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,...

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...

A map of North America showing the routes of early French exploration of the Mississippi Valley from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico in the 1600's. The map shows the routes of Father Jacques Marquette (with Louis Jolliet) and...

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...

A map of the Dominion of New England (1686), showing the early settlements and the general tribal lands of the Pawtuckets, Massachusetts, Wampanoags, Narragansets, Nipmucks, Pequods, and Mohegans. "New England, a collective name given to...

A map of eastern North America in 1783 at the end of the American Revolutionary War, showing the territory of the newly formed United States as proposed by the Treaty of Paris, the Canadian border extending to the Ohio River proposed by...

Three European accounts of the disappointments, challenges, and outright failures to establish early successful colonial outposts in North America.

This site explores Black America's quest for equality from the early national period through the twentieth century. Content includes the work of abolitionists in the first half of the nineteenth century, depictions of the long journey...

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...

A map of Massachusetts Bay and Cape Cod showing the area of early Norse exploration in America. "In 986 A.D. a Norseman named Herjulfson, who was voyaging from Iceland to Greenland, was driven by a gale far out of his reckoning to the W....

A facsimile from the collection of Francis Parkman (1865) of an early map of the Mississippi River Valley from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico, showing the explorations of Father Jacques Marquette (1672-1673). The map shows Lac de...

A facsimile of a map by Jean Baptiste Louis Franquelin (1682) of the Mississippi River Valley from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico showing the explorations of Robert LaSalle (Rene-Robert Cavelier, Sieur de la Salle) as far south as...

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.