The History Place
The History Place: American Revolution
The History Place provides this timeline broken into six different sections that highlight the important events from the early European exploration of America through to the United States becoming a country. Features include informative...
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Hardships, American Beginnings: 1492 1690
Three English, a French, and a Spanish primary account of the staggering losses, misery, and deprivation that characterized early European settlement as well as the resilience needed to overcome those challenges.
OpenStax
Open Stax: Europe on the Brink of Change
From a chapter on "The Americas, Europe, and Africa Before 1492," this section describes the European societies that engaged in conversion, conquest, and commerce and discusses the motives for and mechanisms of early European exploration.
Other
Houston Institute for Culture: Early Texas History: Spanish Exploration
Read about Cabeza de Vaca, one of the first Europeans to extensively explore Texas after an accidental landing at Galveston Island.
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: Competition for Empire
Part of a larger site, the primary sources here deal with the competition among the European countries in establishing a foothold in the New World.
University of Groningen
American History: Outlines: The Literature of Exploration
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...
Other
The Norse Settlers in the New World
Features a time line of the events of the Viking voyages to Canada. Identifies different events that occurred during this time period of early Viking exploration.
Other
An Exploration of Historic Prejudice: The Italians
Some Italians came to British Columbia during the gold rush and the building of the CPR. They began to arrive in earnest beginning in 1898 to build the B.C. Southern Railway. They suffered from prejudice from English-speaking Europeans....
Curated OER
Etc: Early Discoveries and Explorations, 1497 1621
A map of the eastern coast of North America showing early European exploration from the voyages of Cabot (1497 and 1498) to the founding of New Netherlands in 1621. The map shows voyage routes, coastal features, rivers, and settlements...
PBS
Empire of the Bay: Sir Martin Frobisher
Read through the biography of Martin Frobisher to find out his importance in Canadian history.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Failed Colonies, American Beginnings: 1492 1690
Three European accounts of the disappointments, challenges, and outright failures to establish early successful colonial outposts in North America.
Curated OER
Etc: Dev of Colonies and Early Western Explorations, 1700 1775
A map of eastern North America showing the early development of the European colonies and westward exploration to the Mississippi River. The map shows the routes of several early explorers with dates of exploration, including La Salle,...
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.
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: First Arrivals, American Beginnings: 1492 1690
Numerous visual images of artifacts from English settlements at Jamestown and at Plymouth, and from Spanish settlement in Hispaniola, and three original accounts of each of those early settlements that describe the possibilities and the...
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: Toolbox Library: Go Ahead, American Beginnings: 1492 1690
A Spanish, an English, and a French account of the enormous challenges in maintaining a colonial presence in North America and of the potential national loss-of pride, wealth, and possibility for expansion-if nations abandoned these...
Other
Historical Museum of Southern Florida : The Spanish Colonization of Florida
Follow the early colonization of Florida. From explorers to settlers to trades between England and Spain, and finally to the emergence of the American territory of Florida.
Curated OER
Etc: Early Explorers of the Atlantic Coast, 1492 1620
A map of the Atlantic coast of North America from the Labrador Peninsula and Gulf of St. Lawrence south to the Santee River in the Carolinas, showing the European explorations and settlements in the region between 1492 and 1620. The map...
OpenStax
Open Stax: Challenges to Spain's Supremacy
This section of a chapter on "Early Globalization" identifies regions where the English, French, and Dutch explored and established settlements, describes the differences among the early colonies, and explains the role of the American...
Other
Bringing History Home: Communities Long Ago
This Grade 1 unit explores U.S. communities in a historical context. By exploring their own community's buildings and services of both long ago and today, children in non-Native American communities are introduced to concepts of change,...
George Mason University
Chnm: Differences Among Colonial Regions
Young scholars will explore the differences among the three colonial regions of New England, Mid-Atlantic/Middle, and the Southern colonies. In small groups for each region, students will observe and note details of pictures, maps, and...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Neh: Edsit Ement: Mapping the Past
Students will examine European world maps from the Middle Ages, the Age of Discovery, and the period of New World exploration. They will then look at maps that record the early exploration of the American West and collect present-day...
Curated OER
Facial Reconstruction of Skull Excavated in Jamestown
Three English, a French, and a Spanish primary account of the staggering losses, misery, and deprivation that characterized early European settlement as well as the resilience needed to overcome those challenges.
Digital History
Digital History: The Meaning of America
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.