events spawned the idea of representative government.

A long article on the many men and events involved in the various Colonial Committees of Correspondence.

Background information about the literature of the Colonial period in American history. Discussions of capitalism, Puritan theology, and stewardship as found in the thought and literature of the period.

A brief discussion of the colonial period in the United States. Includes information on New England, the middle colonies, and the southern colonies. Also, find out about the early government, and the French and Indian War.

This examination of religion in Virginia gives you an idea of where Anglicanism fit into colonial life there.

Scroll through this site from the Modern History Sourcebook of Fordham University to New England and click on the primary source documents concerning Edmund Andros. This site contains dozens of links related to colonial America. Sections...

Overview of the early court system in Colonial Virginia and the challenges colonists faced interpreting British law for local purposes.

This site provides an explanation of the influence of the frontier on the landed gentry and the role of education in the society.

Timeline of events in Colonial Latin America in 1450.

The political history of South Africa is profiled - from early times through the caste system to slavery and then apartheid, and finally democracy. Text plus a graphic chronological flow chart make the topic visually appealing and of...

Scroll down through this unit for teacher facilitators to Appendix E and F to find maps of colonial settlement in eastern North America in 1600 and 1660. From Oregon Public Broadcasting.

Discusses the many enterprises undertaken by the colonists in Virginia to try to make a profit. They were not successful until they began to grow tobacco.

Describes an early descriptive writing form, the land pamphlet. Explains that these pamphlets were a form of travel narrative, written by those familiar with the land. The pamphlets were issued by the Virginia Company, the Masachusetts...

Review your knowledge of the early American government with these interactive games. Play concentration, matching, flashcards, or click on "list of terms" to see the vocabulary used in each activity.

An activity guide where students refer to the Texas Almanac, which is free to download, for information needed to complete assigned tasks. In this lesson, students research the people who were involved in early Spanish missions, and the...

The learners will create a news program about Benjamin Franklin and life in colonial times. The students will work in groups of complete research and prepare a video presentation. Learners will utilize books and various web sites to...

Once the colonies gained their independence, American ships began to search the oceansfor markets to replace the British colonial markets from which they were now excluded (theWest Indies) or in which they were subjected to heavy tax...

Most well-educated American colonists (including early American leaders like Thomas Jefferson, James Madison, and Benjamin Franklin) were familiar with the writings andideas of European scholars, so it makes sense that Americans came to...