OpenStax
Open Stax: Colonial Societies 1500 1700: Spanish Exploration & Colonial Society
Examines the establishment of Spanish settlements in America, the differences between them, and the conflicts the Spanish had with other European interests and with the native peoples.
PBS
Pbs Learning Media: Primary Source Set: Cross Cultural Colonial Conflicts
A collection of primary sources which explores cross-cultural conflicts during the Colonial period of United States history.
Henry J. Sage
Sage American History: Introduction to American Colonial History
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...
National Humanities Center
National Humanities Center: America in Class: Successful European Colonies in the New World
Lesson using primary source material on European attempts to establish colonies in the New World and why some were successful but most failed.
Mount Holyoke College
Mt. Holyoke: Extent of Colonialism
A chart of statistics concerning European colonialism towards the end of the imperialist era.
Library of Congress
Loc: Geography and Its Impact on Colonial Life
European settlement patterns were influenced by geographic conditions such as access to water, harbors, natural protection, arable land, natural resources and adequate growing season and rainfall. Examine a variety of primary sources to...
Library of Congress
Loc: Geography and Its Impact on Colonial Life
European settlement patterns were influenced by geographic conditions such as access to water, harbors, natural protection, arable land, natural resources and adequate growing season and rainfall. Examine a variety of primary sources to...
Library of Congress
Loc: American Memory: Colonial Settlement 1600s 1763
The settlement of the colonies in America is the focus of this article. The course of events is divided into topics and time periods, making it easier to understand. Note is made of the effects to the already present Native Americans as...
Nebraska Studies
Nebraska Studies: Geopolitical Powershifts in Affect Life in Nebraska
As European colonists began settling in the Plains conflicts rose and ultimately led to the French and Indian War. These conflicts are outlined here.
Library of Congress
Loc: American Memory Timeline: Colonial Settlement,1600s 1763
Read about the colonization in the New World by many European countries. Hyperlinks to you to more specific topics.
Other
The Map as History: Europe's Colonial Expanision 1820 1939
European countries began exploring and seeking to dominate the rest of the world during the 15th and 16th centuries, thanks to their ability to control sea routes and to the discovery of the American continent. In the 19th century,...
Other
Colonial America: Native American Cultures
A brief look at the Native American cultures before Contact and some discussion of the interaction with Europeans after Columbus. From an on-line American History textbook.
University of Minnesota
University of Minnesota: Immigration: Racial Encounters in Colonial America
Copper plate engravings offer one example of the racialization of colonized peoples. At the turn of the 17th century, most Europeans' visual conceptions of the Americas came from the engravings of the workshop of Flemish print-maker...
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Mit: Open Course Ware: European Imperialism: Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries
Access university-level course materials compiled for course on European imperialism.
Annenberg Foundation
Annenberg Learner: Colonial Settlement: Interactive Timeline
In this interactive timeline see how other European nations, along with the British, colonized America and how events in Europe impacted colonization.
Annenberg Foundation
Annenberg Learner: America's History in the Making: Colonial Designs [Pdf]
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.
Digital History
Digital History: Overview of the Colonial Era
The year 1492 marks a watershed in modern world history. Columbus's voyage of discovery inaugurated a series of developments that would have vast consequences for both the Old World and the New. It transformed the diets of both the...
A&E Television
History.com: The Native American Chief Who Drove Out Spanish Colonists and Nearly Expelled the English
In the summer of 1561, Spanish explorers abducted Opechancanough, a Powhatan Indian youth from the Chesapeake Bay tidewater region and brought him to the royal court of Spain. The kidnapping set off a chain of events that would alter the...
The History Cat
The History Cat: Age of Imperialism: European Imperialism
The White Man's Burden was another name for Imperialism. It was an ethnocentric idea that emerged from Darwin's Theory of Evolution to explain why white people were living in what they believed were more advanced civilizations than...
CommonLit
Common Lit: Book Pairings: "Things Fall Apart" by Chinua Achebe
Selected (12) reading passages (grades 6-11) to pair with "Things Fall Apart" by Chinua Achebe. In this classic novel, Okonkwo, a wealthy and respected member of the Umuofia clan, resists the forces of change brought to Africa by...
University of Pennsylvania
Penn Library: European New World Narratives
Brief analysis on the nature of European narratives about their explorations in the New World.
The Newberry Library
The Aztecs and the Making of Colonial Mexico: Europeans Invade the Aztec Empire
Spanish conquistador Hernan Cortes invaded the Aztec empire in the 16th century. This conquest led to the colonization of Mexico. The Newberry Library provides an in depth look into this period of Mexican history through photos,...
Curated OER
Educational Technology Clearinghouse: Maps Etc: Colonial Africa, 1904
A map of Africa shortly after the Berlin Conference of 1885, which established the European colonial territory claims on the continent. These European and independent boundaries include Algeria and the Saharan Sphere of French Influence,...
Curated OER
Educational Technology Clearinghouse: Maps Etc: Pre Colonial Africa, 1870
A physical and political map of Africa prior to the Berlin Conference of 1885, which established the European colonial territory claims on the continent. This map shows the African states of Morocco, Algiers (Algeria), Tripoli, Egypt,...