A six-page discussion of the mix of cultures that converged in the colony of Jamestown and the challenges this presented. These cultures were the English settlers, the indigenous Powhatan people, and the African slaves. Despite many...

Introductory article on American Colonial History in which the author takes a look at the first European settlers who made the voyage to America and addresses the essential question of who they were as people and hence, why they made...

This award-winning resource draws the reader into a consideration of history as witnessed from multiple perspectives. Discover the mystery of the French and Indian raid on colonial Deerfield, Massachusetts where five cultures clashed in...

Most settlers who came to America in the 17th century were English, but there were also Dutch, Swedes and Germans in the middle region, a few French Huguenots in South Carolina and elsewhere, slaves from Africa, primarily in the South,...

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.

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.

Men and women with little active interest in a new life in America were often induced to make the move to the New World by the skillful persuasion of promoters. William Penn, for example, publicized the opportunities awaiting newcomers...

Sail to the New World, and take the interactive, story quiz on the first permanent English settlement.

Plymouth Colony did not suffer the same problems as the English colony farther south, Jamestown. Read about the leadership of William Bradford, and the relationship between the settlers and the Native Americans who helped those who lived...

Experience the dramatic raid on Deerfield. You can read what the victims of the Deerfield Raid say in their stories through historical documents as well as see artifacts, find out about the assailants, and enter the conflict yourself.

Companion website for Colonial House, a televised experiment in historical reenactment, provides information and insight about what daily life, in 1628, must have been like for English settlers in early America. With video clips from the...

An image of Virginia Dare.

The Afrikaners are descendants, to a great extent, of Dutch, German, and French Huguenot settlers, and, to a lesser extent, of English, Scottish, Irish, and other settlers of South Africa. The Dutch language of the first White settlers...