Four original source accounts, and four related maps, of successful English, French, and Spanish settlements in North America and the Caribbean that explain the qualities of these settlements and their reasons for permanence and prosperity.

Two examples of indenture contracts and three accounts of indentured servitude, including positive as well as admonitory views, in the Chesapeake English colonies.

The Virginia House of Burgesses was the first elected legislature in the New World. Find out why the governmental conditions in England led to this representative government and how it was so different from the governing of colonies in...

An online exhibition of images of European settlement to accompany two English, a French, and a Dutch set of promotional accounts that offer advice, encouragement, and occasional warning to prospective immigrants to newly settled areas...

Four accounts of the complex power relationships between slaves and slave holders within English colonies in Barbados, Virginia and Pennsylvania, as well as documents about slave revolts and anti-slavery agitation.

The religious and civil conflict in England in the mid-17th century limited immigration, as well as the attention the mother country paid the fledgling American colonies. In part to provide for the defense measures England was...

New England colonies and society were very different from the Jamestown and subsequent Southern colonies. Find out the reasons the colonists had for founding the New England colonies.

Read about how Powhatan and his tribe initially helped the English settlers in Jamestown, but ultimately went to war. Find out about why the different views about land ownership exacerbated the tension between the two cultures.

Summarizes the history of the Lost Colony of Roanoke Island and the legend of Virginia Dare that emerged later. She was the first English child born in the New World.

Tells the story of Virginia Dare, the first English child born in the New World. She was the granddaughter of John White, Governor of the colony established on Roanoke Island in 1587. While White was on a trip to England to replenish the...

This site is provided for by the Library of Congress. Do you know when "the Virginia Company founded the first permanent English colony at Jamestown?" Do you know what the capital of the Confederacy was? Explore the history of Virginia...

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

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 brief biography of William Brewster, one of the original Pilgrims to come over on the Mayflower.

A brief look at the founding of the English colonies. This site is provided for by the University of Groningen.

A scene of early English colonists, or Pilgrims, in snow.

The Dare Stones have long been a thorn in the mystery surrounding the Lost Colony of Roanoke Island. The first stone was found in 1937 and had an inscription that was originally thought to have been carved by Eleanor Dare, daughter of...

Information about each of the thirteen colonies with links to additional good quality resources.

This site gives a brief background of the ethnic makeup of New Netherland.

Lesson plan focuses on comparing and contrasting the unique characteristics of the original thirteen American colonies.

This brief, multiple choice quiz, is a great way to wrap up a unit on the thirteen colonies. Click "check answers" at the bottom to view questions you answered correctly.

Play this interactive game to test your knowledge of the original thirteen colonies. Can you find them on a map?

Article from the National Postal Museum on letter writing in America and how it became important as a tie between people exploring or settling in the new world and the sponsors or loved ones they left behind. With primary source material.

The front page of "The Boston News-Letter," the first newspaper in the English colonies.