University of Groningen
American History: Outlines: Native American Cultures
The America that greeted the first Europeans was, thus, far from an empty wilderness. It is now thought that as many people lived in the Western Hemisphere as in Western Europe at that time -- about 40 million. Estimates of the number of...
University of California
The Bancroft Library: Images of Native Americans
These artworks are visual interpretations of Native Americans through the eyes of American settlers. Follow a timeline from 1500-1900 to see the perceptions of Native Americans of the white settlers at that time.
CommonLit
Common Lit: Text Sets: Native American History
This is a collection of 27 Grade-Leveled texts (4-12) on the topic Native American History. Before European settlers came to North America, millions of native people lived in many unique societies. Explore the history of Native Americans...
PBS
Wnet: Thirteen: Whose Land Is This? Conflict Between Native Americans & Settlers [Pdf]
A lesson plan from the producers of the 16-episode PBS series "Freedom: A History of US" designed to provide insights into the causes of the conflict between Native Americans and new settlers pushing west. Students will examine official...
Annenberg Foundation
Annenberg Learner: America's History in the Making: Taming the American West
Comprehensive teaching unit that explores the settling of the American West in the late 1800s and the challenges these settlers faced. Contains video and text materials, web interactives, student oriented activities, and a timeline of...
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,...
Nebraska Studies
Nebraska Studies: The Conversion Struggle
The story of the problems on converting native Americans to a Christian religion. It uses the example of Christian missionaries who were trying to convert the Pawnee tribe in the 1830s.
Smithsonian Institution
National Museum of the American Indian: Beyond the Thanksgiving Myth [Pdf]
This study guide gives information about the Native Americans who were living in the area where the Pilgrims landed in 1620 and information about the new settlers too. The myth of the title concerns the friendly meal shared by the...
Huntington Library
Huntington Library: American Indians and English Settlers in Colonial America
In this lesson, 5th graders examine the relations between Indians and the settlers in the 1600s and 1700s. Background information for teachers is included. Students will work in groups to look at three different colonies and read primary...
Other
Trail Tribes: Traditional and Contemporary Native Culture
An excellent resource on the tribal groups located along the trails followed by explorers Lewis and Clark. Each group has a section devoted to its modern and historical cultures, as well as the tribe's relationship with the United States...
Read Works
Read Works: French Native American Relations in the Great Lakes Region
[Free Registration/Login Required] This historical passage discusses the relations between the French and Native Americans in the Great Lakes Regions during the 1700's and 1800's. This passage is a stand-alone curricular piece that...
Tom Richey
Tom Richey: Nativism in Antebellum America
A comprehensive slideshow illustrates the history of nativism in North America. Understand the role nativism plays in immigration as well as the Native Americans who were here long before the settlers come to the nation.
Nebraska Studies
Nebraska Studies
A large site that tracks the history of the Nebraska area begins with the formation of the earth, moves through the earliest human activity in Nebraska, and then through proto-historical and historical Nebraska. The Kansas-Nebraska Act,...
Other
Trail of Tears Assoc: The Story Trail of Tears National Historic Trail
Follow the early history of Native American and European contact in America. As more settlers moved west, a law was passed to relocate the Cherokee from Arkansas. The routes they followed and the cruelties they suffered came to be known...
CommonLit
Common Lit: Text Sets: Westward Expansion
Throughout the 1800s, Americans pushed ever westward in the search of prosperity and the American dream. It was a time of growth and adventure for settlers, and loss for most American Indians. This collection includes 7 Grade-Leveled...
Library of Congress
Loc: America's Story: Pocahontas
Learn more about Pocahontas through the accounts of her adventures. This information explains the relationship between Pocahontas and the English settlers.
Other
Illinois State Museum: Native American Food
Experiences during the colonial years certainly were not the same for different cultural groups. This site compares and contrasts the housing, clothing, food, religion and family life of Native Americans, French settlers, and African...
Other
California Missions Resource Center
Peruse this thorough resource featuring historical California missions stretching from San Diego to San Francisco as the Spanish established themselves on the west coast of North America between 1768-1853. Read stories of the early...
Khan Academy
Khan Academy: Us History: 1865 1898: The Reservation System
In the nineteenth century, Native Americans were confined to reservations to open up land for white settlers.
Independence Hall Association
U.s. History: Native Resistance in the Trans Appalachian West
This site gives a brief look at the Indian alliance built by Tecumseh to confront the U.S. military which wanted to protect the settlers moving west into Indian territory.
My Hero Project
My Hero: Chief Joseph
This brief student-written article on Chief Joseph and his efforts to maintain peace between his people and the white settlers includes several links to further information and books for further reading and research.
Ancestry
Rootsweb: The Creek War
Following the Revolutionary War, more and more settlers began to migrate into what was the territory of the Indians. By the early 19th century, there was open hostilty between whites and Indians. Farmers wanted more land and the Indians...
Other
Lumen Learning: Encroachment and Resistance
In the latter part of the 1800s, settlers began to ignore treaties when expanding westward. The government followed suit by declaring they would no longer negotiate new treaties, that they had the power to enforce laws on reservation...
Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation
History Is Fun: Cultures at Jamestown [Pdf]
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...