Library of Congress
Loc: Mediterranean World on the Eve of Conquest
The Library of Congress provides an essay on the reasons for exploration during the 15th century.
National Geographic
National Geographic: Geostories: Emerging Explorers
Find out how modern-day explorers change the way we change our world in this interactive Geostory activity.
Cengage Learning
Literature of Discovery and Exploration
Teaching approach that examines the writings of European New World explorers from the late 1400s through the 1600s. Includes Christopher Columbus, Alvar Nunez Cabeza de Vaca, Rene Goulaine de Laudonniere, Pedro Menendez de Aviles, Fray...
National Endowment for the Humanities
Neh: Edsit Ement: Other Worlds the Voyage of Columbus
This site has a lesson plan designed for grades 9-12. The lesson plan deals with understanding the culture from which Columbus came, Renaissance Europe, and the culture he found in the New World.
Other
Plant Explorers: Dr. Daniel Carl Solander (1733 1782)
Profile of Dr. Daniel Carl Solander, a close friend and colleague of Joseph Banks. Solander was an eighteenth-century Swedish botanist and explorer who traveled the world collecting plant specimens for classification.
Read Works
Read Works: Vikings & European Explorers Ponce De Leon
[Free Registration/Login Required] An informational about explorer Ponce de Leon. A question sheet is available to help students build skills in reading comprehension.
US Department of State
U.s. Diplomacy Center: Discover Diplomacy: Explorer
Select U.S. Embassies situated around the world and understand the roles these embassies hold to further diplomacy. Find where the U.S. engages in diplomacy.
Alabama Learning Exchange
Alex: Early American Explorers
During this project-based lesson, young scholars will become detectives looking for information about early American explorers. Students will have the opportunity to navigate the Internet to locate important facts about these explorers....
Read Works
Read Works: Vikings and European Explorers Viking Religion
[Free Registration/Login Required] An informational text about Vikings and the god's they worship. A question sheet is available to help students build skills in reading comprehension.
Curated OER
Cbc: Adventurers and Mystics: Europe and the New World
From the CBC television series about Canadian history comes this summary of the English and French search for a Northwest Passage. Find out how these explorations laid the basis for their claims in the New World.
Other
Canterbury Environmental Education Centre: Weather Explorer
A look at the weather, how it is measured, and how it is caused. Learn what weather is like all over the world, how global warming is affecting our planet, and how "extreme" conditions like hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, and drought...
Other
One World Magazine: Antarctica: Terra Incognita
An online exhibit through which you can learn about Antarctica's explorers, the characteristics of the continent, and the peril faced by Antarctica's environment and ecosystems.
Other
Literary Explorer Presents: The Adventures of Tom Sawyer
Delve into the world of Tom Sawyer when you explore this site. These links range from information about Mark Twain to the analysis of major characters.
Khan Academy
Khan Academy: French and Dutch Exploration in the New World
An overview of the French, Dutch, and English explorers in the late 1500's and early 1600's.
Independence Hall Association
U.s. History: Britain in the New World
Read about the early English explorers and find out why other countries did much more early exploration than the British. The defeat of the Spanish Armada turned the tide. Discover why the English now could explore and plant colonies.
Texas Instruments
Texas Instruments: Jason: Leaf Litter, It's a Critter's World
Rainforests at the Crossroads: Use a Berlese Funnel to extract arthropods from leaf litter; count and sort the species of arthropods; and use a TI-73 Explorer to make a circle graph showing the different groups represented in their...
Khan Academy
Khan Academy: French and Dutch Exploration in the New World
Outline text explaining how the French, Dutch, and English explorers began to make inroads into the Americans in the late 1500s and early 1600s.
Yale University
Avalon Project: Letters Patents of King Henry Vii Granted Unto John Cabot
A copy of Henry VII's letter granting John Cabot permission to explore the New World and claim what he finds for England. Difficult to read, but an important primary source document.
Walled Lake Consolidated Schools
Loon Lake Elementary: Explorers: Sir Richard Grenville
Find out about the life of an explorer in this brief biography regarding an English naval commander, Sir Richard Grenville.
ClassFlow
Class Flow: The Explorers
[Free Registration/Login Required] Using video content and assessment integration, students will learn about the early explorers to the New World.
ClassFlow
Class Flow: Australia's Explorers
[Free Registration/Login Required] This flipchart resource provides a framework in which students can explore and research some of Australia's early explorers.
Enchanted Learning
Enchanted Learning: Ferdinand Magellan: World Explorer
A short biography of Ferdinand Magellan.
University of Calgary
European Voyages of Exploration: 15th & 16th Centuries
This award-winning website from the University of Calgary's History Department is both impressive and extensive. It focuses on Portuguese and Spanish expeditions of the 15th and 16th centuries (the sitemap provides a good outline of...
National Geographic
National Geographic: Geostories: Voyages Across the Ocean
Use this GeoStory in formal or informal instruction to provide information about the voyages of numerous historical navigators and explorers. This GeoStory helps students understand the importance of ocean exploration in contributing to...