European Explorers in North America after Columbus
Who else left Europe following the call of wealth, fame, religion, or other lures?
Resources for Columbus Day
Is Columbus Day just another school day (or day off), or a teachable moment?
Columbus Day: Stories of Exploration
Which tales of daring exploration do you believe?
John Smith Map
Watch Smithsonian curator Barbara Clark Smith discuss John Smith’s Map of Virginia published in London in 1612.
Amy Trenkle's Columbus in the Capital
Come Columbus Day, DC 8th-grade teacher Amy Trenkle introduces her class to the man himself—or, at least, one of the nation’s many memorials to him.
Discovering Christopher Columbus
Christopher Columbus—a legend without a face? Answer these questions about depictions of Columbus.
Jennifer Orr on Questioning Columbus
First-grade teacher Jennifer Orr answers the question, how do you teach when you don’t have the answers to all the questions? Answer: Be honest! Here, she suggests sources for opening up the story of Christopher Columbus.
American Myths: Christopher Columbus
In 1492, what did Columbus really do?
Exploration and Innovation
Crossing vast oceans required specialized tools and knowledge. Discover more about navigation and exploration.
Mundane Lives and Extreme Adventures
What were the primary concerns of English colonists in early 17th-century America?
Web de Anza
Check out this site to see “how the West was won.”
Lewis and Clark: Maps of Exploration 1507-1814
Explore cartography and the exploration of the North American continent.
Evaluating the Validity of Information
Did the Chinese discover America before Columbus? How would or does this impact our understanding of European explorers and exploration?
Envisaging the West: Thomas Jefferson and the Roots of Lewis and Clark
Follows Jefferson’s life, political participation, and accumulation of scientific geographical knowledge from 1735 to 1804.
David Rumsey Map Collection
More than 15,800 rare historical maps focus on North and South America.
Map Collections: 1500-2003
16th-century to present-day maps, focusing on Americana and cartographic treasures.
American Shores: Maps of the Middle Atlantic Region to 1850
Explore the mid-Atlantic region with more than 1,852 maps created before 1850.
The Kraus Collection of Sir Francis Drake
Peruse 60 primary and secondary materials concerning the voyages of Sir Francis Drake.
Online Archive of California
Explore California from Japanese American internment or the Free Speech Movement to oral histories.
Archive of Early American Images
Collects more than 4,000 images from books created in Europe between 1492 and 1825.