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Fun Facts on the States of the USA for Kids
Did you know that there are 50 different states in America? Find fascinating interesting fun facts for kids about each of the 50 States of America including California, New York, Florida, Ohio, Washington and Texas. Find out about the State emblems Capital City of each state, what is the state bird, state flower or song? What does the flag of each state look like? What is the Capital City of each US state? Find out lots of amazing, cool and random fun facts for kids about each of the US States. Enjoy our fast, fun facts for kids in a useful fact file format with fact sheets on each of the different states including a funny video on every page to make the learning process quick, easy, funny and great fun! Fast fun facts for kids with free pictures and photos - ideal for schools, teachers and children of all ages!

Fun Facts for on The States of the USA for kids

Fun Facts on California for Kids
Discover fast, interesting fun facts on California for kids with some amazing, cool and quick information. Enjoy our fast, fun facts for kids on California in a useful fact file format with a fact sheet on California . Find out answers to questions like: What is the Capital of California? What does the flag of California look like? Which is the largest city in California? What is the history of California? Watch our fun video and enjoy learning about the State of California the easy way!
Funny and Fun Facts on the
States of the USA via Videos
Discover interesting information with our funny and fast facts for kids via videos. Every article has a different funny video to make the learning process easy, fast and fun. Every article has a different funny video to make the learning process easy, fast and fun. Ideal for homework, it's a free aid for teachers and parents and great fun for all ages. Our funny videos contain facts about every subject and are guaranteed to help with knowledge retention making the whole learning process quick and easy. Enjoy our funny videos on each state of America, find out about the wildlife, flag, emblems, songs, places, celebrities and unique fun facts about each individual state. Info the easy way with our free, funny videos on every topic.

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U.S. State Facts for Kids Archives - Facts Just for Kids

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Welcome to our U.S. state facts library. This is a huge collection of facts on all the states in the United States. This is a nice resource for students and teachers. It's also good for adults who want to learn about U.S. states.

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Kids learn about the geography of the United States including capital, flag, state bird, fun facts, history, state tree, timeline, and counties.

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pirate activites for school age children

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A to Z Kids Stuff | State Facts for Children

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Information on the states of the United States for school-age children.

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Get facts and photos of the U.S. states and territories, and the District of Columbia.

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Help students learn about their state as they collect, organize, analyze, map, and graph a variety of information in “State Facts for Students.”

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2021 MrNussbaum.com is a copyright of the Nussbaum Education Network,LLC.

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Over 2,500 USA-themed games, activities, interactive maps, and printables for kinds grades K-8.

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State nicknames and symbols

southern longleaf pine

yellowhammer; wild turkey ²

common camellia; oak-leaf hydrangea ⁵

Cotton State; Yellowhammer State; Heart of Dixie

We Dare Defend Our Rights

northern mockingbird

apple blossom

The Natural State; Land of Opportunity

Regnat Populus (The People Rule)

western white pine

mountain bluebird; peregrine falcon ⁴

Lewis's mock orange ('Syringa')

Gem State

Esto Perpetua (Let It Be Perpetual)

eastern goldfinch

wild prairie rose

Hawkeye State; Corn State

Our Liberties We Prize and Our Rights We Will Maintain

Massachusetts

American elm

black-capped chickadee; wild turkey ²

mayflower (trailing arbutus)

Bay State; Old Colony State

Ense Petit Placidam Sub Libertate Quietem (By the Sword We Seek Peace, But Peace Only Under Liberty)

Mississippi

southern magnolia

northern mockingbird; wood duck ³

southern magnolia

Magnolia State

Virtute et Armis (By Valor and Arms)

North Carolina

northern cardinal

flowering dogwood

Tar Heel State; Old North State

Esse Quam Videri (To Be Rather Than To Seem)

eastern redbud

scissor-tailed flycatcher; wild turkey ²

Oklahoma hybrid rose; American mistletoe; Indian blanket ⁵

Sooner State

Labor Omnia Vincit (Labor Conquers All Things)

South Carolina

sabal palm (cabbage palmetto)

Carolina wren; wild turkey ²; wood duck ³

yellow jessamine; Canada goldenrod ⁵

Palmetto State

Animis Opibusque Parati (Prepared in Mind and Resources)

tulip tree (yellow poplar)

northern mockingbird; bobwhite quail ²

iris ¹; purple passionflower ⁵

Volunteer State

Agriculture and Commerce

¹ Species not designated.

² Game bird; some states have also designated a representative game bird.

³ Waterfowl; some states have also designated a representative waterfowl.

⁴ Raptor; Idaho has designated a state raptor.

⁵ Wildflower; some states have designated representative wildflowers, particularly when the official state flower is a cultivated or nonnative variety.

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United States - Presidents, Elections, History | Britannica

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United States - Presidents, Elections, History: George Washington, John Adams, Thomas Jefferson, and other presidents of the United States, in list form.

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Fun Facts on the States of the USA for Kids
Did you know that there are 50 different states in America? Find fascinating interesting fun facts for kids about each of the 50 States of America including California, New York, Florida, Ohio, Washington and Texas. Find out about the State emblems Capital City of each state, what is the state bird, state flower or song? What does the flag of each state look like? What is the Capital City of each US state? Find out lots of amazing, cool and random fun facts for kids about each of the US States. Enjoy our fast, fun facts for kids in a useful fact file format with fact sheets on each of the different states including a funny video on every page to make the learning process quick, easy, funny and great fun! Fast fun facts for kids with free pictures and photos - ideal for schools, teachers and children of all ages!

Fun Facts for on The States of the USA for kids

Fun Facts on California for Kids
Discover fast, interesting fun facts on California for kids with some amazing, cool and quick information. Enjoy our fast, fun facts for kids on California in a useful fact file format with a fact sheet on California . Find out answers to questions like: What is the Capital of California? What does the flag of California look like? Which is the largest city in California? What is the history of California? Watch our fun video and enjoy learning about the State of California the easy way!
Funny and Fun Facts on the
States of the USA via Videos
Discover interesting information with our funny and fast facts for kids via videos. Every article has a different funny video to make the learning process easy, fast and fun. Every article has a different funny video to make the learning process easy, fast and fun. Ideal for homework, it's a free aid for teachers and parents and great fun for all ages. Our funny videos contain facts about every subject and are guaranteed to help with knowledge retention making the whole learning process quick and easy. Enjoy our funny videos on each state of America, find out about the wildlife, flag, emblems, songs, places, celebrities and unique fun facts about each individual state. Info the easy way with our free, funny videos on every topic.

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fun facts on the states of the usa for kids

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Learn List of U.S. states facts for kids

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U.S. State Facts for Kids Archives - Facts Just for Kids

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Welcome to our U.S. state facts library. This is a huge collection of facts on all the states in the United States. This is a nice resource for students and teachers. It's also good for adults who want to learn about U.S. states.

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Kids learn about the geography of the United States including capital, flag, state bird, fun facts, history, state tree, timeline, and counties.

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pirate activites for school age children

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A to Z Kids Stuff | State Facts for Children

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King George III ascends to the throne of England.

Treaty signed between England and France ending the French and Indian War. Canada and the continent east of the Mississippi River added to Great

Britain's growing empire.

Parliament passes
The Stamp Act as a means to pay for British troops on the American frontier. Colonists violently protest the measure..

December. Massachusetts patriots dressed as Mohawk Indians protest the British Tea Act by dumping crates of tea into Boston Harbor.

January. The Privy Council reprimands Benjamin Franklin in London for leaking letters damaging to the Royal Governor of Massachusetts. September. First Continental Congress convenes in Philadelphia.

January. Thomas Paine's Common Sense published. Becomes an instant best seller and pushes the colonies closer to independence.

July 4. Thomas Jefferson's Declaration of Independence ratified by the Congress

July. A huge British force arrives in New York harbor bent on crushing the rebellion.

August. Continental Army routed at Long Island, New York.

December 26. Washington crosses the Delaware River and captures a Hessian force at Trenton, New Jersey.

December. In desperate need of financing and arms, Congress sends Benjamin Franklin to France to urge the French to ally with America.

February. France signs a treaty of alliance with the United States and the American Revolution becomes a world war.

December. George Washington gives up command of the Continental Army and, to the astonishment of foreign observers, returns to private life.

1785-'86 Treaty talks with Spain for rights to navigate the Mississippi fail because of regional conflicts between northern and southern states.

The crucial states of Virginia (June 25) and New York (July 26) become the 10th and 11th states to pass the Constitution.

December. A Bill of Rights passed by the 1st Congress of the United States.

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LIBERTY! . Chronicle of the Revolution . Timeline of the Revolution | PBS

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King George III ascends to the throne of England. Treaty signed between England and France ending the French and Indian War. Canada and the continent east of the Mississippi River added to Great Britain's growing empire. Parliament passes The Stamp Act as a means to pay for British troops on the American frontier.

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The Thirteen Colonies, also known as the Thirteen British Colonies or the Thirteen American Colonies, were a group of British colonies on the Atlantic coast of North America founded in the 17th and 18th centuries. The American Enlightenment led these colonies to the American Revolutionary War, declaring independence in July 1776, which was achieved by 1783 under the Treaty of Paris.

The Thirteen Colonies in their traditional groupings were: the New England Colonies, which included New Hampshire, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, and Connecticut; the Middle Colonies, which included New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware; and the Southern Colonies, which included Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. The Thirteen Colonies had very similar political, constitutional, and legal systems, dominated by Protestant English-speakers. The first of these colonies was Virginia Colony in 1607. The founding of the New England Colonies, Maryland, and Pennsylvania were substantially motivated by their founders' concerns related to the practice of religion. The other colonies were founded for business and economic expansion. The Middle Colonies were established on the Dutch colony of New Netherland. All 13 colonies were part of Britain's possessions in the New World, which also included territory in Canada, Florida, and the Caribbean.

The 13 colonies had a high degree of self-governance and active local elections, and they resisted London's demands for more control over them. The French and Indian War (1754-1763) against France and its Indian allies led to growing tensions between Britain and the 13 colonies. During the 1750s, the colonies began collaborating with one another instead of dealing directly with Britain. With the help of colonial printers and newspapers, these inter-colonial activities and concerns were shared and led to calls for protection of the colonists' " Rights as Englishmen", especially the principle of " no taxation without representation". Conflicts with the British government over taxes and rights led to the American Revolution, in which the colonies worked together to form the Continental Congress. The colonists fought the American Revolutionary War (1775-1783) with the aid of the Kingdom of France and, to a much lesser degree, the Dutch Republic and the Kingdom of Spain.

British colonies

In 1606, King James I of England granted charters to both the Plymouth Company and the London Company for the purpose of establishing permanent settlements in America. The London Company established the Colony of Virginia in 1607, the first permanently settled English colony on the continent. The Plymouth Company founded the Popham Colony on the Kennebec River, but it was short-lived. The Plymouth Council for New England sponsored several colonization projects, culminating with Plymouth Colony in 1620 which was settled by English Puritan separatists, known today as the Pilgrims. The Dutch, Swedish, and French also established successful American colonies at roughly the same time as the English, but they eventually came under the English crown. The Thirteen Colonies were complete with the establishment of the Province of Georgia in 1732, although the term "Thirteen Colonies" became current only in the context of the American Revolution.

New England colonies

1. Province of Massachusetts Bay, chartered as a royal colony in 1691

2. Province of New Hampshire, established in 1629; merged with Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1641; chartered as royal colony in 1679

3. Connecticut Colony, established in 1636; chartered as royal colony in 1662

4. Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations chartered as royal colony in 1663

Plymouth, Massachusetts Bay, Connecticut, and New Haven Colonies formed the New England Confederation in 1643, and all New England colonies were included in the Dominion of New England (1686-1689).

Middle colonies

1. Delaware Colony (before 1776, the Lower Counties on Delaware), established in 1664 as proprietary colony

2. Province of New York, established as a proprietary colony in 1664; chartered as royal colony in 1686; included in the Dominion of New England (1686-1689)

3. Province of New Jersey, established as a proprietary colony in 1664; chartered as a royal colony in 1702

East Jersey, established in 1674; merged with West Jersey to re-form Province of New Jersey in 1702; included in the Dominion of New England

West Jersey, established in 1674; merged with East Jersey to re-form Province of New Jersey in 1702; included in the Dominion of New England

4. Province of Pennsylvania, established in 1681 as a proprietary colony

Southern colonies

1. Colony of Virginia, established in 1607 as a proprietary colony; chartered as a royal colony in 1624.

2. Province of Maryland, established 1632 as a proprietary colony.

3. Province of North Carolina, previously part of the Carolina province (see below) until 1712; chartered as a royal colony in 1729.

4. Province of South Carolina, previously part of the Carolina province (see below) until 1712; chartered as a royal colony in 1729.

5. Province of Georgia, established as a proprietary colony in 1732; royal colony from 1752.

The Province of Carolina was initially chartered in 1629 and initial settlements were established after 1651. That charter was voided in 1660 by Charles II and a new charter was issued in 1663, making it a proprietary colony. The Carolina province was divided into separate proprietary colonies, north and south in 1712.

Earlier, along the coast, the Roanoke Colony was established in 1585, re-established in 1587, and found abandoned in 1590.

17th century

Southern colonies

The first successful English colony was Jamestown, established on May 14, 1607 near Chesapeake Bay. The business venture was financed and coordinated by the London Virginia Company, a joint-stock company looking for gold. Its first years were extremely difficult, with very high death rates from disease and starvation, wars with local Indians, and little gold. The colony survived and flourished by turning to tobacco as a cash crop.

In 1632, King Charles I granted the charter for the Province of Maryland to Cecil Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore. Calvert's father had been a prominent Catholic official who encouraged Catholic immigration to the English colonies. The charter offered no guidelines on religion.

The Province of Carolina was the second attempted English settlement south of Virginia, the first being the failed attempt at Roanoke. It was a private venture, financed by a group of English Lords Proprietors who obtained a Royal Charter to the Carolinas in 1663, hoping that a new colony in the south would become profitable like Jamestown. Carolina was not settled until 1670, and even then the first attempt failed because there was no incentive for emigration to that area. Eventually, however, the Lords combined their remaining capital and financed a settlement mission to the area led by Sir John Colleton. The expedition located fertile and defensible ground at Charleston, originally Charles Town for Charles II of England.

Middle colonies

Beginning in 1609, Dutch traders established fur trading posts on the Hudson River, Delaware River, and Connecticut River, seeking to protect their interests in the fur trade. The Dutch West India Company established permanent settlements on the Hudson River, creating the Dutch colony of New Netherland. In 1626, Peter Minuit purchased the island of Manhattan from the Lenape Indians and established the outpost of New Amsterdam. Relatively few Dutch settled in New Netherland, but the colony came to dominate the regional fur trade. It also served as the base for extensive trade with the English colonies, and many products from New England and Virginia were carried to Europe on Dutch ships. The Dutch also engaged in the burgeoning Atlantic slave trade, bringing some enslaved Africans to the English colonies in North America, although many more were sent to Barbados and Brazil. The West India Company desired to grow New Netherland as it became commercially successful, yet the colony failed to attract the same level of settlement as the English colonies did. Many of those who did immigrate to the colony were English, German, Walloon, or Sephardim.

In 1638, Sweden established the colony of New Sweden in the Delaware Valley. The operation was led by former members of the Dutch West India Company, including Peter Minuit. New Sweden established extensive trading contacts with English colonies to the south and shipped much of the tobacco produced in Virginia. The colony was conquered by the Dutch in 1655, while Sweden was engaged in the Second Northern War.

The British renamed the colony of New Amsterdam to "York City" or "New York". Large numbers of Dutch remained in the colony, dominating the rural areas between Manhattan and Albany, while people from New England started moving in as well as immigrants from Germany. New York City attracted a large polyglot population, including a large black slave population. In 1674, the proprietary colonies of East Jersey and West Jersey were created from lands formerly part of New York.

Pennsylvania was founded in 1681 as a proprietary colony of Quaker William Penn. The main population elements included the Quaker population based in Philadelphia, a Scotch-Irish population on the Western frontier, and numerous German colonies in between. Philadelphia became the largest city in the colonies with its central location, excellent port, and a population of about 30,000.

New England

The Pilgrims were a small group of Puritan separatists who felt that they needed to distance themselves physically from the Church of England, which they perceived as corrupted. They initially moved to the Netherlands, but eventually sailed to America in 1620 on the . Upon their arrival, they drew up the Mayflower Compact, by which they bound themselves together as a united community, thus establishing the small Plymouth Colony. William Bradford was their main leader. After its founding, other settlers traveled from England to join the colony.

Roger Williams established Providence Plantations in 1636 on land provided by Narragansett sachem Canonicus. Williams was a Puritan who preached religious tolerance, separation of Church and State, and a complete break with the Church of England. He was banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony over theological disagreements; he founded the settlement based on an egalitarian constitution, providing for majority rule "in civil things" and "liberty of conscience" in religious matters. In 1637, a second group including Anne Hutchinson established a second settlement on Rhode Island, today called Aquidneck. Samuel Gorton and others established a settlement near Providence Plantations which they called Shawomet. However, Massachusetts Bay attempted to seize the land and put it under their own authority, so Gorton travelled to London to gain a charter from the King. Robert Rich, 2nd Earl of Warwick assisted him in gaining the charter, so he changed the name of the settlement to Warwick. Roger Williams secured a Royal Charter from the King in 1663 which united all four settlements into the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations.

Other colonists settled to the north, mingling with adventurers and profit-oriented settlers to establish more religiously diverse colonies in New Hampshire and Maine. Massachusetts absorbed these small settlements when it made significant land claims in the 1640s and 1650s, but New Hampshire was eventually given a separate charter in 1679. Maine remained a part of Massachusetts until achieving statehood in 1820.

18th century

In 1702, East and West Jersey were combined to form the Province of New Jersey.

The northern and southern sections of the Carolina colony operated more or less independently until 1691 when Philip Ludwell was appointed governor of the entire province. From that time until 1708, the northern and southern settlements remained under one government. However, during this period, the two halves of the province began increasingly to be known as North Carolina and South Carolina, as the descendants of the colony's proprietors fought over the direction of the colony. The colonists of Charles Town finally deposed their governor and elected their own government. This marked the start of separate governments in the Province of North-Carolina and the Province of South Carolina. In 1729, the king formally revoked Carolina's colonial charter and established both North Carolina and South Carolina as crown colonies.

In the 1730s, Parliamentarian James Oglethorpe proposed that the area south of the Carolinas be colonized with the "worthy poor" of England to provide an alternative to the overcrowded debtors' prisons. Oglethorpe and other English philanthropists secured a royal charter as the Trustees of the colony of Georgia on June 9, 1732. Oglethorpe and his compatriots hoped to establish a utopian colony that banned slavery and recruited only the most worthy settlers, but by 1750 the colony remained sparsely populated. The proprietors gave up their charter in 1752, at which point Georgia became a crown colony.

Global trade and immigration

The British American colonies became part of the global British trading network, as the value tripled for exports from America to Britain between 1700 and 1754. The colonists were restricted in trading with other European powers, but they found profitable trade partners in the other British colonies, particularly in the Caribbean. The colonists traded foodstuffs, wood, tobacco, and various other resources for Asian tea, West Indian coffee, and West Indian sugar, among other items. American Indians far from the Atlantic coast supplied the Atlantic market with beaver fur and deerskins. America had an advantage in natural resources and established its own thriving shipbuilding industry, and many American merchants engaged in the transatlantic trade.

Improved economic conditions and easing of religious persecution in Europe made it more difficult to recruit labor to the colonies, and many colonies became increasingly reliant on slave labor, particularly in the South. The population of slaves in America grew dramatically between 1680 and 1750, and the growth was driven by a mixture of forced immigration and the reproduction of slaves. Slaves supported vast plantation economies in the South, while slaves in the North worked in a variety of occupations. There were some slave revolts, such as the Stono Rebellion and the New York Conspiracy of 1741, but these uprisings were suppressed.

French and Indian War

In 1738, an incident involving a Welsh mariner named Robert Jenkins sparked the War of Jenkins' Ear between Britain and Spain. Hundreds of North Americans volunteered for Admiral Edward Vernon's assault on Cartagena de Indias, a Spanish city in South America. The war against Spain merged into a broader conflict known as the War of the Austrian Succession, but most colonists called it King George's War. In 1745, British and colonial forces captured the town of Louisbourg, and the war came to an end with the 1748 Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle. However, many colonists were angered when Britain returned Louisbourg to France in return for Madras and other territories. In the aftermath of the war, both the British and French sought to expand into the Ohio River valley.

The French and Indian War (1754-1763) was the American extension of the general European conflict known as the Seven Years' War. Previous colonial wars in North America had started in Europe and then spread to the colonies, but the French and Indian War is notable for having started in North America and spread to Europe. One of the primary causes of the war was increasing competition between Britain and France, especially in the Great Lakes and Ohio valley.

The French and Indian War took on a new significance for the British North American colonists when William Pitt the Elder decided that major military resources needed to be devoted to North America in order to win the war against France. For the first time, the continent became one of the main theaters of what could be termed a " world war". During the war, it became increasingly apparent to American colonists that they were under the authority of the British Empire, as British military and civilian officials took on an increased presence in their lives.

In the Treaty of Paris (1763), France formally ceded to Britain the eastern part of its vast North American empire, having secretly given to Spain the territory of Louisiana west of the Mississippi River the previous year. Before the war, Britain held the thirteen American colonies, most of present-day Nova Scotia, and most of the Hudson Bay watershed. Following the war, Britain gained all French territory east of the Mississippi River, including Quebec, the Great Lakes, and the Ohio River valley. Britain also gained Spanish Florida, from which it formed the colonies of East and West Florida. In removing a major foreign threat to the thirteen colonies, the war also largely removed the colonists' need for colonial protection.

The British and colonists triumphed jointly over a common foe. The colonists' loyalty to the mother country was stronger than ever before. However, disunity was beginning to form. British Prime Minister William Pitt the Elder had decided to wage the war in the colonies with the use of troops from the colonies and tax funds from Britain itself. This was a successful wartime strategy but, after the war was over, each side believed that it had borne a greater burden than the other. The British elite, the most heavily taxed of any in Europe, pointed out angrily that the colonists paid little to the royal coffers. The colonists replied that their sons had fought and died in a war that served European interests more than their own. This dispute was a link in the chain of events that soon brought about the American Revolution.

Growing dissent

Parliament had directly levied duties and excise taxes on the colonies, bypassing the colonial legislatures, and Americans began to insist on the principle of " no taxation without representation" with intense protests over the Stamp Act of 1765. They argued that the colonies had no representation in the British Parliament, so it was a violation of their rights as Englishmen for taxes to be imposed upon them. Parliament rejected the colonial protests and asserted its authority by passing new taxes.

By 1774, colonists still hoped to remain part of the British Empire, but discontentment was widespread concerning British rule throughout the Thirteen Colonies. Colonists elected delegates to the First Continental Congress which convened in Philadelphia in September 1774. In the aftermath of the Intolerable Acts, the delegates asserted that the colonies owed allegiance only to the king; they would accept royal governors as agents of the king, but they were no longer willing to recognize Parliament's right to pass legislation affecting the colonies. Most delegates opposed an attack on the British position in Boston, and the Continental Congress instead agreed to the imposition of a boycott known as the Continental Association. The boycott proved effective and the value of British imports dropped dramatically. The Thirteen Colonies became increasingly divided between Patriots opposed to British rule and Loyalists who supported it.

American Revolution

By spring 1775, all royal officials had been expelled, and the Continental Congress hosted a convention of delegates for the 13 colonies. It raised an army to fight the British and named George Washington its commander, made treaties, declared independence, and recommended that the colonies write constitutions and become states (later enumerated in the 1777 Articles of Confederation). The Second Continental Congress assembled in May 1775 and began to coordinate armed resistance against Britain. It established a government that recruited soldiers and printed its own money. General Washington took command of the Patriot soldiers in New England and forced the British to withdraw from Boston. In 1776, the Thirteen Colonies (now self referenced as states) declared their independence from Britain. With the help of France and Spain, they defeated the British and their German allies in the American Revolutionary War, with the final battle usually being referred to as the Siege of Yorktown in 1781. In the Treaty of Paris (1783), Britain officially recognized the independence of the United States of America.

Thirteen British Colonies population

The colonial population rose to a quarter of a million during the 17th century, and to nearly 2.5 million on the eve of the American revolution. The estimates do not include the Indian tribes outside the jurisdiction of the colonies. Good health was important for the growth of the colonies: "Fewer deaths among the young meant that a higher proportion of the population reached reproductive age, and that fact alone helps to explain why the colonies grew so rapidly." There were many other reasons for the population growth besides good health, such as the Great Migration.

According to the United States Historical Census Data Base (USHCDB), the ethnic populations in the British American Colonies of 1700, 1755, and 1775 were:

Slavery was legal and practiced in all of the Thirteen Colonies. In most places, it involved house servants or farm workers. It was of economic importance in the export-oriented tobacco plantations of Virginia and Maryland and on the rice and indigo plantations of South Carolina. About 287,000 slaves were imported into the Thirteen Colonies over a period of 160 years, or 2% of the estimated 12 million taken from Africa to the Americas via the Atlantic slave trade. The great majority went to sugar colonies in the Caribbean and to Brazil, where life expectancy was short and the numbers had to be continually replenished. By the mid-18th century, life expectancy was much higher in the American colonies.

The numbers grew rapidly through a very high birth rate and low mortality rate, reaching nearly four million by the 1860 census. From 1770 until 1860, the rate of natural growth of North American slaves was much greater than for the population of any nation in Europe, and was nearly twice as rapid as that in England.

The colonies were religiously diverse, with different Protestant denominations brought by British, German, Dutch, and other immigrants. The Reformed tradition was the foundation for Presbyterian, Congregationalist, and Continental Reformed denominations. French Huguenots set up their own Reformed congregations. The Dutch Reformed Church was strong among Dutch Americans in New York and New Jersey, while Lutheranism was prevalent among German immigrants. Germans also brought diverse forms of Anabaptism, especially the Mennonite variety. Reformed Baptist preacher Roger Williams founded Providence Plantations which became the Colony of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations. Jews were clustered in a few port cities. The Baltimore family founded Maryland and brought in fellow Catholics from England. Catholics were estimated at 1.6% of the population or 40,000 in 1775. Of the 200-250,000 Irish who came to the Colonies between 1701 and 1775 less than 20,000 were Catholic, many of whom hid their faith or lapsed because of prejudice and discrimination. Between 1770 and 1775 3,900 Irish Catholics arrived out of almost 45,000 white immigrants (7,000 English, 15,000 Scots, 13,200 Scots-Irish, 5,200 Germans). Most Catholics were English Recusants, Germans, Irish, or blacks; half lived in Maryland, with large populations also in New York and Pennsylvania. Presbyterians were chiefly immigrants from Scotland and Ulster who favored the back-country and frontier districts.

Higher education was available for young men in the north, and most students were aspiring Protestant ministers. Nine institutions of higher education were chartered during the colonial era. These colleges, known collectively as the colonial colleges were New College (Harvard), the College of William & Mary, Yale College (Yale), the College of New Jersey (Princeton), King's College (Columbia), the College of Philadelphia (University of Pennsylvania), the College of Rhode Island (Brown), Queen's College (Rutgers) and Dartmouth College. The College of William & Mary and Queen's College later became public institutions while the other institutions account for seven of the eight private Ivy League universities.

With the exception of the College of William and Mary, these institutions were all located in New England and the Middle Colonies. The southern colonies held the belief that the family had the responsibility of educating their children, mirroring the common belief in Europe. Wealthy families either used tutors and governesses from Britain or sent children to school in England. By the 1700s, university students based in the colonies began to act as tutors.

Most New England towns sponsored public schools for boys, but public schooling was rare elsewhere. Girls were educated at home or by small local private schools, and they had no access to college. Aspiring physicians and lawyers typically learned as apprentices to an established practitioner, although some young men went to medical schools in Scotland.

Government

The provincial colony was governed by commissions created at the pleasure of the king. A governor and his council were appointed by the crown. The governor was invested with general executive powers and authorized to call a locally elected assembly. The governor's council would sit as an upper house when the assembly was in session, in addition to its role in advising the governor. Assemblies were made up of representatives elected by the freeholders and planters (landowners) of the province. The governor had the power of absolute veto and could prorogue (i.e., delay) and dissolve the assembly. The assembly's role was to make all local laws and ordinances, ensuring that they were not inconsistent with the laws of Britain. In practice, this did not always occur, since many of the provincial assemblies sought to expand their powers and limit those of the governor and crown. Laws could be examined by the British Privy Council or Board of Trade, which also held veto power of legislation. New Hampshire, New York, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia were crown colonies. Massachusetts became a crown colony at the end of the 17th century.

Proprietary colonies were governed much as royal colonies, except that lord proprietors appointed the governor rather than the king. They were set up after the English Restoration of 1660 and typically enjoyed greater civil and religious liberty. Pennsylvania (which included Delaware), New Jersey, and Maryland were proprietary colonies.

British role

After 1680, the imperial government in London took an increasing interest in the affairs of the colonies, which were growing rapidly in population and wealth. In 1680, only Virginia was a royal colony; by 1720, half were under the control of royal governors. These governors were appointees closely tied to the government in London.

Political culture

Settlers did not come to the American colonies with the intention of creating a democratic system; yet they quickly created a broad electorate. The 13 colonies had no hereditary aristocrats as in Europe. There were no rich gentry who owned all the farmland and rented it out to tenants, as in England and in the Dutch settlements in upstate New York. Instead there was a political system of local control that was governed by men elected in fair elections. The colonies offered a broader base than Britain or indeed any other country. Any property owner could vote for members of the lower house of the legislature. Governors were appointed in London but colonists elected the governor in Connecticut and Rhode Island. Women, children, indentured servants, and slaves were subsumed under the interest of the family head and did not have a vote or a voice. Indians and free blacks were politically outside the system and usually could not vote. Voters were required to hold an "interest" in society; as the South Carolina legislature said in 1716, "it is necessary and reasonable, that none but such persons will have an interest in the Province should be capable to elect members of the Commons House of Assembly". The main legal criterion for having an "interest" was ownership of real estate. In Britain, 19 out of 20 men were controlled politically by their landlords. London insisted on this requirement for the colonies, telling governors to exclude from the ballot men who were not freeholders-that is, those who did not own land. However, in most places good farmland was cheap and so widely owned that 50% to 80% of the men were eligible to vote.

According to historian Donald Radcliffe:

The right to vote had always been extraordinarily widespread-at least among adult white males--even before the country gained its independence....Enfranchisement varied greatly by location. There certainly were communities, particularly newly settled communities where land was inexpensive, in which 70 or 80 percent of all white men were enfranchised. Yet there were also locales...where the percentages were far lower, closer to 40 or 50 percent....On the whole, the franchise was far more widespread than it was in England, yet as the revolution approached, the rate of property ownership was falling, and the proportion of adult white males who were eligible to vote was probably less than 60 percent.

The colonial political culture emphasized deference, so that local notables were the men who ran and were chosen. But sometimes they competed with each other and had to appeal to the common man for votes. There were no political parties, and would-be legislators formed ad hoc coalitions of their families, friends, and neighbors. Election day brought in all the men from the countryside to the county seat or town center to make merry, politick, shake hands with the grandees, meet old friends, and hear the speeches-all the while toasting, eating, treating, tippling, and gambling. They voted by shouting their choice to the clerk, as supporters cheered or booed. In Virginia candidate George Washington spent £39 for treats for his supporters. The candidates knew that they had to "swill the planters with bumbo" (rum). Elections were carnivals where all men were equal for one day and traditional restraints were relaxed.

Voting was voluntary and typically about half the men eligible to vote turned out on election day. Turnout was usually higher in Pennsylvania and New York, where long-standing factions based on ethnic and religious groups mobilized supporters at a higher rate. New York and Rhode Island developed long-lasting two-faction systems that held together for years at the colony level, but they did not reach into local affairs. The factions were based on the personalities of a few leaders and an array of family connections, and they had little basis in policy or ideology. Elsewhere the political scene was in a constant whirl, based on personality rather than long-lived factions or serious disputes on issues.

Economic policy

The British Empire at the time operated under the mercantile system, where all trade was concentrated inside the Empire, and trade with other empires was forbidden. The goal was to enrich Britain-its merchants and its government. Whether the policy was good for the colonists was not an issue in London, but Americans became increasingly restive with mercantilist policies.

Mercantilism meant that the government and the merchants became partners with the goal of increasing political power and private wealth, to the exclusion of other empires. The government protected its merchants-and kept others out-by trade barriers, regulations, and subsidies to domestic industries in order to maximize exports from and minimize imports to the realm. The government had to fight smuggling-which became a favorite American technique in the 18th century to circumvent the restrictions on trading with the French, Spanish or Dutch. The tactic used by mercantilism was to run trade surpluses, so that gold and silver would pour into London. The government took its share through duties and taxes, with the remainder going to merchants in Britain. The government spent much of its revenue on a superb Royal Navy, which not only protected the British colonies but threatened the colonies of the other empires, and sometimes seized them. Thus the British Navy captured New Amsterdam (New York) in 1664. The colonies were captive markets for British industry, and the goal was to enrich the mother country. Colonial commodities were shipped on British ships to the mother country where Britain sold them to Europe reaping the benefits of the export trade. Finished goods were manufactured in Britain and sold in the colonies, or imported by Britain for retail to the colonies, profiting the mother country. Like other New World colonial empires, the British empire's commodity production was dependent on slave labor; as observed in 1720s Britain, "all this great increase in our treasure proceeds chiefly from the labour of negroes" in Britain's colonies.

However, the colonists took pains to argue that they did not oppose British regulation of their external trade; they only opposed legislation that affected them internally.

Other British colonies

Besides the grouping that became known as the "thirteen colonies", Britain in the late-18th century had another dozen colonial possessions in the New World. The British West Indies, Newfoundland, the Province of Quebec, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, Bermuda, and East and West Florida remained loyal to the British crown throughout the war (although Spain reacquired Florida before the war was over, and in 1821 sold it to the United States). Several of the other colonies evinced a certain degree of sympathy with the Patriot cause, but their geographical isolation and the dominance of British naval power precluded any effective participation. The British crown had only recently acquired several of those lands, and many of the issues facing the Thirteen Colonies did not apply to them, especially in the case of Quebec and Florida.

Sparsely-settled Rupert's Land, which King Charles II of England had chartered as "one of our Plantations or Colonies in America" in 1670, operated remotely from the rebellious colonies and had relatively little in common with them.

Newfoundland, exempt from the Navigation Acts, shared none of the grievances of the continental colonies. Tightly bound to Britain and controlled by the Royal Navy, it had no assembly that could voice grievances.

Nova Scotia (which at the time encompassed modern-day New Brunswick and Nova Scotia) had a large Yankee element recently arrived from New England that shared the sentiments of the Americans in the 13 colonies regarding the rights of the British men. The royal government in Halifax reluctantly allowed the Yankees of Nova Scotia a kind of "neutrality". In any case, the island-like geography and the presence of the major British naval base at Halifax made the thought of armed resistance impossible, although American militia did attempt some early incursions in the St. John River area and along the Bay of Fundy.

Quebec was inhabited by French Catholic settlers who had come under British control by 1760. The Quebec Act of 1774 gave the French settlers formal cultural autonomy within the British Empire, and many of their Catholic priests feared the intense Protestantism in New England. American grievances over taxation had little relevance, and there was no assembly nor elections of any kind that could have mobilized any grievances. In 1775, the Americans invaded Quebec to annex it by force, but were defeated by a combination of British troops and Canadien militia. Having failed to gain Quebec by military action, two years later, in 1777, the Americans offered to include Quebec in their new country, in the Articles of Confederation. Most Canadians remained neutral, but some joined the American cause.

In the West Indies the elected assemblies of Jamaica, Grenada, and Barbados formally declared their sympathies for the American cause and called for mediation, but the others were quite loyal. Britain carefully avoided antagonizing the rich owners of sugar plantations (many of whom lived in London); in turn the planters' greater dependence on slavery made them recognize the need for British military protection from possible slave revolts. The possibilities for overt action were sharply limited by the overwhelming power of Royal Navy in the islands. During the war there was some opportunistic trading with American ships.

In Bermuda and in the Bahamas, local leaders were angry at the food shortages caused by British blockade of American ports. There was increasing sympathy for the American cause, which extended to smuggling, and both colonies were considered "passive allies" of the United States throughout the war. When an American naval squadron arrived in the Bahamas to seize gunpowder, the colony offered no resistance at all.

Spain had transferred the territories of East Florida and West Florida to Britain by the Treaty of Paris in 1763 after the French and Indian War. The few British colonists there needed protection from attacks by Indians and by Spanish privateers. After 1775 East Florida became a major base for the British war-effort in the South, especially in the invasions of Georgia and South Carolina. However, Spain seized Pensacola in West Florida in 1781, then recovered both territories in the Treaty of Paris that ended the war in 1783. Spain ultimately agreed to transfer the Florida provinces to the United States in 1819.

Historiography

The first British Empire centered on the Thirteen Colonies, which attracted large numbers of settlers from Britain. The "Imperial School" in the 1900-1930s took a favorable view of the benefits of empire, emphasizing its successful economic integration. The Imperial School included such historians as Herbert L. Osgood, George Louis Beer, Charles M. Andrews, and Lawrence Gipson.

The shock of Britain's defeat in 1783 caused a radical revision of British policies on colonialism, thereby producing what historians call the end of the First British Empire, even though Britain still controlled Canada and some islands in the West Indies. Ashley Jackson writes:

The first British Empire was largely destroyed by the loss of the American colonies, followed by a "swing to the east" and the foundation of a second British Empire based on commercial and territorial expansion in South Asia.

Much of the historiography concerns the reasons why the Americans rebelled in the 1770s and successfully broke away. Since the 1960s, the mainstream of historiography has emphasized the growth of American consciousness and nationalism and the colonial republican value-system, in opposition to the aristocratic viewpoint of British leaders.

Historians in recent decades have mostly used one of three approaches to analyze the American Revolution:

The Atlantic history view places North American events in a broader context, including the French Revolution and Haitian Revolution. It tends to integrate the historiographies of the American Revolution and the British Empire.

The new social history approach looks at community social structure to find issues that became magnified into colonial cleavages.

The ideological approach centers on republicanism in the Thirteen Colonies. The ideas of republicanism dictated that the United States would have no royalty or aristocracy or national church. They did permit continuation of the British common law, which American lawyers and jurists understood, approved of, and used in their everyday practice. Historians have examined how the rising American legal profession adapted the British common law to incorporate republicanism by selective revision of legal customs and by introducing more choice for courts.

==See also==* American Revolutionary War § Prelude to revolution

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In 1607 English settlers founded Jamestown, Virginia-the first permanent English settlement in North America. Virginia became a royal colony in 1624. The Puritans known as the Pilgrims founded Plymouth, the second English colony in America, in 1620. New Hampshire was settled in 1623, but it did not gain its name until 1629.

In 1630 another group of Puritans founded the Massachusetts Bay Colony. Massachusetts controlled New Hampshire from 1641 to 1679. Plymouth was joined with Massachusetts in 1691.

Some colonists from Massachusetts settled in Connecticut in the 1630s. It became an official colony in 1662. Another group from Massachusetts founded Rhode Island in 1636. That group was led by the minister Roger Williams, who disagreed with the religious rules of Massachusetts. A group of Roman Catholics founded Maryland in 1634.

Settlers from other countries founded colonies as well. The Dutch founded New Netherland in 1624. The Swedish settled in Delaware, part of New Sweden, in 1638. The Dutch and the Swedish also moved into what is now New Jersey.

In the 1650s the Dutch took over the Swedish lands. But in 1664 the English took over all the Dutch territory. From that time to independence, all the colonies were ruled by the kings and queens of England, or Great Britain. The English changed the name of New Netherland to New York. New York governed New Jersey until 1738.

In 1681 an English Quaker leader, William Penn, set up the colony of Pennsylvania. Delaware became part of Pennsylvania the next year. Delaware formed its own government but remained under Pennsylvania's control until independence.

The Carolina region had become an English colony in 1663. In 1729 Carolina was split into North and South Carolina. Georgia-the last of the original 13 colonies-was settled in 1733.

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The 13 colonies were a group of settlements that became the original states of the United States of America. Nearly all the colonies were founded by the English. All were...

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The 13 British colonies that eventually became the United States in some ways were more different than they were alike. They were founded for a diverse range of reasons- from the pursuit of fortunes to the desire to create havens from persecution and model societies and had differing systems of governance. The colonies' inhabitants-an estimated 2.5 million when the Revolution began-varied greatly as well.

"Religiously, they included Congregationalists, Anglicans, Presbyterians, Baptists, Lutherans, Dutch and German Reformed, Quakers, Catholics and members of other sects," notes Benjamin Carp, an associate professor at Brooklyn College and author of the 2010 book Defiance of the Patriots: The Boston Tea Party & the Making of America.

Although most of the white colonists were from the British isles, the colonies also included people from other European countries, particularly Germany. About 20 percent of the colonies' inhabitants were enslaved African Americans, who came from a range of different ethnic groups and nations. Indigenous people also still lived within the 13 colonies' borders-as they had long before the colonists' arrival.

The 13 colonies supported diverse economies, from those in the northeast that focused on urban commerce, to the southern coastal colonies that exported huge amounts of tobacco and rice, explains Carroll Van West, a history professor at Middle Tennessee State University.

The colonies also had some key unifying factors. Economically, from the southern plantation to port cities of the north, they all were dependent in some way upon both slave labor and access to overseas markets, as West notes. Ultimately, the 13 colonies became united in their opposition to British rule and desire to govern themselves and make their own collective destiny.

Here are some facts about each of the 13 colonies.

1. Connecticut enacted the first constitution in America.

In the late 1630s, the settlements of Windsor, Hartford and Wethersfield began unifying under a rudimentary form of government that was composed of magistrates and representatives from each town. But they soon decided that they needed a more formal common government, and wrote a document called the Fundamental Orders, which often has been called the first constitution in any of the colonies.

According to ConnecticutHistory.org, It consisted of a preamble and 11 sections, which included rules for electing a governor, magistrates and a General Court that was authorized to adopt and repeal laws, impose taxes, and punish people who committed crimes, among other powers.

2. Maryland was founded as a haven for Catholics.

George Calvert, the first Lord Baltimore, was a government official in England who became interested in colonizing North America. His first foray, though, was in Newfoundland, where in 1623 obtained a royal charter for a plantation that he called "the province of Avalon." After converting to Catholicism in 1625, he eventually moved to Avalon, where he battled both the French and some of his own colonists, who opposed him bringing Catholic priests to his settlement.

George Calvert eventually tired of all the strife, and in 1632, obtained a royal charter for territory north of the Potomac River, according to the Dictionary of Canadian Biography. When he died shortly afterward without visiting his new land, the charter was taken over by his son, Cecil Calvert, who named the new colony Maryland, in honor of King Charles I's wife Queen Henrietta Maria.

Another of George Calvert's sons, Leonard Calvert, led an expedition of settlers on two ships, the Ark and the Dove, which landed at St. Clement's Island in southern Maryland in March 1634. The Calverts eventually built a capital, St. Mary's City, where they erected a church and school as well as government buildings. Maryland became predominantly Catholic, and in 1649 enacted a law that guaranteed religious freedom-at least for Christian believers.

3. Massachusetts was the birthplace of the American iron industry.

In 1644, John Winthrop established the Saugus Works, which had a dam to provide water, a smelting furnace, a forge, and a rolling and slitting mill. The facility produced two types of iron-cast iron that could be poured into molds to make a product, and pig iron, large lumps that could be remelted and used in manufacturing.

One of the main products manufactured by the Saugus Works was small pieces of iron that could be used to make nails for construction, according to University of Houston historian and engineer John H. Leonard. It was the start of a colonial iron industry that spawned 175 different plants across the 13 colonies and produced a product that was so sought after in England that officials there eliminated customs duties in 1750.

4. Pennsylvania was created to pay a debt.

After the British monarchy was restored in 1660 and Charles II took the throne, British admiral Sir William Penn, used some of his own personal wealth to rebuild and feed the Royal Navy. That debt still hadn't been repaid 20 years later, when the admiral's son, William Penn, an aristocrat who had converted to the Quaker sect, petitioned Charles II for repayment. But instead of money, the younger Penn had a proposition. He wanted the king to give him a grant of land west of the Delaware River in America, where he envisioned starting a colony that would put into practice Penn's beliefs about religious tolerance and a fairer judicial system.

In 1681, the king granted the charter. Penn had wanted to call the colony New Wales, or else Sylvania, after the Latin word for woods. But Charles decreed that the name should be Pennsylvania, in honor of Penn's father, according to the State Museum of Pennsylvania.

5. New Jersey had the alternate name of New Caesarea.

In 1664, King Charles II gave a charter for New Netherland, the land between the Connecticut and Delaware Rivers, to his brother James, the Duke of York. James, in turn, sent a fleet to chase out the Dutch, who also had claimed the area, and then gave a lease for a portion of the land to Lord John Berkeley, Baron of Stratton, and Sir George Carteret, a British naval officer who had helped defend the island of Jersey and keep it in Royalist hands during the English Civil Wars.

In honor of Carteret's services to the Crown, James insisted upon calling the colony New Jersey, with the alternative name of New Caesarea, after the Roman name for the island of Jersey.

6. Virginia's most lucrative crop was tobacco, even though it was opposed by the king and the Virginia Company.

In the 1610s, a colonial official named John Rolfe began experimenting with tobacco, a plant that American Indians dried and smoked in religious ceremonies and as a health remedy for health problems ranging from ear aches to insect bites. People in England and Europe had picked up the practice of smoking as well, creating a market.

Because Native Americans in Virginia planted a variety that English smokers found too harsh, Rolfe tried planting a variety from the West Indies, according to Encyclopedia Virginia. It became a big success. King James I vehemently opposed the use of tobacco and the Virginia Company wasn't keen on colonists growing it, fearing that it would lure them away from planting corn, a crop the Virginia Company felt was more important. Nevertheless, tobacco cultivation caught on, and just before the start of the Revolutionary War, Virginia was producing 55 million pounds of tobacco a year, thanks to the labor of enslaved people and indentured servants who were purchased with profits from the crop.

7. New Hampshire offered parcels of land in exchange for one ear of corn each year.

After the end of the French and Indian War in 1762, Governor Benning Wentworth, an appointee of King George III, felt it was time to increase the colony's population. He arranged a deal in which a group of 12 influential citizens, known as the Masonian Proprietors, acquired a large amount of land on behalf of the colony, and then began recruiting settlers for it. In a 1762 degree, Wentworth specified that those who received one-acre lots were required to pay a "Rent of one Ear of Indian Corn only, on the twenty-fifth day of December annually, if lawfully demanded." Additionally, they were also charged a nominal annual fee, at the rate of one shilling for every 100 acres of land, with the payment due adjusted up or down depending on the actual quantity.

8. Georgia was founded as a new home for impoverished people and debtors.

In the 1730s, James Oglethorpe, a retired British army officer, decided to make it his mission to help the impoverished and debt-ridden inhabitants of London get a fresh start in life. He thought the best solution was for them to resettle in America. In 1732, Olgethorpe's plan came to fruition, when 20 trustees received funds from Parliament and a Royal charter, authorizing them to enact their own taxes and laws and hand out land grants to settlers.

The corporation created to establish Georgia was a charity, and none of the trustees themselves could receive any land or pay. In order to prevent any of the settlers from becoming too wealthy, they set a 500-acre limit on individual land holdings, and speculators were kept out by banning settlers who'd received free land from selling or borrowing money against it. Settlers, though, eventually grew disenchanted with the lack of self-government and restrictions on how much land they could acquire, as well as with the colony's ban on slavery, according tothe Library of Congress.

9. New York became the first target of British trade restrictions-for exporting fur hats.

The Hudson Valley's hatters produced beaver-pelt headwear that became popular in Europe, according to Perkins. British hatters took notice and persuaded Parliament in 1732 to pass the Hat Act, which made it illegal to export hats from the colonies, on the grounds that it endangered jobs in the mother country. The Hat Act also put limits on the number of workers and apprentices who could be hired by colonial hatmakers, and banned the use of enslaved people in the hat business.

As damaging as the Hat Act was to American hatmakers, it was followed by an even more potentially ruinous 1733 law, the Molasses Act, which sought to protect British sugar planters from price competition from the Dutch, French and Spanish West Indies. That outraged colonial merchants, who began smuggling sugar and molasses in response.

10. South Carolina benefited from the demand for blue dye.

In the mid-to-late 1700s, one of the colony's most important agricultural products was indigo, a plant originally from India that was used to produce blue dye used in the British textile industry. The indigo plant also flourished in the climate of the American southeast, according to Charleston County Public Library. South Carolina's settlers had little use for the plant except as a product for export, since extracting the dye from the plant was costly, time-consuming and labor-intensive, and the only real demand for it was on the other side of the Atlantic, where conflict with France and Spain made it difficult to obtain indigo.

A South Carolina merchant named James Crokatt, who had moved back to England, convinced the government there to pay a cash incentive of six pence per pound of indigo to purchasers of South Carolina indigo.

11. North Carolina was sold back to the British crown.

The Lords Proprietors, a group of eight men who received a royal charter in 1663 for what is now North and South Carolina, originally had the dream of creating a feudal society in which they would rule like absolute monarchs over the settlers, and even envisioned a class of hereditary serfs who would be bound to the land. That bizarre fantasy turned out to be unworkable, and in the half-century that followed, the colony was plagued by problems ranging from corruption and incompetence to pirate attacks and conflicts with Native Americans.

The proprietors couldn't manage a colony with far-flung settlements, and in 1712, they officially split into South and North Carolina. The British government, tired of the proprietors' incompetence, converted South Carolina to a royal colony in 1719, and 10 years later, seven of the eight proprietors agreed to sell their shares of North Carolina to King George II as well. The one holdout, John Carteret, insisted on keeping his one-eight share of the colony's land, though he lost his say in its governance.

12. Rhode Island played a big role in the slave trade.

It wasn't just the southern colonies who were involved in slavery. Rhode Island saw its first slave ship arrive in Newport Harbor in 1696, and the colony went on to play a key role in the slave trade during the 1700s. Ships set sail from the colony on about 1,000 triangular voyages. Cargoes of rum were exchanged for captives in Africa, the captives were then transported to the West Indies and traded for sugar and molasses produced by enslaved people. Those raw materials went back to New England, where they were used to make the rum.

Rhode Island also had the highest percentage of enslaved Africans in New England, with captives making up 11.5 percent of the colony's population by 1755. Some in the colony were troubled by its dependence upon the cruel institution, and legislators passed a number of laws in an effort to limit it, including a 1783 law that emancipated the children of enslaved women once they reached adulthood. While slavery gradually died out, Rhode Island didn't make it illegal until 1842.

13. Delaware wasn't really formed until 1776.

Delaware started out as a Swedish colony in 1638 when explorer Peter Minuit established a settlement near what is today Wilmington. Then, in 1655, Dutchman Peter Stuyvesant conquered the Swedish colony, which he renamed the Colony of New Netherlands.

But the Dutch held the colony for less than a decade before they were chased out by the British, who absorbed it into the former Dutch colony they renamed New York. Then, in 1682, the Duke of York (who would later become King James II), gave what is now Delaware to William Penn, who wanted it so that his new colony of Pennsylvania would have access to the sea.

But Pennsylvania and the three counties that eventually formed Delaware never really meshed, and in 1704, those counties were allowed to establish their own separate elected legislature. In June 1776, Delaware legislators met at the New Castle courthouse and approved a Separation Resolution, severing ties with the British crown. That negated its relationship with Pennsylvania as well, and the state of Delaware was created.

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This page describes the land, economy, culture, and religions of the Southern Colonies

People of Jamestown

Colonies

Climate and Geography

The Southern Colonies enjoyed warm climate with hot summers and mild winters. Geography ranged from coastal plains in the east to piedmont farther inland. The westernmost regions were mountainous. The soil was perfect for farming and the growing season was longer than in any other region. Hot summers, however, propagated diseases such as malaria and yellow fever.

Religion

Most people in the Southern Colonies were Anglican (Baptist or Presbyterian), though most of the original settlers from the Maryland colony were Catholic, as Lord Baltimore founded it as a refuge for English Catholics. Religion did not have the same impact on communities as in the New England colonies or the Mid-Atlantic colonies because people lived on plantations that were often distant and spread out from one another.

Economy

The Southern economy was almost entirely based on farming. Rice, indigo, tobacco, sugarcane, and cotton were cash crops. Crops were grown on large plantations where slaves and indentured servants worked the land. In fact, Charleston, South Carolina became one of the centers of the American slave trade in the 1700's.

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This page describes the land, economy, culture, and religions of the Mid-Atlantic (Middle) Colonies

New Amsterdam

Colonies

Climate and Geography

The Middle colonies spanned the Mid-Atlantic region of America and were temperate in climate, with warm summers and cold winters. Geography ranged from coastal plains along the coastline, piedmont (rolling hills) in the middle, and mountains farther inland. This area had good coastal harbors for shipping. Climate and land were ideal for agriculture. These colonies were known as the "breadbasket" because of the large amounts of barley, wheat, oats, and rye that were grown here.

Religion

Religion in the Middle Colonies was varied as no single religion seemed to dominate the entire region. Religious tolerance attracted immigrants from a wide-range of foreign countries who practiced many different religions. Quakers, Catholics, Jews, Lutherans and Presbyterians were among those religious groups that had significant numbers in the middle colonies.

Economy

The Middle Colonies enjoyed a successful and diverse economy. Largely agricultural, farms in this region grew numerous kinds of crops, most notably grains and oats. Logging, shipbuilding, textiles production, and papermaking were also important in the Middle Colonies. Big cities such as Philadelphia and New York were major shipping hubs, and craftsmen such as blacksmiths, silversmiths, cobblers, wheelwrights, wigmakers, milliners, and others contributed to the economies of such cities.

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Who Was Marco Polo?

Marco Polo was a Venetian explorer known for the book The Travels of Marco Polo, which describes his voyage to and experiences in Asia. Polo traveled extensively with his family, journeying from Europe to Asia from 1271 to 1295 and remaining in China for 17 of those years. Around 1292, he left China, acting as escort along the way to a Mongol princess who was being sent to Persia.

Early Life

Polo was born in 1254, in Venice, Italy. Although he was born to a wealthy Venetian merchant family, much of Polo's childhood was spent parentless, and he was raised by an extended family. Polo's mother died when he was young, and his father and uncle, successful jewel merchants Niccolo and Maffeo Polo, were in Asia for much of Polo's youth.

Niccolo and Maffeo's journeys brought them into present-day China, where they joined a diplomatic mission to the court of Kublai Khan, the Mongol leader whose grandfather, Genghis Khan, had conquered Northeast Asia. In 1269, the two men returned to Venice and immediately started making plans for their return to Khan's court. During their stay with the leader, Khan had expressed his interest in Christianity and asked the Polo brothers to visit again with 100 priests and a collection of holy water.

Khan's Empire, the largest the world had ever seen, was largely a mystery to those living within the borders of the Holy Roman Empire. A sophisticated culture outside the reaches of the Vatican seemed unfathomable, and yet that's exactly what the Polo brothers described to confounded Venetians when they arrived home.

Voyage to China

In 1271, Polo set out with his father and uncle, Niccolo and Maffeo Polo, for Asia, where they would remain until 1295. Unable to recruit the 100 priests that Kublai Khan had requested, they left with only two, who, after getting a taste of the hard journey ahead of them, soon turned back for home. The Polos' journey took place on land, and they were forced to cut through challenging and sometimes harsh territory. But through it all, Polo reveled in the adventure. His later memory for the places and cultures he witnessed was remarkable and exceptionally accurate.

As they made their way through the Middle East, Polo absorbed its sights and smells. His account of the Orient, especially, provided the western world with its first clear picture of the East's geography and ethnic customs. Hardships, of course, came his way. In what is now Afghanistan, Polo was forced to retreat to the mountains in order to recoup from an illness he'd contracted. Crossing the Gobi desert, meanwhile, proved long and, at times, arduous. "This desert is reported to be so long that it would take a year to go from end to end," Polo later wrote. "And at the narrowest point it takes a month to cross it. It consists entirely of mountains and sands and valleys. There is nothing at all to eat."

Finally, after four years of travel, the Polos reached China and Kublai Khan, who was staying at his summer palace known as Xanadu, a grand marble architectural wonder that dazzled young Polo.

The Polos had originally planned to be gone for only a few years. However, they were away from Venice for more than 23 years. Debate has swirled among historians as to whether Polo ever really made it to China. There is no evidence outside his famous book that he traveled so far east. Yet his knowledge of the culture and its customs are hard to dismiss. His later account told of Khan's extensive communication system, which served as the foundation for his rule. Polo's book, in fact, devotes five pages to the elaborate structure, describing how the empire's information highway efficiently and economically covered millions of square miles.

Khan's acceptance of the Polos offered the foreigners unparalleled access to his empire. Niccolo and Maffeo were granted important positions in the leader's Court. Polo, too, impressed Khan, who thought highly of the young man's abilities as a merchant. Polo's immersion into the Chinese culture resulted in him mastering four languages.

Polo the Explorer

Kublai Khan eventually employed Polo as a special envoy he sent to far-flung areas of Asia never before explored by Europeans, including Burma, India and Tibet. With Polo, as always, was a stamped metal packet from Khan himself that served as his official credentials from the powerful leader.

As the years wore on, Polo was promoted for his work. He served as governor of a Chinese city. Later, Khan appointed him as an official of the Privy Council. At one point, he was the tax inspector in the city of Yanzhou.

From his travels, Polo amassed not only great knowledge about the Mongol empire but incredible wonder. He marveled at the empire's use of paper money, an idea that had failed to reach Europe, and was in awe of its economy and scale of production. Polo's later stories showed him to be an early anthropologist and ethnographer. His reporting offers little about himself or his own thoughts, but instead gives the reader a dispassionate reporting about a culture he had clearly grown fond of.

Journey Back to Europe

Finally, after 17 years in Khan's court, the Polos decided it was time to return to Venice. Their decision was not one that pleased Khan, who'd grown to depend on the men. In the end, he acquiesced to their request with one condition: They escort a Mongol princess to Persia, where she was to marry a Persian prince.

Traveling by sea, the Polos left with a caravan of several hundred passengers and sailors. The journey proved harrowing, and many perished as a result of storms and disease. By the time the group reached Persia's Port of Hormuz, just 18 people, including the princess and the Polos, were still alive. Later, in Turkey, Genoese officials appropriated three-quarters of the family's wealth. After two years of travel, the Polos reached Venice. They'd been gone for more than two decades, and their return to their native land undoubtedly had its difficulties. Their faces looked unfamiliar to their family and they struggled to speak their native tongue.

'The Travels of Marco Polo'

Polo's stories about his travels in Asia were published as a book called The Description of the World, later known as The Travels of Marco Polo. Just a few years after returning to Venice from China, Polo commanded a ship in a war against the rival city of Genoa. He was eventually captured and sentenced to a Genoese prison, where he met a fellow prisoner and writer named Rustichello. As the two men became friends, Polo told Rustichello about his time in Asia, what he'd seen, where he'd traveled and what he'd accomplished.

The book made Polo a celebrity. It was printed in French, Italian and Latin, becoming the most popular read in Europe. But few readers allowed themselves to believe Polo's tale. They took it to be fiction, the construct of a man with a wild imagination. The work eventually earned another title: Il Milione ("The Million Lies"). Polo, however, stood behind his book, and it influenced later adventurers and merchants.

Family and Kids

After his release from prison in 1299, Polo returned to Venice, where he married, raised three daughters and, for some 25 years, carried on the family business.

Death

Polo died at his home in Venice on January 8, 1324. As he lay dying, friends and fans of his book paid him visits, urging him to admit that his book was fiction. Polo wouldn't relent. "I have not told half of what I saw," he said.

Legacy

In the centuries since his death, Polo has received the recognition that failed to come his way during his lifetime. So much of what he claimed to have seen has been verified by researchers, academics and other explorers. Even if his accounts came from other travelers he met along the way, Polo's story has inspired countless other adventurers to set off and see the world. Two centuries after Polo's passing, Christopher Columbus set off across the Atlantic in hopes of finding a new route to the Orient. With him was a copy of Polo's book.
Watch "Marco Polo: Journey to the East" on HISTORY Vault

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Marco Polo was a Venetian explorer known for the book The Travels of Marco Polo, which describes his voyage to and experiences in Asia. Polo traveled extensively with his family, journeying from Europe to Asia from 1271 to 1295 and remaining in China for 17 of those years.

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The story of his journey is told in "Il Milione" ("The Million"), commonly called "The Travels of Marco Polo." Polo's adventures influenced European mapmakers and inspired Christopher Columbus.

In Polo's day and even today, there has been some doubt about whether Polo really went to China. However, most experts agree that he did indeed make the journey.

Early life

Marco Polo was born around 1254 into a wealthy Venetian merchant family, though the actual date and location of his birth are unknown. His father, Niccolo, and his uncle Maffeo were successful jewel merchants who spent much of Marco's childhood in Asia. Marco's mother died when he was young; therefore, young Marco was primarily raised by extended family.

"The merchant families were the movers and shakers of commerce and government in medieval Venice," Susan Abernethy of The Freelance History Writer told LiveScience. They expanded long-distance trade and people began to expect accessibility to the foreign goods they brought. Merchants, like the Polo family, became increasingly wealthier.

(Image credit: Public domain)

The Polo brothers went as far as China, then called Cathay, during their travels. They met the Mongol leader, Kublai Khan, at his court in Beijing. Kublai Khan, grandson of the great conqueror Genghis Khan, expressed interest in Christianity and requested that the Polo brothers return to Rome to speak to the pope on his behalf. Khan wanted the pope to send the Polo brothers back to Beijing with holy water and 100 learned priests.

"Khan was an exceptional ruler for many reasons," said Abernethy. "He opened up the Mongol and Chinese empires to travelers and traders. He patronized scholars, scientists, astronomers, doctors, artists and poets. Khan himself was an expert in Chinese poetry. In turn, Khan was able to take advantage of the knowledge of these foreigners in enormous projects such as efforts in water management and hydraulic engineering and warfare and siege engineering and other endeavors." The Polos were one family that Khan trusted and learned from.

When Marco was 15, his father and uncle returned home. Though the pope did not grant their request, the Polo brothers decided to return to Asia. This time, they took 17-year-old Marco with them.

The slow road to China

The party sailed south from Venice across the Mediterranean to the Holy Land. They had brought two friars - the best they could do for Kublai Khan's request - but upon getting a taste of difficult travel life, the friars turned back. The Polos continued, traveling primarily overland and swinging north and south through Armenia, Persia, Afghanistan and the Pamir Mountains. Then, they cut across the vast Gobi Desert to Beijing.

The journey took three or four years and was rife with hardships and adventure. Marco Polo contracted an illness and was forced to take refuge in the mountains of northern Afghanistan for an extended period of time. Polo described there being "nothing at all to eat," in the Gobi Desert. Nevertheless, young Marco Polo enjoyed a keen sense of adventure and curiosity, taking in the sights, smells and cultural phenomena with wonder.

In Xanadu, with Kublai Khan

Finally, the Polos reached Beijing and met Kublai Khan at the summer palace, Xanadu, a glorious marble and gold structure that enchanted young Marco. Khan happily received the Polos. He invited them to stay and for Niccolo and Maffeo to become part of his court. Marco immersed himself in Chinese culture, quickly learning the language and taking note of customs. Khan was impressed and eventually appointed Marco the position of special envoy.

(Image credit: public domain, painting by Anige of Nepal)

" I suspect Marco was educated and erudite and charming," said Abernethy. "He learned to speak four languages and exhibited a great curiosity and tolerance regarding his surroundings and the people he met with. Khan recognized his talents ... Polo was devoted to serving the Emperor."

This position allowed Marco to travel to the far reaches of Asia - places like Tibet, Burma and India; places that Europeans had never before seen. Over the years, Marco was promoted to governor of a great Chinese city, to the tax inspector in Yaznhou, and to an official seat on the Khan's Privy Council.

"Khan provided Marco and his family with a 'paiza' - a gold tablet which authorized him to make use of a vast network of imperial horses and lodgings. This in effect was an official passport making the Polos honored guests of the emperor and allowing them to travel freely throughout Asia," said Abernethy.

Through it all, Marco Polo marveled at China's cultural customs, great wealth and complex social structure. He was impressed with the empire's paper money, efficient communication system, coal burning, gunpowder and porcelain, and called Xanadu "the greatest palace that ever was."

Return home

The Polos stayed in China for 17 years, amassing vast riches of jewels and gold. When they decided to return to Venice, unhappy Khan requested that they escort a Mongol princess to Persia, where she was to marry a prince.

During the two-year return journey by sea across the Indian Ocean, 600 passengers and members of the crew died. By the time they reached Hormuz in Persia and left the princess, just 18 people remained alive on board. The promised prince, too, was dead, so the Polos had to linger in Persia until a suitable match for the princess could be found.

Eventually, the Polos made it back to Venice. After being gone for 24 years, people did not recognize them and the Polos struggled to speak Italian.

Legacy

Three years after returning to Venice, Marco Polo assumed command of a Venetian ship in a war against Genoa. He was captured and, while being held in a Genovese prison, he met a fellow prisoner, a romance writer called Rustichello. When prompted, Polo dictated his adventures to Rustichello. These writings, written in French, were titled "Books of the Marvels of the World," but are better known in English as "The Travels of Marco Polo."

"Polo's book was what we would call a "blockbuster hit" and made Marco Polo a household name.," said Abernethy. "At first, many viewed the book as fiction, more like a chivalric fable with its seemingly tall tales and descriptions of fantastical animals. Many copies of the book were created and it was translated into several languages. It was only after Polo's death that people realized the book contained the truth about his travels and what he witnessed."

Additionally, some readers questioned Polo's reliability, possibly leading to the book's popular Italian title, "Il Milione," short for "The Million Lies." Some questioned whether Polo even went to China or if the entire thing was hearsay.

There were several reasons people doubted the veracity of the book. One was its writing process. Polo dictated from his copious notes, and Rustichello (or Rusticiano), who was an author of some renown "may have embellished the story," said Abernethy.

The publishing process of the time could also lead to truths being exaggerated or changed. The book came about before the printing press, and hand-copied manuscripts are subject to human error and willful changes, according to Abernethy.

"There are what seem to be some glaring omissions," she said. "Polo doesn't mention the Great Wall of China, foot binding, tea or the use of chopsticks. However, none of this is unusual. There are other chroniclers throughout history who omitted obvious information from their writings."

It is also possible that Polo knowingly embellished or recounted stories he heard from other travelers. "Some of the tales seem far-fetched and it's clear Polo didn't witness some of the related information," said Abernethy. "Polo may have been somewhat naïve about what he was witnessing and seen everything through Western eyes, creating discord in the narrative. He may also have recounted stories he heard from other travelers."

That's his story and he's sticking to it

Polo stood by the book, however, and went on to start a business, marry and father three daughters. When Polo was on his deathbed in 1324, visitors urged him to admit the book was fiction, to which he famously proclaimed, "I have not told half of what I saw."

Though no authoritative version of Polo's book exists, researchers and historians in the subsequent centuries have verified much of what he reported. It is generally accepted that he reported faithfully what he could, though some accounts probably came from others that he met along the way.

"It seems the preponderance of the evidence reveals that Polo did indeed visit China," said Abernethy. "He brings to light detailed information on the currencies used, including paper currency. He mentions the use of burning coal. The data he provides on salt production and revenues show a meticulous familiarity on the subject. Many of the place names he gives in the narrative have now been identified. His description of the Grand Canal of China is highly accurate. Indeed, the premise that he didn't visit China creates more questions than it answers."

The information in his book proved vital to European geographic understanding and inspired countless explorers - including Christopher Columbus, who, it is said, took a copy of Polo's book with him in 1492.

"About fifty years after Polo's death, his work began to be utilized in the making of maps," said Abernethy. "Cartographers employed the descriptions of his travel routes and the names and terms he used to designate locations in the drawing of their maps."

Who knew?

Marco Polo did not introduce pasta to Italy. The dish had already existed in Europe for centuries, according to History.com.

The claim that he brought ice cream to Europe is also disputed. A French ice-cream master, Gerard Taurin, argues that Polo did introduce ice cream from China. According to the International Dairy Foods Association, Polo returned with a recipe that resembled modern-day sherbet, and this recipe may have evolved into ice cream in the 16th century.

Polo was one of the first Europeans to see a rhinoceros. However, he thought they were unicorns.

Some scholars think that Polo was born on the island of Korcula on the Adriatic coast, in what is today Croatia, according to a 2011 article in the Telegraph. According to this theory, his father was a merchant from Dalmatia named Maffeo Pilic, who changed his last name to Polo when he relocated to Venice.

In 2011, Italy objected when a museum dedicated to Polo in the Chinese city of Yangzhou was opened not by Italian diplomats but by a former president of Croatia, Stjepan Mesic. Mesic described Polo as a "world explorer, born in Croatia, who opened up China to Europe."
Additional resources

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Jessie Szalay - Live Science Contributor

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The story of his journey is told in "Il Milione" ("The Million"), commonly called "The Travels of Marco Polo." Polo's adventures influenced European mapmakers and inspired Christopher Columbus. In Polo's day and even today, there has been some doubt about whether Polo really went to China.

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Leif Erikson was the first European to set foot in the New World, opening a new land rich with resources for the Vikings to explore. But for some unknown reason, the Vikings only made a few voyages to the New World after Leif.

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Interesting Picture, Timeline, Facts and information about Sir Francis Drake

Picture and Short Biography about the life of Sir Francis Drake - Seaman, Explorer and Pirate

Facts, Timeline and History of Sir Francis Drake

Famous Explorer

The Golden Hind Ship

Picture of Sir Francis Drake

Sir Francis Drake

Short Biography of the life of Sir Francis Drake - Seaman, Explorer and Pirate
The following facts, biography information provides basic facts about the life Sir Francis Drake:

Nationality - English

Lifespan - 1540 - 1596

Family - Son of a farmer and preacher

Sir Francis Drake Naval Career

Navigator of a small merchant ship in the 1550's

Officer on West African slave ships

Sailed to the Caribbean with his cousin John Hawkins

Francis Drake was the first to pass from the Atlantic to the Pacific coast of South America

Sailed round the World in the ship called the Golden Hind

Appointed Vice Admiral of the navy that destroyed the Spanish Armada

Famous as a seaman, explorer and a pirate, sailing around the World, raiding the Spanish and helping to defeat the Spanish Armada
Facts, Timeline & History about the life of Sir Francis Drake - Seaman, Explorer and Pirate
The following are additional facts and timeline about the life and history of Sir Francis Drake:

Born in Tavistock, in Devonshire

Francis Drake was the eldest of twelve sons.

Distant relative of Sir Walter Raleigh

Drake married Mary Newman before he had acquired wealth or fame in 1569 but she died 12 years later

In 1572 Queen Elizabeth commissioned Drake as a privateer to sail for the Americas

Drake was the first to pass from the Atlantic to the Pacific coast of South America. He raided Nombre de Dios, Panama

He returned to England bringing Spanish gold and plunder

In 1577 Queen Elizabeth selected him to be the head of an expedition that was to sail around the world

He re-named his ship from 'The Pelican to the 'Golden Hind'

In 1579 he stopped near the present-day San Francisco to repair the Golden Hind. He claimed the land for for England which he called New Albion

1580 he returned to England

In 1581 he was knighted Sir Francis Drake on board the Golden Hind by Queen Elizabeth

He purchased Buckland Abbey in Devon

In 1585 Drake married Elizabeth Sydenham, some twenty years his junior who came from a wealthy and well-connected family

1585: Drake travelled to Brazil accompanied by his nephew Richard Hawkins

26 June 1586 - Drake visited Sir Walter Raleigh's colony headed by Ralph Lane, finding disheartened colonists and hostile Indians

In 1587 Drake attacked and destroyed the Spanish Fleet at Cadiz - referred to as 'Singeing Philip of Spain's beard'

In 1588 he was appointed Vice Admiral of the navy that destroyed the Spanish Armada

Famous for finishing a game of bowls whilst waiting for the weather to change before sailing to meet the Spanish Armada

1588: Spanish Armada of 132 ships sails for England. England's navy consists of 34 ships and 163 armed merchant vessels

1588 Jul 29, The Spanish Armada was sighted off the coast of England

1588 Jul 30, The English exchanged fire with the Spanish Armada

1588 Aug 8, The English Navy destroys the Spanish Armada

1595: Sir Francis Drake embarks on his last voyage to the Caribbean with Sir John Hawkins (who dies of fever on the voyage)

1595: Sir Francis Drake was sent to attack Spanish settlements in the West Indies but he also died on the journey home

1596 January 28: Sir Francis Drake died on board the Defiance aged about 55

Sir Francis Drake died of a tropical disease referred to as "the bloody flux" which was probably Yellow Fever

1596 January 29: Sir Francis Drake was buried at sea in a lead coffin off Puerto Bello

Sir Francis Drake had no children

His title passed to a nephew - also named Francis

In 1628 the second Sir Francis Drake published the chronicle of the circumnavigation called 'The World Encompassed'

Famous Elizabethans - Sir Francis Drake - Seaman, Explorer and Pirate
Some interesting facts, timeline and biography information about the History, Life & Times of Sir Francis Drake. Additional details, facts, history and information about the famous Elizabethans and events in Elizabethan Times can be accessed via the Elizabethan Era Sitemap.

www.elizabethan-era.org.uk are subject to Copyright Laws - the name of the Website Author is Linda Alchin. The referencing protocol is suggested as follows:

Elizabethan Era - Free Educational Resource. Author Referencing Information
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Elizabethan Era
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Queen Elizabeth's Coat of Arms

Sir Francis Drake

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Interesting Picture, Timeline, Facts and information about Sir Francis Drake Picture and Short Biography about the life of Sir Francis Drake - Seaman, Explorer and Pirate Facts, Timeline and History of Sir Francis Drake Famous Explorer The Golden Hind Ship Picture of Sir Francis Drake Sir Francis Drake Short Biography

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Samuel de Champlain

Biography, Timeline & Facts about the famous explorer, explorations & voyages in the Age of Exploration

Short Biography of the life of Samuel de Champlain -
French Explorer and Navigator

The following biography information provides basic facts about the life Samuel de Champlain:

Nationality - French

Lifespan - 1567 - 1635

Family - Son of Antoine Champlain, a sea captain, and Marguerite Le Roy

Education - Well educated

Career - French Explorer, Cartographer and Navigator

Famous as : The Founder of Quebec City. Known as 'The Father of Canada'

Facts, Timeline & History about the life of Samuel de Champlain -
French Explorer and Navigator

The following are additional facts and a timeline about the life and history of Samuel de Champlain:

Facts about the 1599 Samuel de Champlain Ship - the St. Julien
The names of the 1599 Samuel de Champlain Ship was the St. Julien. The brave men of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries who sailed in uncharted waters to unknown lands were courageous adventurers who were motivated by fame, glory and the wealth. The living conditions on board the ships were fairly basic and the voyages were dangerous.

Various aids to navigation were available on ships during the Renaissance. The Navigational aids that Samuel de Champlain would have used on his ships included:

Astrolabes

Charts

Compasses

Cross-staffs

Nocturnals

Traverse boards

Almanacs

Telescope

All of the navigational aids used by Samuel de Champlain on the St. Julien were used to measure the angle between objects above the ocean, such as the stars or the sun, with the horizon. This would have enabled Samuel de Champlain to calculate the ship's position at sea

Conditions on the Samuel de Champlain ship would have been basic. Food provisions would have included bread, beer, fish and salted meat. The Captain would have had some private stores which might include wine and fresh livestock

The St. Julien was a large French ship of 500 tons

Famous Explorers - Samuel de Champlain - French Explorer and Navigator
Some interesting facts and biography information about the History, Life & Times of Samuel de Champlain. Additional details, timelines, facts, history and information about the famous European Explorers and events in the great Age of Exploration can be accessed via the Elizabethan Era Sitemap.

Interesting Facts and information about Samuel de Champlain

Short Biography and Timeline about the life of Samuel de Champlain

Facts, Story and History about Samuel de Champlain

Major voyages of discovery and exploration

Famous Explorer - Timeline, Story and Biography

Important accomplishments, dates and events in the life and history of Samuel de Champlain

Exploration of Canada and founding Quebec City

Samuel de Champlain Ship

www.elizabethan-era.org.uk are subject to Copyright Laws - the name of the Website Author is Linda Alchin. The referencing protocol is suggested as follows:

Elizabethan Era - Free Educational Resource. Author Referencing Information
The contents of Alchin, L.K.
Elizabethan Era
e.g. Retrieved May 16 2012 from www.elizabethan-era.org.uk
The content of Elizabethan Era is free but solely for educational purposes. Reproduction is not to be "used for any purpose other than private study, scholarship, or research.". We would respectfully direct our visitors to our Elizabethan Era Copyright page and Elizabethan Era Privacy Statement regarding the Terms of Use of this history site, both may be accessed from the links provided at the bottom of this page.

Queen Elizabeth's Coat of Arms

Samuel de Champlain

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Samuel de Champlain Biography, Timeline & Facts about the famous explorer, explorations & voyages in the Age of Exploration Short Biography of the life of Samuel de Champlain - French Explorer and Navigator The following biography information provides basic facts about the life Samuel de Champlain: Nationality - French Lifespan - 1567 - 1635 Family - Son of Antoine Champlain, a sea captain, and Marguerite Le Roy Education - Well educated Career - French Explorer, Cartographer and Navigator Famous as : The Founder of Quebec City.

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Henry Hudson

Biography, Timeline & Facts about the famous explorer, explorations & voyages in the Age of Exploration

Short Biography of the life of Henry Hudson - Explorer and Navigator
The following biography information provides basic facts about the life Henry Hudson:

Nationality - English

Lifespan - 1565 - 1611

Family - Grandson of Henry Hudson, a London alderman, who helped found the Muscovy Trading Company. Henry Hudson had three sons called John, Richard and Oliver

Education - Well educated

Career - Explorer and Navigator

Famous for : Voyages of exploration for the Muscovy Company and the discovery of the Hudson River. The Hudson River, Hudson Strait, and Hudson Bay are all named after Henry Hudson

Career - Explorer and Navigator

Famous for : Voyages of exploration for the Muscovy Company and the discovery of the Hudson River. The Hudson River, Hudson Strait, and Hudson Bay are all named after Henry Hudson

Facts, Timeline & History about the early life of Henry Hudson - Explorer and Navigator
The following are additional facts and a timeline about the early life and history of Henry Hudson:

1565: Henry Hudson was born in London, England

Henry Hudson came from a wealthy family. His grandfather, also named Henry Hudson, had been a founding member of the Merchant Adventurers on 18th of December 1551 which later became the Muscovy Trading Company

John Dee was a consultant to the Muscovy Company which was formed by the navigator and explorer Sebastian Cabot together with a number of London merchants. The Muscovy Company was granted a monopoly of Anglo-Russian trade and aimed to search for the Northeast Passage

There is little information about the early life of Henry Hudson but he would have been well educated and would have studied cartography, navigation, astronomy, mathematics and seamanship in his early life

Henry Hudson would also have accompanied various voyages of exploration and discovery financed by the Muscovy Company

Henry Hudson married a girl called Katherine and they had three sons called John, Richard and Oliver

The Hudson family lived in London

Facts, Timeline & History about the first voyage of Henry Hudson
The following are additional facts and a timeline about the first voyage commanded by Henry Hudson:

1607: Henry Hudson was selected by the Muscovy Company to command an expedition "to discover a passage by the North Pole to Japan and China."

The Muscovy Company financed the expedition and provided a ship called the Hopewell for the expedition

The Hopewell was a small, old ship

There were only about 20 crew members

1607 May: Henry Hudson set sail in the Hopewell from Gravesend in England

1607 June: Henry Hudson reached Greenland

Henry Hudson steered the Hopewell further North and stopped in what would later be called Whale Bay 750 miles north of the Arctic Circle

The conditions were terrible and the weather was freezing. They sighted the magnificent whales which inhabited the waters and were later hunted by the whale traders

The bad weather conditions prevented further exploration and the Hopewell turned South for the return journey

1607 September: Henry Hudson and the crew of the Hopewell landed at Tilbury in England

The reports that Henry Hudson provided resulted in fleets of Whaling ships being sent to the area

Facts, Timeline & History about the second voyage of Henry Hudson
The following are additional facts and a timeline about the second voyage commanded by Henry Hudson:

1608: Henry Hudson was ready to command his second expedition to discover a northeast passage through the Arctic waters north of Russia

The Muscovy Company again financed the expedition the Hopewell was again used for the expedition

1608 April: Henry Hudson set sail in the Hopewell from St. Katherine's Docks, on the Thames in London

Henry Hudson travelled past Norway and towards Russia

Conditions on board and the freezing weather and ice lead to near mutiny by the crew

Hudson was forced to sail back to England

1608 August 28: Henry Hudson landed at Gravesend, England

Facts, Timeline & History about the third voyage of Henry Hudson
The following are additional facts and a timeline about the third voyage commanded by Henry Hudson:

1608: Henry Hudson was ready to command a third expedition but was unable to find backers due to his failure to find a Northeast passage on his previous voyage

Henry Hudson therefore approached the Dutch and was sponsored to make an expedition to once again search for a Northeast passage north of Russia

1609 January 8: Hudson signed a contract with the Dutch United East India Company

The contract was very specific as to what was required of Henry Hudson:

"the above named Hudson shall, about the first of April, sail in order to search for a passage by the north, around the north side of Nova Zembla, and shall continue thus along that parallel until he shall be able to sail southward to the latitude of sixty degrees. He shall obtain as much knowledge of the lands as can be done without any considerable loss of time, and if it is possible return immediately in order to make a faithful report and relation of his voyage to the Directors, and to deliver over his journals, log-books, and charts, together with an account of everything whatsoever which shall happen to him during the voyage without keeping anything back."

Another old, small ship called the Half Moon was provided for the expedition - the Dutch United East India Company told Hudson that if he had any complaints they would find another Captain

There were only about 20 crew members - a mixture of Dutch and English

1609 April: Henry Hudson set sail in the Half Moon from Holland sailing under the Dutch flag

Henry Hudson travelled towards the cold waters of Norway and towards Russia

Conditions on board and the freezing weather and ice once again lead to near mutiny by the crew just as in his previous voyage

Henry Hudson decided to completely change direction and head West towards warmer waters and the New World.

1609 July:The Half Moon and Henry Hudson passed Newfoundland and Nova Scotia

1609 July 14: Some of the crew land in Maine off Penobscot Bay - they trade with some friendly natives and return to the Half Moon

1609 July 18: Henry Hudson sailed into George's Harbour where the Half Moon dropped anchor and Henry Hudson made his first visit to the New World. His exploration lasted some days. Contact was made with some native Indians who were referred to in the ship's log as 'savages'

Henry Hudson passed Jamestown and ventured on to Delaware Bay which proved to be too shallow to explore fully

1609 September 3: Henry Hudson reached the mouth of the Hudson River passing Staten Island and Coney Island and made the decision to explore the river, still hoping to find a passage to the Indies

Henry Hudson, sailing under the Dutch flag, claimed the land for Holland

Henry Hudson and the crew traded with the natives, who came on board the Half Moon, but there was a skirmish and John Colman was shot in the throat with and arrow and killed

1609 September 11: Henry Hudson sailed on and anchored off Manhattan in New York Bay

1609 September 18: Henry Hudson made contact with some more natives and was invited ashore. Hudson described the discovery as follows: "The land is the finest for cultivation that I ever in my life set foot upon."

Hudson anchored near Albany and explored the land further, making more friends with the native Indians

Exploration of the river lead to a skirmish with some more hostile native Indians

1609 October 4: Henry Hudson decided that it was time to return home back across the Atlantic Ocean

1609 November 7: Henry Hudson sailed the Half Moon into Dartmouth in England

Henry Hudson wrote to the directors of the Dutch United East India Company informing them of his voyage and requesting finance for another voyage

The Dutch United East India Company responded by ordering Henry Hudson to return to Amsterdam immediately

1609 December: No doubt news of his voyage of discovery had been spread around Dartmouth. The English merchants and traders obviously wanted a part of the possible wealth to be found in the New World - Henry Hudson was arrested for sailing under the Dutch Flag.

Henry Hudson was commanded to appear before King James I of England and was forbidden to continue 'voyaging to the detriment of his country'

The Half Moon was returned to Holland with the ship's logs and records of the voyage

Henry Hudson never returned to Holland

The Dutch United East India Company subsequently sent further ships and settlers to colonise the area surrounding the Hudson river that Henry had discovered

Facts, Timeline & History about the fourth voyage of Henry Hudson
The following are additional facts and a timeline about the fourth voyage commanded by Henry Hudson:

1610: Henry Hudson was backed by the Muscovy Company to command an expedition to once again search for a Northwest Passage to the Orient

The Muscovy Company financed the expedition and provided a ship called the Discovery for the expedition

1610 April 17: The Discovery left St Katharine's Dock, right in the centre of London, and sailed up the River Thames to start his voyage

Henry Hudson sailed passed Scotland, Greenland and Iceland

1610 June: Henry Hudson reached the Hudson Strait - he named the headlands Cape Digges and Cape Wolstenholme for important members of the Muscovy Company

Hudson tried to enter the 'Furious Overfall' - the Hudson Strait but was prevented by massive icebergs

Henry Hudson sailed further South to James Bay still looking for a passage to the Pacific

The Discovery became frozen in the ice. Hudson and his crew were the first Europeans to winter in the Canadian Arctic

It was freezing cold, there was limited food, there were savage native Indians - the crew wanted to return home - but Henry Hudson wanted to continue the voyage of exploration. The terrible conditions led the crew to mutiny

1611 June 22: Henry Hudson was cast adrift in a small boat together with his son John and eight loyal crew members

1611 June 22: Henry Hudson was never heard of again - no one knows how long he and the others survived or what was their cause of death

The mutineers headed home but only eight made it back to England

1611 October: The Discovery sailed into London

The surviving mutineers were never punished although recommendations were made by the Muscovy Company that they should be hanged

No attempt was ever made to search for Henry Hudson

The surviving mutineers were never punished

1618: The trial was delayed until 1618 - but the surviving mutineers were found not guilty

Two of them, Bylot and Prickett, were employed by the Muscovy Company to make further voyages of exploration...

Facts about the Henry Hudson Ships - the Hopewell, the Half Moon and the Discovery
The names of the Henry Hudson Ships were the Hopewell, the Half Moon and the Discovery. The brave men of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries who sailed in uncharted waters to unknown lands were courageous adventurers who were motivated by fame, glory and the wealth. The living conditions on board the small ships were basic and the voyages were dangerous.

Various aids to navigation were available during the Renaissance. The Navigational aids that Henry Hudson would have used included:

Astrolabes

Charts

Compasses

Cross-staffs

Nocturnals

Traverse boards

Almanacs

All of the navigational aids used by Henry Hudson on the Hopewell, the Half Moon and the Discovery were used to measure the angle between objects above the ocean, such as the stars or the sun, with the horizon. This would have enabled Henry Hudson to calculate the ship's position at sea

Conditions on the Henry Hudson ships would have been very basic. Food provisions would have included bread, beer, fish and salted meat. The Captain would have had some private stores which might include wine and fresh livestock

The Hopewell, the Half Moon and the Discovery were all small ships, about 80 tons, and carried less than twenty crew

The overall length of the ships would have been about 80 feet

The sail area of the ships would have been about 2500 square feet

Neither the Hopewell, the Half Moon or the Discovery were new ships, they were not purpose built for the momentous journeys they were to undertake

Famous Explorers - Henry Hudson - Explorer and Navigator
Some interesting facts and biography information about the History, Life & Times of Henry Hudson. Additional details, timelines, facts, history and information about famous European Explorers and events in the great Age of Exploration can be accessed via the Elizabethan Era Sitemap.

Henry Hudson

Interesting Facts and information about Henry Hudson

Short Biography and Timeline about the life of Henry Hudson

Facts, Story and History about Henry Hudson

Major voyages of discovery and exploration

Famous Explorer - Timeline, Story and Biography

Important accomplishments, dates and events in the life and history of Henry Hudson

The Hopewell, the Half Moon and the Discovery

Famous European Explorers

www.elizabethan-era.org.uk are subject to Copyright Laws - the name of the Website Author is Linda Alchin. The referencing protocol is suggested as follows:

Elizabethan Era - Free Educational Resource. Author Referencing Information
The contents of Alchin, L.K.
Elizabethan Era
e.g. Retrieved May 16 2012 from www.elizabethan-era.org.uk
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Queen Elizabeth's Coat of Arms

Henry Hudson

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Henry Hudson Biography, Timeline & Facts about the famous explorer, explorations & voyages in the Age of Exploration Short Biography of the life of Henry Hudson - Explorer and Navigator The following biography information provides basic facts about the life Henry Hudson: Nationality - English Lifespan - 1565 - 1611 Family - Grandson of Henry Hudson, a London alderman, who helped found the Muscovy Trading Company.

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Jacques Cartier

Biography, Timeline & Facts about the famous explorer, explorations & voyages in the Age of Exploration

Short Biography of the life of Jacques Cartier - Explorer and Navigator
The following biography information provides basic facts about the life Jacques Cartier:

Nationality - French

Lifespan - 1491 - 1557

Family - Married Catherine Des Granches the daughter of Jacques Des Granches a chevalier du roi and constable of Saint-Malo

Education - Well educated

Career - Explorer and Navigator

Famous for : leading three expeditions to Canada. Cartier named Canada "Kanata" meaning village or settlement in the Huron-Iroquois language

Facts, Timeline & History about the life of Jacques Cartier -
Explorer and Navigator

The following are additional facts and a timeline about the life and history of Jacques Cartier:

1491: Jacques Cartier was born at Saint-Malo in Brittany

There is little information about the early life of Jacques Cartier but he would have been well educated and would have studied cartography, navigation, astronomy, mathematics and seamanship in his early life

May 1520: Jacques Cartier married Catherine Des Granches, but they had no children. It was a good marriage as Catherine Des Granches was the daughter of Jacques Des Granches a chevalier du roi and constable of Saint-Malo

Jacques Cartier lived in Dieppe and acquired the skills of an experienced seaman. Dieppe was the home of Giovanni da Verrazzano

1524-1527 : Jacques Cartier was believed to have accompanied Giovanni da Verrazzano on his expeditions to North America exploring the northeast coast of North America from Cape Fear, North Carolina to Maine and also a voyage to Brazil

Giovanni da Verrazzano was an Italian who sailed under the French flag for King Francois I of France

May 1520: Jacques Cartier married Catherine Des Granches, but they had no children. It was a good marriage as Catherine Des Granches was the daughter of Jacques Des Granches a chevalier du roi and constable of Saint-Malo

Jacques Cartier lived in Dieppe and acquired the skills of an experienced seaman. Dieppe was the home of Giovanni da Verrazzano

1524-1527 : Jacques Cartier was believed to have accompanied Giovanni da Verrazzano on his expeditions to North America exploring the northeast coast of North America from Cape Fear, North Carolina to Maine and also a voyage to Brazil
Giovanni da Verrazzano was an Italian who sailed under the French flag for King Francois I of France

Jacques Cartier acquired a significant reputation as an experienced seaman and navigator which would have been reported in Giovanni da Verrazzano's reports to the French King

1532: Jean Le Veneur, the bishop of Saint-Malo, recommended to King Francois that Jacques Cartier be chosen to lead a voyage of discovery to the New World and take the Catholic religion to the 'heathen natives'

1534: The King of France, Francois I sent Jacques Cartier to "discover certain islands and lands where it is said there is a large amount of gold and other riches to be found."

Grande Hermine was the name of the ship used by Jacques Cartier. The Grande Hermine was a small ship of sixty tons. Another small ship accompanied the Grande Hermine. Both ships had a crew of thirty men

1534 April: Jacques Cartier leads his first voyage to North America from Saint Malo

Jacques Cartier reaches Newfoundland and sails on to and explores the coast of Labrador

Cartier sailed inland, going 1,000 miles up the St. Lawrence River

Cartier named Canada "Kanata" meaning village or settlement in the Huron-Iroquois language

The first voyage of Jacques Cartier lasted 137 days

He returned to France and reported his explorations to the King of France

The King offers Jacques Cartier another commission to return to Canada

1535 May 26: Jacques Cartier leads a second voyage to Canada. On his second voyage, he had three ships and 110 men

Jacques Cartier travelled across the Atlantic and explored some land in Montreal before returning to spend the winter at Stadacona (Quebec), near some friendly native villages

The winter saw an outbreak of scurvy which cost the lives of 25 of the men

1536 May 6: Jacques Cartier left Quebec and sailed for France

1536 July 16 Jacques Cartier returned safely to Saint-Malo

Jacques Cartier reported back to the King of France and the French council started to make plans to colonise Canada

1540: Jean Francois de la Rocque, Sieur de Roberval (1500-1560) was commanded by the French king to take charge of the colonization of Canada

1541: Jacques Cartier was instructed to lead a third voyage to Canada and redezvous with Sieur de Roberval who was to follow Cartier's expedition

Jacques Cartier waited for Jean Francois de la Rocque, Sieur de Roberval whilst enduring a bitterly cold winter

Jacques Cartier made the decision to return to France. He eventually met with Sieur de Roberval in Newfoundland. Jacques Cartier warned de Roberval not to go to Canada because of the terrible weather conditions

1542: Jacques Cartier returned to France and waited for news of Sieur de Roberval

Sieur de Roberval ignored the warnings of Jacques Cartier and travelled to Quebec. His attempts to start a settlement was abandoned due to the bitterly cold winter and the expedition returned to France on June 6 1543

1545: Jacques Cartier published an account of his expeditions and voyages of explorations

1557 1 September: Jacques Cartier died 1 September, 1557 at his manor of Limoilou, near Saint-Malo

1575 April: Catherine Des Granches, the widow of Jacques Cartier, died at Limoilou

Facts about the 1534 Jacques Cartier ship - the Grande Hermine
The name of the 1534 Jacques Cartier ship was the Grande Hermine. The brave men of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries who sailed in uncharted waters to unknown lands were courageous adventurers who were motivated by fame, glory and the wealth. The living conditions on board the small ships were basic and the voyages were dangerous.

Various aids to navigation were available on ships during the Renaissance. The Navigational aids that Jacques Cartier would have used on his ship included:

Astrolabes

Charts

Compasses

Cross-staffs

Nocturnals

Traverse boards

Almanacs

All of the navigational aids used by Jacques Cartier on the Grande Hermine were used to measure the angle between objects above the ocean, such as the stars or the sun, with the horizon. This would have enabled Jacques Cartier to calculate the ship's position at sea

Conditions on the Jacques Cartier ship would have been very basic. Food provisions would have included bread, beer, fish and salted meat. The Captain would have had some private stores which might include wine and fresh livestock

The Grande Hermine was a small ship, about 60 tons

The overall length of the ship would have been about 70 feet

The sail area of the ship would have been about 2500 square feet

Famous Explorers - Jacques Cartier - Explorer and Navigator
Some interesting facts and biography information about the History, Life & Times of Jacques Cartier. Additional details, timelines, facts, history and information about the famous European Explorers and events in the great Age of Exploration can be accessed via the Elizabethan Era Sitemap.

Jacques Cartier

Interesting Facts and information about Jacques Cartier

Short Biography and Timeline about the life of Jacques Cartier

Facts, Story and History about Jacques Cartier

Major voyages of discovery and exploration

Famous Explorer - Timeline, Story and Biography

Important accomplishments, dates and events in the life and history of Jacques Cartier

Jacques Cartier ship - the Grande Hermine

Famous European Explorers

www.elizabethan-era.org.uk are subject to Copyright Laws - the name of the Website Author is Linda Alchin. The referencing protocol is suggested as follows:

Elizabethan Era - Free Educational Resource. Author Referencing Information
The contents of Alchin, L.K.
Elizabethan Era
e.g. Retrieved May 16 2012 from www.elizabethan-era.org.uk
The content of Elizabethan Era is free but solely for educational purposes. Reproduction is not to be "used for any purpose other than private study, scholarship, or research.". We would respectfully direct our visitors to our Elizabethan Era Copyright page and Elizabethan Era Privacy Statement regarding the Terms of Use of this history site, both may be accessed from the links provided at the bottom of this page.

Queen Elizabeth's Coat of Arms

Jacques Cartier

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Jacques Cartier Biography, Timeline & Facts about the famous explorer, explorations & voyages in the Age of Exploration Short Biography of the life of Jacques Cartier - Explorer and Navigator The following biography information provides basic facts about the life Jacques Cartier: Nationality - French Lifespan - 1491 - 1557 Family - Married Catherine Des Granches the daughter of Jacques Des Granches a chevalier du roi and constable of Saint-Malo Education - Well educated Career - Explorer and Navigator Famous for : leading three expeditions to Canada.

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Short Biography of the life of John Cabot - Explorer and Navigator
The following biography information provides basic facts about the life John Cabot:

Nationality - Italian-born English explorer

Lifespan - 1450 - 1499

Family - He had three sons, Ludovico, Sebastiano, and Sancto

Biography and Timeline of his son Sebastian Cabot

Career - Explorer and Navigator

Famous for : Exploring the coastline of Canada the subsequent colonization of Canada. Cabot was the second European to find North America (after Christopher Columbus)

Facts & History about the Early life of John Cabot - Explorer and Navigator
The following are facts and dates in a timeline format telling the story about the early life and history of John Cabot:

1450: John Cabot ( Giovanni Caboto ) was born in the Italian port of Genoa

John Cabot was the son of a spice merchant Guilo Caboto

The Italian word 'Caboto' means "a coastal seaman" which was quite a common name given to sailors and navigators

1461: John Cabot moved to the bustling city of Venice with his family when he was eleven years old

His father continued to trade as a spice merchant and John Cabot helped with the family business

John Cabot learnt about trading in the spices obtained from the East from Guilo Caboto. This, together with access to Italian seamen and ships who had sailed to the East, provided John Cabot with the ambition to 'cut out the middle man' and travel the spice trade routes himself and then sell the spices on his return

Italy had obtained many lucrative monopolies on the spice trade

Map making was an important skill acquired by the Italians - older brother of Henry the Navigator was known to have purchased "world" maps in Venice in the 1420's

Some of the best early mapmakers were in Italy. The Italian city-states were leading centers of trade and had great interest in anything that might affect their commerce, especially exploration and map making

Venice was therefore an excellent place to learn cartography - John Cabot would have learnt about cartography, navigation, astronomy, mathematics and seamanship in his early life

John Cabot and his spice trading merchant family would have also made many connections in Europe - a knowledge of languages would have also been a requirement of the skills acquired by John Cabot

1474: John Cabot married a girl called Mattea

1476: After living in Venice for fifteen years, gaining experience in trading voyages to the East and seamanship, he obtained Venetian citizenship and was naturalized on 28 March, 1476

John and Mattea Cabot had three sons called Ludovico, Sebastiano, and Sancto

Timeline, Facts & History about the 1497 and 1498 voyages of John Cabot to the New World
Two major events in the Age of Exploration must have inspired and fired the ambitions of John Cabot

1490's: John Cabot and his family moved to Bristol in England - a perfect position to launch an expedition to the North West and find a sea trade route to the Indies and China via a North West passage

Bristol was an important European port and city

Bristol faced West and had a history of ship building with many experienced sailors living in the area

John Cabot had the reputation of an an experienced seaman, navigator and spice merchant

Following the success of fellow Italian Christopher Columbus and his expeditions, John Cabot sought the patronage of the English Tudor King Henry VII so he could do for England what Columbus had done for Spain

1496 March 5: King Henry VII granted Cabot the right to 'seek islands and countries of the heathen towards the west, east, and north' sailing under the English flag

1497 May 2: John Cabot embarked on his ship, the Matthew, to explore the lands across the Atlantic, hoping to find a sea route, a north west passage to the Indies and China

John Cabot and the crew of the Matthew sailed for fifty days

1497 June 9: John Cabot reached the New World
The landing spot is disputed as either being Cape Breton Island or Labrador

26 June Cabot began his return voyage

1497 August - John Cabot and his crew of the Matthew landed the ship in Bristol, England to great acclaim

1497 August 6: John Cabot achieved fame and glory. He was given a gift of £10 for having "found the new isle."

King Henry VII also granted John Cabot a pension of £20 a year

1498 February 3: John Cabot was granted another patent to undertake a second expedition. Cabot was empowered to "take at his pleasure VI englisshe shippes and theym convey and lede to the londe and iles of late founde by the seid John."

John Cabot assembled a small fleet of 5 ships and 300 men

1498 July 25: The fleet headed north then sailed along the east coast of America past Newfoundland, which Cabot named Bacallaos

One of the ships had to go to an Irish port because of damage

The remaining four ships of the John Cabot fleet continued their journey across the Atlantic

Cabot reached the east coast of Greenland which he named Labrador's Land

1498 June 11: The weather had become increasingly cold and the journey was made difficult by icebergs. The crews mutinied and refused to proceed farther North

John Cabot had no alternative but to turn South along the coast of Greenland

John Cabot crossed the Davis Strait on to Baffin Land on to Newfoundland

He then followed the coast Nova Scotia and New England

At this point the John Cabot ships sailed for England

The death of John Cabot. There is no accurate record of the date or reason for the death of John Cabot, however, the pension which had been granted to John Cabot by King Henry VII continued to be paid unti1 1499. It therefore seems reasonable to assume that John Cabot reached England with his returning fleet

Famous Explorers - John Cabot - Explorer and Navigator

Some interesting facts, timeline and biography information about the History, Life & Times of John Cabot. Additional details, timelines, facts, history and information about the famous European Explorers and events in the great Age of Exploration can be accessed via the Elizabethan Era Sitemap.

John Cabot

Interesting Facts, Picture and information about John Cabot

Picture and Short Biography and Timeline about the life of John Cabot

Facts, Story and History about John Cabot

Major voyages of discovery and exploration

Famous Explorer - Timeline, Story and Biography

Important accomplishments, dates and events in the life and history of John Cabot

Picture of John Cabot

Famous European Explorers

Queen Elizabeth's Coat of Arms

John Cabot

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Short Biography of the life of John Cabot - Explorer and Navigator The following biography information provides basic facts about the life John Cabot: Nationality - Italian-born English explorer Lifespan - 1450 - 1499 Family - He had three sons, Ludovico, Sebastiano, and Sancto Biography and Timeline of his son Sebastian Cabot Career - Explorer and Navigator Famous for : Exploring the coastline of Canada the subsequent colonization of Canada.

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Hernando Cortes ( aka Hernan Cortez)

Biography, Timeline & Facts about the famous explorer, explorations & voyages in the Age of Exploration
Short Biography of the life of Hernando Cortes - Spanish Conquistador and Explorer
The following biography information provides basic facts about the life Hernando Cortes:

Nationality - Spanish

Lifespan - 1485 - 1547

Family - Spanish nobility his parents were Martín Cortes de Monroy and Catalina Pizarro Altamarino

Education - Well educated attended University of Salamanca

Career - Spanish Conquistador and Explorer

Famous as : the Spanish conqueror of Mexico and the Aztec Empire

Mistaken for Quetzalcoatl the light skinned, bearded God-King of the Aztecs - the 'Winged God - Feather Serpent'

Cortes conquers the Aztec nation of 5 million with less than 1000 soldiers

. Facts, Timeline & History about the life of Hernando Cortes -
Spanish Conquistador and Explorer

The following are additional facts and a timeline about the life and history of Hernando Cortes:

1485: Hernando Cortes was born in 1485 in Medellin, Extremadura, Spain

His parents were Martin Cortes de Monroy and Catalina Pizarro Altamirano

1499: Hernando Cortes was attended the University of Salamanca

1501: Failed at Law and left University

1502: Cortes heard the stories about the New World and joined the expedition to the West Indies led by Nicolas de Ovando with Diego Velazquez

Hernando Cortes was under the command of a man called Quintero

1502: The Ovando voyage consisted of 2500 settlers and 30 ships

The Ovando expedition reached Hispaniola and the young Hernando Cortez proved popular with his mentor Quintero and Nicholas de Ovando

Cortes proved to be an excellent soldier under the command of Spanish soldier named Diego Velazquez (1460-1532)

1511: Diego Columbus, the new governor of Hispaniola, resolved to conquer the island of Cuba and selected Diego Velazquez as commander of the expedition

1511: The expedition to Cuba consisted of four vessels with 300 men. Hernando Cortes was chosen to accompany Velazquez on the expedition

Cuba was quickly subjugated by the Spanish expedition force

1513: The town of Bayamo on Cuba was established

1514: The towns of Trinidad, Santo Espiritu, Puerto Principe, and Santiago de Cuba were founded

1514: Hernando Cortes settles on the island of Cuba and becomes a rancher

1518 May 1: A fleet under Juan de Grijalva left Santiago de Cuba explores the coast of Mexico and sends back favorable reports to Velazquez

1518: Velazquez decides to explore further and chooses Hernando Cortes to captain an expedition to establish a colony in Mexico

1519: February 19, 1519, with a force of 600 men, and less than 20 horses Cortez sets sail for Mexico.

1519: Hernando Cortes and his soldiers sailed to the Yucatan Penisula and march inland to Tenochtitlan

1519 March: Cortes lands in Mexico, and suppresses the town of Tabasco. He meets a woman called Malinche who becames his mistress, guide and interpreter

Cortes establishes the town of La Villa Rica de la Vera Cruz. To prevent any possibility of desertion and retreat he literally burns all of his boats

Cortes learns about the fabulous riches of the Aztec Empire and marches his troops inland to discover the land of the Aztecs

Cortes forces an alliance with the Aztec Indians of Tlaxcala and learns about their customs, culture and religion

Cortes learns of Quetzalcoatl the 'Winged God - Feather Serpent'. This Aztec legend was about a light skinned, bearded God-King of Civilisation and learning who was revered by the Aztecs as Christians revered Jesus Christ

The arrival of Cortes and his Spanish soldiers coincided perfectly with the predicted return of the God-King Quetzalcoatl

Cortes heads further inland and reaches the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan. The Aztecs believe that Cortes could be Quetzalcoatl their light skinned, bearded God-King

November 1519: Montezuma II, the Aztec king does not stop Cortes and his force from entering Tenochtitlan, the Aztec capital which houses thousands of Aztecs

Cortes meets no resistance and establishes a headquarters inside Tenochtitlan

To maintain his position he takes Montezuma as hostage and forces him to swear allegiance to King Charles V of Spain

Meanwhile Velasquez had sent 1,400 soldiers to arrest Cortes. Hernando Cortes decides to march to the coast to do battle with the soldiers but instead he persuades them to join him

1520: Cortes is attacked by thousands of Aztec warriors on his return to Tenochtitlan. The Aztec attack was prompted by the slaughter of 600 Aztec nobles whilst Cortes was away

Cortes tries to calm the Aztecs by releasing Montezuma but the Aztecs stone him to death

1520: Hernando Cortes and his soldiers are forced out of Tenochtitlan

1521: Hernando Cortes returns to Tenochtitlan with reinforcements

1521 August 13 Plague strikes the Aztec population and Tenochtitlan falls to Cortes

Hernando Cortes conquered 5 Million Aztecs with less than 1000 soldiers

1528: Cortes returns to Spain and was given the title "Marques del Valle de Oaxaca."

1530: Hernando Cortes returned to the New World and settles in Cuernavaca, Mexico

1533: Hernando Cortes makes his final expedition and discovers Baja in California

1534: Hernando Cortes explored California for a year before returning to Mexico

1540: Hernando Cortes returns home to Spain for the last time

1541: Spain fears the power that Hernando Cortes has in the New World - Cortes is denied any government post in Mexico and his reputation is smeared by rumours that he murdered his wife, Catalina Xuarez but he is given permission to fight against the Moors and the Pirates of Algiers

1547: Cortez died on December 2, 1547 near Seville

Famous Explorers - Hernando Cortes - Spanish Conquistador and Explorer
Additional details, timelines, facts, history and information about the famous European Explorers and events in the great Age of Exploration and Elizabethan Times can be accessed via the Elizabethan Era Sitemap.

Interesting Picture, Facts, Timeline and Information about Hernando Cortes Some interesting facts and biography information about the History, Life & Times of Hernando Cortes

Hernando Cortes

Interesting Picture, Timeline, Facts and information about Hernando Cortes

Short Biography about the life of Hernando Cortes - Spanish Conquistador and Explorer

Facts, Timeline and History of Hernando Cortes

Major voyages of discovery and exploration

Picture, Timeline and Biography of Cortes

Facts, Story and History about Hernando Cortes

Important accomplishments, dates and events in the life and history of Hernando Cortes

Famous European Explorers

www.elizabethan-era.org.uk are subject to Copyright Laws - the name of the Website Author is Linda Alchin. The referencing protocol is suggested as follows:

Elizabethan Era - Free Educational Resource. Author Referencing Information
The contents of Alchin, L.K.
Elizabethan Era
e.g. Retrieved May 16 2012 from www.elizabethan-era.org.uk
The content of Elizabethan Era is free but solely for educational purposes. Reproduction is not to be "used for any purpose other than private study, scholarship, or research.". We would respectfully direct our visitors to our Elizabethan Era Copyright page and Elizabethan Era Privacy Statement regarding the Terms of Use of this history site, both may be accessed from the links provided at the bottom of this page.

Queen Elizabeth's Coat of Arms

Hernando Cortes

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Hernando Cortes ( aka Hernan Cortez) Biography, Timeline & Facts about the famous explorer, explorations & voyages in the Age of Exploration Short Biography of the life of Hernando Cortes - Spanish Conquistador and Explorer The following biography information provides basic facts about the life Hernando Cortes: Nationality - Spanish

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Visit this site dedicated to providing information about Vasco da Gama.Fast and accurate details and facts about the history of Vasco da Gama.Learn the facts about Vasco da Gama.

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Interesting Facts, Picture and information about Christopher Columbus

Short Biography about the life of Christopher Columbus - Explorer and Navigator

Facts, Timeline & History Christopher Columbus

Major voyages of discovery and exploration

Famous Explorer - Timeline, Story and Biography

Picture of Christopher Columbus

Short Biography of the life of Christopher Columbus - Explorer and Navigator

The following biography information provides basic facts about the life Christopher Columbus:

Nationality - Born in Italy. Lived in Portugal and in Spain. Patrons - King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain

Lifespan - 1451 - 1506

Education - Limited due to lack of money in the family

Family - Respectable, but impoverished family. Christopher Columbus was the eldest of five children. Christopher Columbus had two sons by different mothers. His heir was Diego Columbus (1480 - 1526). His second and favorite son was Ferdinand, better known as Fernando ( 1488 - 1539)

Career - Explorer and Navigator

Famous for discovering the New World, yet he died thinking he had reached the Indies. A man called Regiomontanuswas famous as a Medieval Scientist, Mathematician and Astronomer.

His book Ephemerides was used by Christopher Columbus and Amerigo Vespucci to measure longitudes in their explorations of the New World.

The Ships of Christopher Columbus - Explorer and Navigator
The names of the Ships of Christopher Columbus:

The Nina

The Pinta

The Santa Maria

Facts & History about the Early life of Christopher Columbus - Explorer and Navigator
The following are facts and dates in a timeline format telling the story about the early life and history of Christopher Columbus:

1451 Christopher Columbus was born in the Italian port of Genoa, the son of a wool merchant called Domenico Colombo

His mother was Susanna Fontanarossa, the daughter of a woollens merchant. Christopher Columbus had three younger brothers, Bartolomeo, Giovanni Pellegrino, and Giacomo, and a sister, Bianchinetta Columbus

1467 Christopher Columbus travelled to Iceland when he was sixteen years old

1470 The Columbus family moved to Savona

Christopher Columbus travelled the seas as a pirate, or Privateer, attacking ships belonging to the Moors

1476 Christopher Columbus ship is sunk in a battle off Portugal, but he swims ashore

1477 Christopher Columbus joined his brother Bartholomew who worked as a cartographer, in Lisbon

1479 Christopher Columbus married wealthy Felipa Perestrello Moniz, a daughter from a noble Portuguese family

Felipa's father was Bartolomeu Perestrello an explorer who had been involved with the discovery of the Madeira Islands ( Bartolomeu Perestrello had died when Felipa was a young girl)

Felipa gave Christopher Columbus Bartolomeu Perestrello's charts of the winds and currents of the Portuguese possessions in the Atlantic

1480 Christopher Columbus and Felipa had a son who they named Diego Colon

1484 Christopher Columbus failed to get the King of Portugal to back his plan to search for a fast trade route to the Indies

1485 Christopher Columbus wife Felipa dies of consumption

1485 Christopher Columbus moves to Cadiz in Spain opening another shop supplying maps and charts

1486 Columbus begins his relationship with Dona Beatriz Enriquez de Arana, a lady of a noble family from Cordova in Spain

1486 Columbus first petitions his plans to the Spanish court but is refused

1487 He was in the service of the Duke of Medina Celi, Don Luis de la Cerda

1487 Columbus submits his plans to King Henry VII of England and King Charles VIII of France but they both decline his proposals

1488 His second and favorite son Ferdinand, better known as Fernando ( 1488 - 1539) was born. His mother was Dona Beatriz Enriquez

1491 Columbus again appealed to King Ferdinand taking his son Diego with him but he was again refused

1491 A priest called Father Perez interceded on behalf of Columbus and pleaded with Queen Isabella to fund Columbus who, if he succeed would be able to convert heathen races to Christianity

1492 King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain finally give Christopher Columbus the money and ships

Both the sons of Christopher Columbus served as pages to Prince Juan, the son of the King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella

1492 August Columbus leaves Palos, Spain in search of the Indies

Facts & History about the Early life of Christopher Columbus - Explorer and Navigator
The following are facts and dates in a timeline format telling the story about the early life and history of Christopher Columbus:

1451 Christopher Columbus was born in the Italian port of Genoa, the son of a wool merchant called Domenico Colombo

His mother was Susanna Fontanarossa, the daughter of a woollens merchant. Christopher Columbus had three younger brothers, Bartolomeo, Giovanni Pellegrino, and Giacomo, and a sister, Bianchinetta Columbus

Timeline, Facts & History about the 1492 voyage of Christopher Columbus to the New World

Christopher Columbus ship was called the Santa Maria. It was completely decked and carried the flag of Columbus as admiral. His son, Fernando accompanied Columbus

The other two ships, the Pinta, and the Nina, were undecked caravels with cabins and forecastles

Martin Alonso Pinzon commanded the Pinta and his brother, Vicente Yanez Pinzon commanded the Nina

Christopher Columbus three ships carried 120 men

1492 September 8 - The Voyage of Christopher Columbus began

1492 September 15 The ships touched at the Canaries the conditions were favorable

1492 September 20 The Sargasso Sea - the conditions change. Columbus kept two log books to deceive the crew as to the real length of the voyage

1492 September 23 The Crew Members Become Disgruntled

1492 October 7 False Landfall is spotted

1492 October 11 There is near Mutiny from the crew

1492 October 12 Land was seen plainly by one of the Pinta's crew

1492 October 12 Columbus lands on Watling's Island in the Bahamas, West Indies. The discoverers named the island San Salvador. Columbus believes that he has reached the passage to India and China

1492 October 28 Cuba

1492 December 5 the Santa Maria sinks off the cost of Hispaniola

Christopher Columbus establishes the first Spanish settlement in the New World

1492 January 16 Christopher Columbus starts the return journey home to Spain

Timeline, Facts & History about the Later life of Christopher Columbus
The following are facts and dates in a timeline format telling the story about the later life and history of Christopher Columbus:

1493 Christopher Columbus arrives at Palos in Spain on 15 March, 1493

He brings the news to Europe of the New World

1493, 25 September The Second voyage of Christopher Columbus with 16 ships from Cadiz, carrying about 1500 men including Juan Ponce de Leon

Columbus explores Hispaniola (Jamaica) and encounters the hostile Carib and Arawak native indians

Columbus establishes a Spanish settlement in Haiti and searches for gold

1494 September 29 Christopher Columbus returns to Spain

1498 May 30 The Third voyage of Christopher Columbus from Seville, Spain, with six ships

31 July 1498 Christopher Columbus arrived at the Cape Verde Islands, near Trinidad

Columbus crossed over to the mainland where he discovered pearls

Christopher Columbus was the first European to land in South America

News spreads to Spain about problems in the Spanish settlements. Columbus is heavily criticised for its handling

A visita was ordered - it was a much dreaded measure. The visitador chosen to investigate was Francisco de Bobadilla

24 August, 1500 Bobadilla landed at Santo Domingo

Francisco de Bobadilla believed that Columbus and his brothers considered themselves rulers of the new country. He ordered their imprisonment, where they were harshly held in irons

1500 October Christopher Columbus and his brothers are sent home in chains

Royalty, nobility and the Spanish people were horrified at the injustices which ad been heaped on Christopher Columbus and all previous property confiscated and rank was restored to Christopher Columbus

Christopher Columbus proposed yet another voyage of discovery

1502 Fourth and final voyage of Christopher Columbus leaves from Cadiz, Spain, with four ships

1504 7th November - Christopher Columbus returns to Spain

1506, May 20 Christopher Columbus dies at the Spanish court at Valladolid

Interesting Facts and Information about Christopher Columbus Some interesting facts, timeline and biography information about the History, Life & Times of Christopher Columbus

Famous Explorers - Christopher Columbus - Explorer and Navigator Additional details, timelines, facts, history and information about the famous European Explorers and events in the great Age of Exploration and Elizabethan Times can be accessed via the Elizabethan Era Sitemap.

Christopher Columbus

Interesting Facts, Picture and information about Christopher Columbus

Short Biography, Picture and Timeline about the life of Christopher Columbus

Facts, Picture, Story and History about the life of Christopher Columbus

Famous Explorer - Timeline, Life Story and Biography

Important accomplishments, achievements, dates and events in the life of Christopher Columbus

Christopher Columbus Life Story and Picture

Christopher Columbus Picture

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Interesting Facts, Picture and information about Christopher Columbus Short Biography about the life of Christopher Columbus - Explorer and Navigator Facts, Timeline & History Christopher Columbus Major voyages of discovery and exploration Famous Explorer - Timeline, Story and Biography Picture of Christopher Columbus Short Biography of the life of Christopher Columbus - Explorer and Navigator The following biography information provides basic facts about the life Christopher Columbus: Nationality - Born in Italy.

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Motive and Means In the fifteenth century, Europeans began to sail all over the world. Because of conquests by the Ottoman Turks in the fourteenth century, Europeans could no longer travel by land to the East, like Marco Polo had done in the thirteenth century. This problem made them attempt to reach Asia by sea.

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From the 1400's to 1600's there was a boom in exploration. Some explorers sought fame and fortune, while others wanted to spread Christianity. Who were they? Did they find what they were looking for? What happened to the indigenous people who were already living in areas that were being "explored"?

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A summary and map of the routes various European Explorers took during the Age of Exploration for a World or US History unit on Discovery.

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Look up videos and lesson plans on your explorer

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Look up videos and lesson plans on your explorer

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Some sailed across the Atlantic, others rocketed to the moon. Learn more about the lives and journeys of some of history's greatest explorers with our PBS World Explorers collection.

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The Vikings Discover the New World

The first attempt by Europeans to colonize the New World occurred around1000 A.D. when the Vikings sailed from the British Isles to Greenland, established a colony and then moved on to Labrador, the Baffin Islands and finally Newfoundland. There they established a colony named Vineland (meaning fertile region) and from that base sailed along the coast of North America, observing the flora, fauna and native peoples. Inexplicably, Vineland was abandoned after only a few years.

Did you know? Explorer Henry Hudson died when his crew mutinied and left Hudson, his son and seven crewmembers adrift in a small open boat in the Hudson Bay.

Although the Vikings never returned to America, other Europeans came to know of their accomplishments. Europe, however, was made up of many small principalities whose concerns were mainly local. Europeans may have been intrigued by the stories of the feared Vikings' discovery of a "new world," but they lacked the resources or the will to follow their path of exploration. Trade continued to revolve around the Mediterranean Sea, as it had for hundreds of years.

The Reformation, the Renaissance and New Trade Routes

Between 1000 and 1650, a series of interconnected developments occurred in Europe that provided the impetus for the exploration and subsequent colonization of America. These developments included the Protestant Reformation and the subsequent Catholic Counter-Reformation, the Renaissance, the unification of small states into larger ones with centralized political power, the emergence of new technology in navigation and shipbuilding and the establishment of overland trade with the East and the accompanying transformation of the medieval economy.

The Protestant Reformation and the Catholic Church's response in the Counter-Reformation marked the end of several centuries of gradual erosion of the power of the Catholic Church as well as the climax of internal attempts to reform the Church. Protestantism emphasized a personal relationship between each individual and God without the need for intercession by the institutional church.

In the Renaissance, artists and writers such as Galileo, Machiavelli and Michelangelo adopted a view of life that stressed humans' ability to change and control the world. Thus, the rise of Protestantism and the Counter-Reformation, along with the Renaissance, helped foster individualism and create a climate favorable to exploration.

At the same time, political centralization ended much of the squabbling and fighting among rival noble families and regions that had characterized the Middle Ages. With the decline of the political power and wealth of the Catholic Church, a few rulers gradually solidified their power. Portugal, Spain, France and England were transformed from small territories into nation-states with centralized authority in the hands of monarchs who were able to direct and finance overseas exploration.

As these religious and political changes were occurring, technological innovations in navigation set the stage for exploration. Bigger, faster ships and the invention of navigational devices such as the astrolabe and sextant made extended voyages possible.

A Faster Route to the East

But the most powerful inducement to exploration was trade. Marco Polo's famous journey to Cathay signaled Europe's "discovery" of Chinese and Islamic civilizations. The Orient became a magnet to traders, and exotic products and wealth flowed into Europe. Those who benefited most were merchants who sat astride the great overland trade routes, especially the merchants of the Italian city-states of Genoa, Venice and Florence.

The newly unified states of the Atlantic-France, Spain, England and Portugal-and their ambitious monarchs were envious of the merchants and princes who dominated the land routes to the East. Moreover, in the latter half of the fifteenth century, war between European states and the Ottoman Empire greatly hampered Europe's trade with the Orient. The desire to supplant the trade moguls, especially the Italians, and fear of the Ottoman Empire forced the Atlantic nations to search for a new route to the East.

Portugal: Bartolomeu Dias, Vasco de Gama and Pedro Álvares Cabral

Portugal led the others into exploration. Encouraged by Prince Henry the Navigator, Portuguese seamen sailed southward along the African coast, seeking a water route to the East. They were also looking for a legendary king named Prester John who had supposedly built a Christian stronghold somewhere in northwestern Africa. Henry hoped to form an alliance with Prester John to fight the Muslims.

During Henry's lifetime the Portuguese learned much about the African coastal area. His school developed the quadrant, the cross-staff and the compass, made advances in cartography and designed and built highly maneuverable little ships known as caravels.

After Henry's death, Portuguese interest in long-distance trade and expansion waned until King John II commissioned Bartolomeu Dias to find a water route to India in 1487. Dias sailed around the tip of Africa and into the Indian Ocean before his frightened crew forced him to give up the quest. A year later, Vasco da Gama succeeded in reaching India and returned to Portugal laden with jewels and spices.

In 1500, Pedro Álvares Cabral discovered and claimed Brazil for Portugal, and other Portuguese captains established trading posts in the South China Sea, the Bay of Bengal, and the Arabian Sea. These water routes to the East undercut the power of the Italian city-states, and Lisbon became Europe's new trade capital.

Spain and Christopher Columbus

Christopher Columbus launched Spain's imperial ambitions. Born in Genoa, Italy, around 1451, Columbus learned the art of navigation on voyages in the Mediterranean and the Atlantic. At some point he probably read Cardinal Pierre d'Ailly's early fifteenth-century work, Imago mundi, which argued that the East could be found by sailing west of the Azores for a few days.

Columbus, hoping to make such a voyage, spent years seeking a sponsor and finally found one in Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain after they defeated the Moors and could turn their attention to other projects.

In August 1492, Columbus sailed west with his now famous ships, Niña, Pinta and Santa María. After ten weeks he sighted an island in the Bahamas, which he named San Salvador. Thinking he had found islands near Japan, he sailed on until he reached Cuba (which he thought was mainland China) and later Haiti.

Columbus returned to Spain with many products unknown to Europe-coconuts, tobacco, sweet corn, potatoes-and with tales of dark-skinned native peoples whom he called "Indians" because he assumed he had been sailing in the Indian Ocean.

Although Columbus found no gold or silver, he was hailed by Spain and much of Europe as the discoverer of d'Ailly's western route to the East. John II of Portugal, however, believed Columbus had discovered islands in the Atlantic already claimed by Portugal and took the matter to Pope Alexander II.

Twice the pope issued decrees supporting Spain's claim to Columbus's discoveries. But the territorial disputes between Portugal and Spain were not resolved until 1494 when they signed the Treaty of Tordesillas, which drew a line 370 leagues west of the Azores as the demarcation between the two empires.

Despite the treaty, controversy continued over what Columbus had found. He made three more voyages to America between 1494 and 1502, during which he explored Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Jamaica, and Trinidad. Each time he returned more certain that he had reached the East.

Subsequent explorations by others, however, persuaded most Europeans that Columbus had discovered a "New World." Ironically, that New World was named for someone else. A German geographer, Martin Waldseemüller, accepted the claim of Amerigo Vespucci that he had landed on the American mainland before Columbus. In 1507 Waldseemüller published a book in which he named the new land "America."

Spanish Explorers After Columbus

More Spanish expeditions followed. Juan Ponce de León explored the coasts of Florida in 1513. Vasco Núñez de Balboa crossed the Isthmus of Panama and discovered the Pacific Ocean in the same year.

Ferdinand Magellan's expedition (in the course of which he put down a mutiny and was later killed) sailed around the tip of South America, across the Pacific to the Philippines, through the Indian Ocean and back to Europe around the southern tip of Africa between 1519 and 1522.

Two expeditions led directly to Spain's emergence as sixteenth-century Europe's wealthiest and most powerful nation. The first was headed by Hernán Cortés, who in 1519 led a small army of Spanish and Native Americans against the Aztec Empire of Mexico. Completing the conquest in 1521, Cortés took control of the Aztecs' fabulous gold and silver mines.

Ten years later, an expedition under Francisco Pizarro overwhelmed the Inca Empire of Peru, securing for the Spaniards the great Inca silver mines of Potosí.

In 1535 and 1536, Pedro de Mendoza went as far as present-day Buenos Aires in Argentina, where he founded a colony. At the same time, Cabeza de Vaca explored the North American Southwest, adding that region to Spain's New World empire.

A few years later (1539-1542), Francisco Vásquez de Coronado discovered the Grand Canyon and journeyed through much of the Southwest looking for gold and the legendary Seven Cities of Cíbola. About the same time, Hernando de Soto explored southeastern North America from Florida to the Mississippi River. By 1650, Spain's empire was complete and fleets of ships were carrying the plunder back to Spain.

Religious Motivations

As European powers conquered the territories of the New World, they justified wars against Native Americans and the destruction of their cultures as a fulfillment of the European secular and religious vision of the New World. The idea of "America" antedated America's discovery and even Viking exploration.

That idea had two parts: one paradisiacal and utopian, the other savage and dangerous. Ancient tales described distant civilizations, usually to the west, where European-like peoples lived simple, virtuous lives without war, famine, disease or poverty. Such utopian visions were reinforced by religious notions. Early Christian Europeans had inherited from the Jews a powerful prophetic tradition that drew upon apocalyptic biblical texts in the books of Daniel, Isaiah and Revelations. They connected the Christianization of the world with the second coming of Christ. Such ideas led many Europeans (including Columbus) to believe it was God's plan for Christians to convert pagans wherever they were found.

If secular and religious traditions evoked utopian visions of the New World, they also induced nightmares. The ancients described wonderful civilizations, but barbaric, evil ones as well. Moreover, late medieval Christianity inherited a rich tradition of hatred for non-Christians derived in part from the Crusaders' struggle to free the Holy Land and from warfare against the Moors.

European encounters with the New World were viewed in light of these preconceived notions. To plunder the New World of its treasures was acceptable because it was populated by pagans. To Christianize the pagans was necessary because it was part of God's plan; to kill them was right because they were Satan's warriors.

France: Giovanni da Verrazano, Jacques Cartier and Samuel de Champlain

While Spain was building its New World empire, France was also exploring the Americas. In 1524, Giovanni da Verrazzano was commissioned to locate a northwest passage around North America to India. He was followed in 1534 by Jacques Cartier, who explored the St. Lawrence River as far as present-day Montreal.

In 1562, Jean Ribault headed an expedition that explored the St. Johns River area in Florida. His efforts were followed two years later by a second venture headed by René Goulaine de Laudonnière. But the Spanish soon pushed the French out of Florida, and thereafter, the French directed their efforts north and west. In 1608 Samuel de Champlain built a fort at Quebec and explored the area north to Port Royal and Nova Scotia and south to Cape Cod.

Unlike Spain's empire, "New France" produced no caches of gold and silver. Instead, the French traded with inland tribes for furs and fished off the coast of Newfoundland. New France was sparsely populated by trappers and missionaries and dotted with military forts and trading posts. Although the French sought to colonize the area, the growth of settlements was stifled by inconsistent policies.

Initially, France encouraged colonization by granting charters to fur-trading companies. Then, under Cardinal Richelieu, control of the empire was put in the hands of the government-sponsored Company of New France. The company, however, was not successful, and in 1663 the king took direct control of New France. Although more prosperous under this administration, the French empire failed to match the wealth of New Spain or the growth of neighboring British colonies.

The Netherlands: Henry Hudson Leads the Dutch

The Dutch were also engaged in the exploration of America. Formerly a Protestant province of Spain, the Netherlands was determined to become a commercial power and saw exploration as a means to that end.

In 1609, Henry Hudson led an expedition to America for the Dutch East India Company and laid claim to the area along the Hudson River as far as present-day Albany. In 1614 the newly formed New Netherland Company obtained a grant from the Dutch government for the territory between New France and Virginia. About ten years later another trading company, the West India Company, settled groups of colonists on Manhattan Island and at Fort Orange. The Dutch also planted trading colonies in the West Indies.

England: John Cabot and Sir Walter Raleigh

In 1497 Henry VII of England sponsored an expedition to the New World headed by John Cabot, who explored a part of Newfoundland and reported an abundance of fish. But until Queen Elizabeth's reign, the English showed little interest in exploration, being preoccupied with their European trade and establishing control over the British Isles.

By the mid-sixteenth century, however, England had recognized the advantages of trade with the East, and in 1560 English merchants enlisted Martin Frobisher to search for a northwest passage to India. Between 1576 and 1578 Frobisher as well as John Davis explored along the Atlantic coast.

Thereafter, Queen Elizabeth granted charters to Sir Humphrey Gilbert and Sir Walter Raleigh to colonize America. Gilbert headed two trips to the New World. He landed on Newfoundland but was unable to carry out his intention of establishing military posts. A year later, Raleigh sent a company to explore territory he named Virginia after Elizabeth, the "Virgin Queen," and in 1585, he sponsored a second voyage, this time to explore the Chesapeake Bay region. By the seventeenth century, the English had taken the lead in colonizing North America, establishing settlements all along the Atlantic coast and in the West Indies.

Sweden and Denmark

Sweden and Denmark also succumbed to the attractions of America, although to a lesser extent. In 1638, the Swedish West India Company established a settlement on the Delaware River near present-day Wilmington called Fort Christina. This colony was short-lived, however, and was taken over by the Dutch in 1655. The king of Denmark chartered the Danish West India Company in 1671, and the Danes established colonies in St. Croix and other islands in the cluster of the Virgin Islands.

Sources

Samuel Eliot Morison, The European Discovery of America: The Northern Voyages, a.d. 500-1600 (1971); John H. Parry, The Spanish Seaborne Empire (1966; 2nd ed., 1980); David B. Quinn, England and the Discovery of America, 1481-1620, from the Bristol Voyages of the Fifteenth Century to the Pilgrim Settlement at Plymouth: The Exploration, Exploitation, and Trial-and-Error Colonization of North America by the English (1974).

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The first attempt by Europeans to colonize the New World occurred around1000 A.D. when the Vikings sailed from the British Isles to Greenland, established a colony and then moved on to Labrador, the Baffin Islands and finally Newfoundland.

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In the 15th century, Europeans began to sail west across the Atlantic Ocean in search of new routes to China and the East, but in the process they discovered an entirely New World: North and South America, plus many other lands.

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In 1534, France's King Francis I authorized the navigator Jacques Cartier to lead a voyage to the New World in order to seek gold and other riches, as well as a new route to Asia. Cartier's three expeditions along the St. Lawrence River would later enable France to lay claim to the lands that would become modern-day Canada. He gained a reputation as a skilled navigator prior to making his three famous voyages to North America.

Jacques Cartier's First North American Voyage

Born December 31, 1491, in Saint-Malo, France, Cartier began sailing as a young man. He was believed to have traveled to Brazil and Newfoundland-possibly accompanying explorer Giovanni da Verrazzano -before 1534.

That year, the government of King Francis I of France commissioned Cartier to lead an expedition to the "northern lands," as the east coast of North America was then known. The purpose of the voyage was to find a northwest passage to Asia, as well as to collect riches such as gold and spices along the way.

Did you know? In addition to his exploration of the St. Lawrence region, Jacques Cartier is credited with giving Canada its name. He reportedly misused the Iroquois word kanata (meaning village or settlement) to refer to the entire region around what is now Quebec City; it was later extended to the entire country.

Cartier set sail in April 1534 with two ships and 61 men, and arrived 20 days later. During that first expedition, he explored the western coast of Newfoundland and the Gulf of St. Lawrence as far as today's Anticosti Island, which Cartier called Assomption. He is also credited with the discovery of what is now known as Prince Edward Island.

Cartier's Second Voyage

Cartier returned to make his report of the expedition to King Francis, bringing with him two captured Native Americans from the Gaspé Peninsula. The king sent Cartier back across the Atlantic the following year with three ships and 110 men. With the two captives acting as guides, the explorers headed up the St. Lawrence River as far as Quebec, where they established a base camp.

The following winter wrought havoc on the expedition, with 25 of Cartier's men dying of scurvy and the entire group incurring the anger of the initially friendly Iroquois population. In the spring, the explorers seized several Iroquois chiefs and traveled back to France.

Though he had not been able to explore it himself, Cartier told the king of the Iroquois' accounts of another great river stretching west, leading to untapped riches and possibly to Asia.

Cartier's Third and Final Voyage

War in Europe stalled plans for another expedition, which finally went forward in 1541. This time, King Francis charged the nobleman Jean-François de La Rocque de Roberval with founding a permanent colony in the northern lands. Cartier sailed a few months ahead of Roberval, and arrived in Quebec in August 1541.

After enduring another harsh winter, Cartier decided not to wait for the colonists to arrive, but sailed for France with a quantity of what he thought were gold and diamonds, which had been found near the Quebec camp.

Along the way, Cartier stopped in Newfoundland and encountered Roberval, who ordered Cartier to return with him to Quebec. Rather than obey this command, Cartier sailed away under cover of night. When he arrived back in France, however, the minerals he brought were found to have no value.

Cartier received no more royal commissions, and would remain at his estate in Saint-Malo, Brittany, for the rest of his life. He died there on September 1, 1557. Meanwhile, Roberval's colonists abandoned the idea of a permanent settlement after barely a year, and it would be more than 50 years before France again showed interest in its North American claims.

Sources

Jacques Cartier. The Mariner's Museum and Park.
The Explorers: Jacques Cartier 1534-1542. Canadian Museum of History.

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In 1534, France's King Francis I authorized the navigator Jacques Cartier to lead a voyage to the New World in order to seek gold and other riches, as well as a new route to Asia. Cartier's three expeditions along the St. Lawrence River would later enable France to lay claim to the lands that would become modern-day Canada.

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Hernán Cortés de Monroy y Pizarro Altamirano, 1st Marquess of the Valley of Oaxaca ( 1485 - December 2, 1547) was a Spanish conquistador who led an expedition that caused the fall of the Aztec Empire and brought large portions of what is now mainland Mexico under the rule of the King of Castile in the early 16th century. Cortés was part of the generation of Spanish explorers and conquistadors who began the first phase of the Spanish colonization of the Americas.

Born in Medellín, Spain, to a family of lesser nobility, Cortés chose to pursue adventure and riches in the New World. He went to Hispaniola and later to Cuba, where he received an encomienda (the right to the labor of certain subjects). For a short time, he served as alcalde (magistrate) of the second Spanish town founded on the island. In 1519, he was elected captain of the third expedition to the mainland, which he partly funded. His enmity with the Governor of Cuba, Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar, resulted in the recall of the expedition at the last moment, an order which Cortés ignored.

Arriving on the continent, Cortés executed a successful strategy of allying with some indigenous people against others. He also used a native woman, Doña Marina, as an interpreter. She later bore his first son. When the Governor of Cuba sent emissaries to arrest Cortés, he fought them and won, using the extra troops as reinforcements. Cortés wrote letters directly to the king asking to be acknowledged for his successes instead of being punished for mutiny. After he overthrew the Aztec Empire, Cortés was awarded the title of Marqués del Valle de Oaxaca, while the more prestigious title of Viceroy was given to a high-ranking nobleman, Antonio de Mendoza. In 1541 Cortés returned to Spain, where he died six years later of natural causes.

Cortés himself used the form "Hernando" or "Fernando" for his first name, as seen in the contemporary archive documents, his signature and the title of an early portrait. William Hickling Prescott's Conquest of Mexico (1843) also refers to him as Hernando Cortés. At some point writers began using the shortened form of "Hernán" more generally.

Physical appearance

In addition to the illustration by the German artist Christoph Weiditz in his Trachtenbuch, there are three known portraits of Hernán Cortés which were likely made during his lifetime, though only copies of them have survived. All of these portraits show Cortés in the later years of his life. The account of the conquest of the Aztec Empire written by Bernal Díaz del Castillo, gives a detailed description of Hernán Cortés's physical appearance:

He was of good stature and body, well proportioned and stocky, the color of his face was somewhat grey, not very cheerful, and a longer face would have suited him more. His eyes seemed at times loving and at times grave and serious. His beard was black and sparse, as was his hair, which at the time he sported in the same way as his beard. He had a high chest, a well shaped back and was lean with little belly.

Cortés was born in 1485 in the town of Medellín, then a village in the Kingdom of Castile, now a municipality of the modern-day province of Badajoz in Extremadura, Spain. His father, Martín Cortés de Monroy, born in 1449 to Rodrigo or Ruy Fernández de Monroy and his wife María Cortés, was an infantry captain of distinguished ancestry but slender means. Hernán's mother was Catalína Pizarro Altamirano.

Through his mother, Hernán was second cousin once removed of Francisco Pizarro, who later conquered the Inca Empire of modern-day Peru, and not to be confused with another Francisco Pizarro, who joined Cortés to conquer the Aztecs. (His maternal grandmother, Leonor Sánchez Pizarro Altamirano, was first cousin of Pizarro's father Gonzalo Pizarro y Rodriguez.) Through his father, Hernán was related to Nicolás de Ovando, the third Governor of Hispaniola. His paternal great-grandfather was Rodrigo de Monroy y Almaraz, 5th Lord of Monroy.

After two years, Cortés returned home to Medellín, much to the irritation of his parents, who had hoped to see him equipped for a profitable legal career. However, those two years in Salamanca, plus his long period of training and experience as a notary, first in Valladolid and later in Hispaniola, gave him knowledge of the legal codes of Castile that he applied to help justify his unauthorized conquest of Mexico.

At this point in his life, Cortés was described by Gómara as ruthless, haughty, and mischievous. The 16-year-old youth had returned home to feel constrained life in his small provincial town. By this time, news of the exciting discoveries of Christopher Columbus in the New World was streaming back to Spain.

Early career in the New World

Plans were made for Cortés to sail to the Americas with a family acquaintance and distant relative, Nicolás de Ovando, the newly appointed Governor of Hispaniola. (This island is now divided between Haiti and the Dominican Republic). Cortés suffered an injury and was prevented from traveling. He spent the next year wandering the country, probably spending most of his time in Spain's southern ports of Cadiz, Palos, Sanlucar, and Seville. He finally left for Hispaniola in 1504 and became a colonist.

Cortés reached Hispaniola in a ship commanded by Alonso Quintero, who tried to deceive his superiors and reach the New World before them in order to secure personal advantages. Quintero's mutinous conduct may have served as a model for Cortés in his subsequent career.

Upon his arrival in 1504 in Santo Domingo, the capital of Hispaniola, the 18-year-old Cortés registered as a citizen; this entitled him to a building plot and land to farm. Soon afterward, Governor Nicolás de Ovando granted him an encomienda and appointed him as a notary of the town of Azua de Compostela. His next five years seemed to help establish him in the colony; in 1506, Cortés took part in the conquests of Hispaniola and Cuba. The expedition leader awarded him a large estate of land and Taíno slaves for his efforts.

Cuba (1511-1519)

In 1511, Cortés accompanied Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar, an aide of the Governor of Hispaniola, in his expedition to conquer Cuba. Velázquez was appointed Governor of New Spain. At the age of 26, Cortés was made clerk to the treasurer with the responsibility of ensuring that the Crown received the quinto, or customary one fifth of the profits from the expedition.

Velázquez was so impressed with Cortés that he secured a high political position for him in the colony. He became secretary for Governor Velázquez. Cortés was twice appointed municipal magistrate ( alcalde) of Santiago. In Cuba, Cortés became a man of substance with an encomienda to provide Indian labor for his mines and cattle. This new position of power also made him the new source of leadership, which opposing forces in the colony could then turn to. In 1514, Cortés led a group which demanded that more Indians be assigned to the settlers.

As time went on, relations between Cortés and Governor Velázquez became strained. Cortés found time to become romantically involved with Catalina Xuárez (or Juárez), the sister-in-law of Governor Velázquez. Part of Velázquez's displeasure seems to have been based on a belief that Cortés was trifling with Catalina's affections. Cortés was temporarily distracted by one of Catalina's sisters but finally married Catalina, reluctantly, under pressure from Governor Velázquez. However, by doing so, he hoped to secure the good will of both her family and that of Velázquez.

It was not until he had been almost 15 years in the Indies that Cortés began to look beyond his substantial status as mayor of the capital of Cuba and as a man of affairs in the thriving colony. He missed the first two expeditions, under the orders of Francisco Hernández de Córdoba and then Juan de Grijalva, sent by Diego Velázquez to Mexico in 1518. News reached Velázquez that Juan de Grijalva had established a colony on the mainland where there was a bonanza of silver and gold, and Velázquez decided to send him help. Cortés was appointed Captain-General of this new expedition in October 1518, but was advised to move fast before Velázquez changed his mind.

With Cortés's experience as an administrator, knowledge gained from many failed expeditions, and his impeccable rhetoric he was able to gather six ships and 300 men, within a month. Velázquez's jealousy exploded and he decided to put the expedition in other hands. However, Cortés quickly gathered more men and ships in other Cuban ports.

Conquest of Mexico (1519-1521)

In 1518, Velázquez put Cortés in command of an expedition to explore and secure the interior of Mexico for colonization. At the last minute, due to the old argument between the two, Velázquez changed his mind and revoked Cortés's charter. Cortés ignored the orders and, in an act of open mutiny, went anyway in February 1519. He stopped in Trinidad, Cuba, to hire more soldiers and obtain more horses. Accompanied by about 11 ships, 500 men (including seasoned slaves), 13 horses, and a small number of cannons, Cortés landed on the Yucatán Peninsula in Mayan territory. There he encountered Geronimo de Aguilar, a Spanish Franciscan priest who had survived a shipwreck followed by a period in captivity with the Maya, before escaping. Aguilar had learned the Chontal Maya language and was able to translate for Cortés.

Among these women was La Malinche, his future mistress and mother of his son Martín. Malinche knew both the Nahuatl language and Chontal Maya, thus enabling Cortés to communicate with the Aztecs through Aguilar. At San Juan de Ulúa on Easter Sunday 1519, Cortés met with Moctezuma II's Aztec Empire governors Tendile and Pitalpitoque.

In July 1519, his men took over Veracruz. By this act, Cortés dismissed the authority of the Governor of Cuba to place himself directly under the orders of King Charles. To eliminate any ideas of retreat, Cortés scuttled his ships.

March on Tenochtitlán

In Veracruz, he met some of the tributaries of the Aztecs and asked them to arrange a meeting with Moctezuma II, the (ruler) of the Aztec Empire. Moctezuma repeatedly turned down the meeting, but Cortés was determined. Leaving a hundred men in Veracruz, Cortés marched on Tenochtitlán in mid-August 1519, along with 600 soldiers, 15 horsemen, 15 cannons, and hundreds of indigenous carriers and warriors.

On the way to Tenochtitlán, Cortés made alliances with indigenous peoples such as the Totonacs of Cempoala and the Nahuas of Tlaxcala. The Otomis initially, and then the Tlaxcalans fought with the Spanish in a series of three battles from 2 to 5 September 1519, and at one point, Diaz remarked, "they surrounded us on every side". After Cortés continued to release prisoners with messages of peace, and realizing the Spanish were enemies of Moctezuma, Xicotencatl the Elder and Maxixcatzin persuaded the Tlaxcalan warleader, Xicotencatl the Younger, that it would be better to ally with the newcomers than to kill them.

In October 1519, Cortés and his men, accompanied by about 1,000 Tlaxcalteca, marched to Cholula, the second-largest city in central Mexico. Cortés, either in a pre-meditated effort to instill fear upon the Aztecs waiting for him at Tenochtitlan or (as he later claimed, when he was being investigated) wishing to make an example when he feared native treachery, massacred thousands of unarmed members of the nobility gathered at the central plaza, then partially burned the city.

By the time he arrived in Tenochtitlán, the Spaniards had a large army. On November 8, 1519, they were peacefully received by Moctezuma II. Moctezuma deliberately let Cortés enter the Aztec capital, the island city of Tenochtitlán, hoping to get to know their weaknesses better and to crush them later.

Moctezuma gave lavish gifts of gold to the Spaniards which, rather than placating them, excited their ambitions for plunder. In his letters to King Charles, Cortés claimed to have learned at this point that he was considered by the Aztecs to be either an emissary of the feathered serpent god Quetzalcoatl or Quetzalcoatl himself - a belief which has been contested by a few modern historians. But quickly Cortés learned that several Spaniards on the coast had been killed by Aztecs while supporting the Totonacs, and decided to take Moctezuma as a hostage in his palace, indirectly ruling Tenochtitlán through him.

Meanwhile, Velázquez sent another expedition, led by Pánfilo de Narváez, to oppose Cortés, arriving in Mexico in April 1520 with 1,100 men. Cortés left 200 men in Tenochtitlán and took the rest to confront Narváez. He overcame Narváez, despite his numerical inferiority, and convinced the rest of Narváez's men to join him. In Mexico, one of Cortés's lieutenants Pedro de Alvarado, committed the massacre in the Great Temple, triggering a local rebellion.

Cortés speedily returned to Tenochtitlán. Faced with a hostile population, Cortés decided to flee for Tlaxcala. During the Noche Triste (June 30 - July 1, 1520), the Spaniards managed a narrow escape from Tenochtitlán across the Tlacopan causeway, while their rearguard was being massacred. Much of the treasure looted by Cortés was lost (as well as his artillery) during this panicked escape from Tenochtitlán.

Destruction of Tenochtitlán

After a battle in Otumba, they managed to reach Tlaxcala, having lost 870 men. With the assistance of their allies, Cortés's men finally prevailed with reinforcements arriving from Cuba. Cortés began a policy of attrition towards Tenochtitlán, cutting off supplies and subduing the Aztecs' allied cities. During the siege he would construct brigantines in the lake and slowly destroy blocks of the city to avoid fighting in an urban setting. The Mexicas would fall back to Tlatelolco and even succeed in ambushing the pursuing Spanish forces, inflicting heavy losses, but would ultimately be the last portion of the island that resisted the conquistadores. The siege of Tenochtitlán ended with Spanish victory and the destruction of the city.

In January 1521, Cortés countered a conspiracy against him, headed by Antonio de Villafana. Finally, with the capture of Cuauhtémoc, the (ruler) of Tenochtitlán, on August 13, 1521, the Aztec Empire was captured, and Cortés was able to claim it for Spain, thus renaming the city Mexico City. From 1521 to 1524, Cortés personally governed Mexico.

Appointment to governorship of Mexico and internal dissensions

Cortés personally was not ungenerously rewarded, but he speedily complained of insufficient compensation to himself and his comrades. Thinking himself beyond reach of restraint, he disobeyed many of the orders of the Crown, and, what was more imprudent, said so in a letter to the emperor, dated October 15, 1524 (Ycazbalceta, "Documentos para la Historia de México", Mexico, 1858, I). In this letter Cortés, besides recalling in a rather abrupt manner that the conquest of Mexico was due to him alone, deliberately acknowledges his disobedience in terms which could not fail to create a most unfavourable impression.

Cortés managed the founding of new cities and appointed men to extend Spanish rule to all of New Spain, imposing the encomienda system in 1524. He reserved many encomiendas for himself and for his retinue, which they considered just rewards for their accomplishment in conquering central Mexico. However, later arrivals and members of factions antipathetic to Cortés complained of the favoritism that excluded them.

In 1523, the Crown (possibly influenced by Cortés's enemy, Bishop Fonseca), sent a military force under the command of Francisco de Garay to conquer and settle the northern part of Mexico, the region of Pánuco. This was another setback for Cortés who mentioned this in his fourth letter to the King in which he describes himself as the victim of a conspiracy by his archenemies Diego Velázquez de Cuéllar, Diego Columbus and Bishop Fonseca as well as Francisco Garay. The influence of Garay was effectively stopped by this appeal to the King who sent out a decree forbidding Garay to interfere in the politics of New Spain, causing him to give up without a fight.

Royal grant of arms (1525)

Although Cortés had flouted the authority of Diego Velázquez in sailing to the mainland and then leading an expedition of conquest, Cortés's spectacular success was rewarded by the crown with a coat of arms, a mark of high honor, following the conqueror's request. The document granting the coat of arms summarizes Cortés's accomplishments in the conquest of Mexico. The proclamation of the king says in part:

We, respecting the many labors, dangers, and adventures which you underwent as stated above, and so that there might remain a perpetual memorial of you and your services and that you and your descendants might be more fully honored ... it is our will that besides your coat of arms of your lineage, which you have, you may have and bear as your coat of arms, known and recognized, a shield ...

The grant specifies the iconography of the coat of arms, the central portion divided into quadrants. In the upper portion, there is a "black eagle with two heads on a white field, which are the arms of the empire". Below that is a "golden lion on a red field, in memory of the fact that you, the said Hernando Cortés, by your industry and effort brought matters to the state described above" (i.e., the conquest). The specificity of the other two quadrants is linked directly to Mexico, with one quadrant showing three crowns representing the three Aztec emperors of the conquest era, Moctezuma, Cuitlahuac, and Cuauhtemoc and the other showing the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan. Encircling the central shield are symbols of the seven city-states around the lake and their lords that Cortés defeated, with the lords "to be shown as prisoners bound with a chain which shall be closed with a lock beneath the shield".

Death of his first wife and remarriage

Cortés's wife Catalina Súarez arrived in New Spain around summer 1522, along with her sister and brother. His marriage to Catalina was at this point extremely awkward, since she was a kinswoman of the governor of Cuba, Diego Velázquez, whose authority Cortés had thrown off and who was therefore now his enemy. Catalina lacked the noble title of doña, so at this point his marriage with her no longer raised his status. Their marriage had been childless. Since Cortés had sired children with a variety of indigenous women, including a son around 1522 by his cultural translator, Doña Marina, Cortés knew he was capable of fathering children. Cortés's only male heir at this point was illegitimate, but nonetheless named after Cortés's father, Martín Cortés. This son Martín Cortés was also popularly called "El Mestizo".

Catalina Suárez died under mysterious circumstances the night of November 1-2, 1522.

In 1526, he built an imposing residence for himself, the Palace of Cortés in Cuernavaca, in a region close to the capital where he had extensive encomienda holdings. In 1529 he had been accorded the noble designation of don, but more importantly was given the noble title of Marquess of the Valley of Oaxaca and married the Spanish noblewoman Doña Juana de Zúñiga. The marriage produced three children, including another son, who was also named Martín. As the first-born legitimate son, Don Martín Cortés y Zúñiga was now Cortés's heir and succeeded him as holder of the title and estate of the Marquessate of the Valley of Oaxaca. Cortés's legitimate daughters were Doña Maria, Doña Catalina, and Doña Juana.

Cortés and the "Spiritual Conquest" of Mexico

If these people [Indians] were now to see the affairs of the Church and the service of God in the hands of canons or other dignitaries, and saw them indulge in the vices and profanities now common in Spain, knowing that such men were the ministers of God, it would bring our Faith into much harm that I believe any further preaching would be of no avail.

He wished the mendicants to be the main evangelists. Mendicant friars did not usually have full priestly powers to perform all the sacraments needed for conversion of the Indians and growth of the neophytes in the Christian faith, so Cortés laid out a solution to this to the king.

Your Majesty should likewise beseech His Holiness [the pope] to grant these powers to the two principal persons in the religious orders that are to come here, and that they should be his delegates, one from the Order of St. Francis and the other from the Order of St. Dominic. They should bring the most extensive powers Your Majesty is able to obtain, for, because these lands are so far from the Church of Rome, and we, the Christians who now reside here and shall do so in the future, are so far from the proper remedies of our consciences and, as we are human, so subject to sin, it is essential that His Holiness should be generous with us and grant to these persons most extensive powers, to be handed down to persons actually in residence here whether it be given to the general of each order or to his provincials.

And as to those who murmur against the Marqués del Valle [Cortés], God rest him, and who try to blacken and obscure his deeds, I believe that before God their deeds are not as acceptable as those of the Marqués. Although as a human he was a sinner, he had faith and works of a good Christian, and a great desire to employ his life and property in widening and augmenting the fair of Jesus Christ, and dying for the conversion of these gentiles ... Who has loved and defended the Indians of this new world like Cortés? ... Through this captain, God opened the door for us to preach his holy gospel and it was he who caused the Indians to revere the holy sacraments and respect the ministers of the church.

In Fray Bernardino de Sahagún's 1585 revision of the conquest narrative first codified as Book XII of the Florentine Codex, there are laudatory references to Cortés that do not appear in the earlier text from the indigenous perspective. Whereas Book XII of the Florentine Codex concludes with an account of Spaniards' search for gold, in Sahagún's 1585 revised account, he ends with praise of Cortés for requesting the Franciscans be sent to Mexico to convert the Indians.

Expedition to Honduras and aftermath (1524-1541)

Expedition to Honduras (1524-1526)

Cortés's fifth letter to King Charles attempts to justify his conduct, concludes with a bitter attack on "various and powerful rivals and enemies" who have "obscured the eyes of your Majesty". Charles, who was also Holy Roman Emperor, had little time for distant colonies (much of Charles's reign was taken up with wars with France, the German Protestants and the expanding Ottoman Empire), except insofar as they contributed to finance his wars. In 1521, year of the Conquest, Charles was attending to matters in his German domains and Bishop Adrian of Utrecht functioned as regent in Spain.

Velázquez and Fonseca persuaded the regent to appoint a commissioner (a Juez de residencia, Luis Ponce de León) with powers to investigate Cortés's conduct and even arrest him. Cortés was once quoted as saying that it was "more difficult to contend against [his] own countrymen than against the Aztecs." Governor Diego Velázquez continued to be a thorn in his side, teaming up with Bishop Juan Rodríguez de Fonseca, chief of the Spanish colonial department, to undermine him in the Council of the Indies.

A few days after Cortés's return from his expedition, Ponce de León suspended Cortés from his office of governor of New Spain. The Licentiate then fell ill and died shortly after his arrival, appointing Marcos de Aguilar as alcalde mayor. The aged Aguilar also became sick and appointed Alonso de Estrada governor, who was confirmed in his functions by a royal decree in August 1527. Cortés, suspected of poisoning them, refrained from taking over the government.

Estrada sent Diego de Figueroa to the south. De Figueroa raided graveyards and extorted contributions, meeting his end when the ship carrying these treasures sank. Albornoz persuaded Alonso de Estrada to release Gonzalo de Salazar and Chirinos. When Cortés complained angrily after one of his adherents' hands was cut off, Estrada ordered him exiled. Cortés sailed for Spain in 1528 to appeal to King Charles.

First return to Spain (1528) and Marquessate of the Valley of Oaxaca

In 1528, Cortés returned to Spain to appeal to the justice of his master, Charles V. Juan Altamirano and Alonso Valiente stayed in Mexico and acted as Cortés's representatives during his absence. Cortés presented himself with great splendor before Charles V's court. By this time Charles had returned and Cortés forthrightly responded to his enemy's charges. Denying he had held back on gold due the crown, he showed that he had contributed more than the quinto (one-fifth) required. Indeed, he had spent lavishly to build the new capital of Mexico City on the ruins of the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlán, leveled during the siege that brought down the Aztec empire.

He was received by Charles with every distinction, and decorated with the order of Santiago. In return for his efforts in expanding the still young Spanish Empire, Cortés was rewarded in 1529 by being accorded the noble title of don but more importantly named the "Marqués del Valle de Oaxaca" (Marquess of the Valley of Oaxaca) and married the Spanish noblewoman Doña Juana Zúñiga, after the 1522 death of his much less distinguished first wife, Catalina Suárez. The noble title and senorial estate of the Marquesado was passed down to his descendants until 1811. The Oaxaca Valley was one of the wealthiest regions of New Spain, and Cortés had 23,000 vassals in 23 named encomiendas in perpetuity.

Although confirmed in his land holdings and vassals, he was not reinstated as governor and was never again given any important office in the administration of New Spain. During his travel to Spain, his property was mismanaged by colonial administrators. He sided with local natives in a lawsuit.

The entailed estate and title passed to his legitimate son Don Martín Cortés upon Cortés's death in 1547, who became the Second Marquess. Don Martín's association with the so-called Encomenderos' Conspiracy endangered the entailed holdings, but they were restored and remained the continuing reward for Hernán Cortés's family through the generations.

Return to Mexico (1530) and appointment of a viceroy (1535)

Cortés returned to Mexico in 1530 with new titles and honors. Although Cortés still retained military authority and permission to continue his conquests, Don Antonio de Mendoza was appointed in 1535 as a viceroy to administer New Spain's civil affairs. This division of power led to continual dissension, and caused the failure of several enterprises in which Cortés was engaged. On returning to Mexico, Cortés found the country in a state of anarchy. There was a strong suspicion in court circles of an intended rebellion by Cortés.

Cortés acquired several silver mines in Zumpango del Rio in 1534. By the early 1540s, he owned 20 silver mines in Sultepec, 12 in Taxco, and 3 in Zacualpan. Earlier, Cortés had claimed the silver in the Tamazula area.

In 1536, Cortés explored the northwestern part of Mexico and discovered the Baja California peninsula. Cortés also spent time exploring the Pacific coast of Mexico. The Gulf of California was originally named the Sea of Cortés by its discoverer Francisco de Ulloa in 1539. This was the last major expedition by Cortés.

Later life and death

Second return to Spain

After his exploration of Baja California, Cortés returned to Spain in 1541, hoping to confound his angry civilians, who had brought many lawsuits against him (for debts, abuse of power, etc.). On his return he went through a crowd to speak to the emperor, who demanded of him who he was. "I am a man," replied Cortés, "who has given you more provinces than your ancestors left you cities."

Expedition against Algiers

The emperor finally permitted Cortés to join him and his fleet commanded by Andrea Doria at the great expedition against Algiers in the Barbary Coast in 1541, which was then part of the Ottoman Empire. During this campaign, Cortés was almost drowned in a storm that hit his fleet while he was pursuing the Pasha of Algiers.

Last years, death, and remains

Having spent a great deal of his own money to finance expeditions, he was now heavily in debt. In February 1544 he made a claim on the royal treasury, but was ignored for the next three years. Disgusted, he decided to return to Mexico in 1547. When he reached Seville, he was stricken with dysentery. He died in Castilleja de la Cuesta, Seville province, on December 2, 1547, from a case of pleurisy at the age of 62.

He left his many mestizo and white children well cared for in his will, along with every one of their mothers. He requested in his will that his remains eventually be buried in Mexico. Before he died he had the Pope remove the "natural" status of four of his children (legitimizing them in the eyes of the church), including Martin, the son he had with Doña Marina (also known as La Malinche), said to be his favourite. His daughter, Doña Catalina, however, died shortly after her father's death.

After his death, his body was moved more than eight times for several reasons. On December 4, 1547, he was buried in the mausoleum of the Duke of Medina in the church of San Isidoro del Campo, Sevilla. Three years later (1550) due to the space being required by the duke, his body was moved to the altar of Santa Catarina in the same church. In his testament, Cortés asked for his body to be buried in the monastery he had ordered to be built in Coyoacan in México, ten years after his death, but the monastery was never built. So in 1566, his body was sent to New Spain and buried in the church of San Francisco de Texcoco, where his mother and one of his sisters were buried.

In 1629, Cortes's last male descendant Don Pedro Cortés, fourth Marquez del Valle, died. The viceroy decided to move the bones of Cortés along with those of his descendant to the Franciscan church in México. This was delayed for nine years, while his body stayed in the main room of the palace of the viceroy. Eventually it was moved to the Sagrario of Franciscan church, where it stayed for 87 years. In 1716, it was moved to another place in the same church. In 1794, his bones were moved to the "Hospital de Jesus" (founded by Cortés), where a statue by Tolsá and a mausoleum were made. There was a public ceremony and all the churches in the city rang their bells.

In 1823, after the independence of México, it seemed imminent that his body would be desecrated, so the mausoleum was removed, the statue and the coat of arms were sent to Palermo, Sicily, to be protected by the Duke of Terranova. The bones were hidden, and everyone thought that they had been sent out of México. In 1836, his bones were moved to another place in the same building.

It was not until November 24, 1946, that they were rediscovered, thanks to the discovery of a secret document by Lucas Alamán. His bones were put in the charge of the Instituto Nacional de Antropología e Historia (INAH). The remains were authenticated by INAH. They were then restored to the same place, this time with a bronze inscription and his coat of arms. When the bones were first rediscovered, the supporters of the Hispanic tradition in Mexico were excited, but one supporter of an indigenist vision of Mexico "proposed that the remains be publicly burned in front of the statue of Cuauhtemoc, and the ashes flung into the air". Following the discovery and authentication of Cortés's remains, there was a discovery of what were described as the bones of Cuauhtémoc, resulting in a "battle of the bones".

Taxa named after Cortés

Cortés is commemorated in the scientific name of a subspecies of Mexican lizard, Phrynosoma orbiculare cortezii.

Natural children of Don Hernán Cortés

doña Catalina Pizarro, born between 1514 and 1515 in Santiago de Cuba or maybe later in Nueva España, daughter of an indigenous woman in Cuba, Leonor Pizarro. Doña Catalina married Juan de Salcedo, a conqueror and encomendero, with whom she had a son, Pedro.

don Martín Cortés, born in Coyoacán in 1522, son of doña Marina (La Malinche), called the First Mestizo; about him was written The New World of Martín Cortés; married doña Bernaldina de Porras and had two children:

doña Ana Cortés

don Fernando Cortés, Principal Judge of Veracruz. Descendants of this line are alive today in Mexico.

don Luis Cortés, born in 1525, son of doña Antonia or Elvira Hermosillo, a native of Trujillo (Cáceres)

doña Leonor Cortés Moctezuma, born in 1527 or 1528 in Ciudad de Mexico, daughter of Aztec princess Tecuichpotzin (baptized Isabel), born in Tenochtitlan on July 11, 1510, and died on July 9, 1550, the eldest legitimate daughter of Moctezuma II Xocoyotzin and wife doña María Miahuaxuchitl; married to Juan de Tolosa, a Basque merchant and miner.

doña María Cortés de Moctezuma, daughter of an Aztec princess; nothing more is known about her except that she probably was born with some deformity.

He married twice: firstly in Cuba to Catalina Suárez Marcaida, who died at Coyoacán in 1522 without issue, and secondly in 1529 to doña Juana Ramírez de Arellano de Zúñiga, daughter of don Carlos Ramírez de Arellano, 2nd Count of Aguilar and wife the Countess doña Juana de Zúñiga, and had:

don Luis Cortés y Ramírez de Arellano, born in Texcoco in 1530 and died shortly after his birth.

doña Catalina Cortés de Zúñiga, born in Cuernavaca in 1531 and died shortly after her birth.

don Martín Cortés y Ramírez de Arellano, 2nd Marquess of the Valley of Oaxaca, born in Cuernavaca in 1532, married at Nalda on February 24, 1548, his twice cousin once removed doña Ana Ramírez de Arellano y Ramírez de Arellano and had issue, currently extinct in male line

doña María Cortés de Zúñiga, born in Cuernavaca between 1533 and 1536, married to don Luis de Quiñones y Pimentel, 5th Count of Luna

doña Catalina Cortés de Zúñiga, born in Cuernavaca between 1533 and 1536, died unmarried in Sevilla after the funeral of her father

doña Juana Cortés de Zúñiga, born in Cuernavaca between 1533 and 1536, married Don Fernando Enríquez de Ribera y Portocarrero, 2nd Duke of Alcalá de los Gazules, 3rd Marquess of Tarifa and 6th Count of Los Molares, and had issue

In Spanish: Hernán Cortés para niños

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Hernán Cortés | PBS World Explorers | PBS LearningMedia

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Now one of the most remembered conquistadors of all time, Hernán Cortés conquered vast parts of Mexico for Spain. While Cortés brought about the end of the Aztec civilization, his legacy is marred by his brutal treatment of Mexican natives.

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John Cabot ( Italian: Giovanni Caboto; c. 1450 - c. 1500) was a Venetian navigator and explorer who in 1497, sailing westward from England in his ship Matthew, he discovered what he thought was Asia. In fact he discovered Canada, which he claimed for King Henry VII. This was the first European exploration of coastal North America since the Norse visits to Vinland in the eleventh century.

For the 500th-anniversary celebrations, the governments of Canada and the United Kingdom designated Cape Bonavista in Newfoundland as the "official" landing place. Here in 1997 Queen Elizabeth II, along with members of the Italian and Canadian governments, greeted the replica Matthew of Bristol, following its celebratory crossing of the Atlantic.

Early years

Giovanni Caboto (his Italian name) was probably born in Genoa about 1450. He was the son of Giulio Caboto and his wife and he had a brother Piero. Gaeta (in the Province of Latina) and Castiglione Chiavarese (in the Province of Genoa) have both been proposed as birthplaces.

Most of his early life was not written about and so much of his history is missing.

When he was still young his family moved to Venice. Venice was a larger seaport than Genoa and at the time was the most important in all of Europe. Growing up there he learned a great deal about sailing and the sea. Cabot became an excellent sailor. His father was a trader and taught Giovanni (John) all about the spice trade.

Cabot married a young woman named Mattea (female form of the name Matthew) about 1482. They had three sons who all sailed with their father. By this time he was a merchant and traveled widely. He and his family moved to the port of Bristol, England about 1490.

Voyage to North America

Cabot was described as having one "little ship", of 50 tons burden, called the Matthew of Bristol (according to the 1565 chronicle). It was said to be laden with sufficient supplies for "seven or eight months". The ship departed in May 1497 with a crew of 18 to 20 men.

He set sail from Bristol. Cabot sailed across the North Atlantic in about seven weeks. During the voyage they saw enormous quantities of Cod fish. Fishermen would soon follow to take advantage of the rich fishing of the Grand Banks of Newfoundland.

It is stated that the expedition made no contact with any native people; crew found the remains of a fire, a human trail, nets and a wooden tool. The crew appeared to have remained on land just long enough to take on fresh water; they also raised the Venetian and Papal banners, claiming the land for the King of England and recognising the religious authority of the Roman Catholic Church. After this landing, Cabot spent some weeks discovering the coast.

On return to Bristol, Cabot rode to London to report to the King. On 10 August 1497, he was given a reward of £10 - equivalent to about two years pay for an ordinary labourer or craftsman.

Final voyage

Once Henry's throne was secure, he gave more thought to Cabot. On 26 September, just a few days after the collapse of the revolt, the King made an award of £2 to Cabot. In December 1497 the explorer was awarded a pension of £20 per year - equivalent to about four years' pay for an ordinary labourer or craftsman. On February 3, 1498 he was given new orders to help him prepare for a second expedition.

Cabot departed with a fleet of five ships from Bristol at the beginning of May 1498, one of which had been prepared by the King. Some of the ships were said to be carrying merchandise, including cloth, caps, lace points and other "trifles". This suggests that Cabot intended to engage in trade on this expedition.

The Spanish envoy in London reported in July that one of the ships had been caught in a storm and been forced to land in Ireland, but that Cabot and the other four ships had continued on.

For centuries no other records were found that relate to this expedition; it was long believed that Cabot and his fleet were lost at sea. It is not known if Cabot died during the voyage, or returned safely and died shortly after.

Images for kids

Quincentennial commemorative sculpture showing the Lion of St Mark, a symbol of Venice, gifted to Halifax, Nova Scotia from the regional government of Veneto in memory of John Cabot's 1497 voyage

Statue of John Cabot at the Arnolfini Gallery, Bristol Harbourside, England. His 1497 voyage to North America left from Bristol.

In Spanish: Juan Caboto para niños

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Marco Polo ( 1254 - January 8, 1324) was a Venetian trader and explorer who, together with his father Niccolò and his uncle Maffeo, was one of the first Westerners to travel the Silk Road to China (which he called Cathay). He visited the Great Khan of the Mongol Empire, Kublai Khan (grandson of Genghis Khan). His travels are written in Il Milione ( The Million or The Travels of Marco Polo).

The voyage of Niccolò and Maffeo Polo

The Polo name did not originally belong to a family of explorers but to a family of traders. Marco Polo's father, Niccolò (also Nicolò in Venetian) and his uncle, Maffeo (also Maffio), were rich merchants who traded with the East. They were partners with a third brother, named Marco il vecchio (the Elder).

Niccolò and Maffeo Polo set out to Asia in 1255 and reached China in 1266, arriving at Khanbaliq near Peking. They returned from China as Kublai Khan's messengers with a letter for the Pope. This letter asked the Pope to send educated people to teach in Kublai Khan's empire and to inform the Mongols about their way of life. Kublai Khan was the Great Khan of the Mongol Empire and a grandson of Genghis Khan.

In 1269, Niccolò and Maffeo returned to their families in Venice, meeting 15-year-old Marco for the first time.

Marco Polo was born around 1254 in Venice, capital of the Venetian Republic. His father, merchant Niccolò Polo, had his household in Venice and left Marco's pregnant mother to travel to Asia with his brother Maffeo Polo.

Almost nothing is known about the childhood of Marco Polo until he was fifteen years old, except that he probably spent part of his childhood in Venice. Meanwhile, Marco Polo's mother died, and an aunt and uncle raised him. He received a good education, learning trade subjects including foreign currency, appraisal (the expert estimation of an item's worth), and the handling of cargo ships. He learned little or no Latin.

Journey to China and service to the Khan

Maffeo and Niccolò Polo set out on a second journey with the Pope's response to Kublai Khan in 1271. This time Niccolò took his son, Marco, along with two friars who did not finish the voyage due to fear.

The Polos spent the next seventeen years in China. Impressed by Marco's intelligence and humility, Khan appointed him to serve as his foreign emissary to India and Burma. Khan also sent Marco on many diplomatic missions throughout his empire and in Southeast Asia (such as in present-day Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and Vietnam). When he returned, Marco entertained the Khan with stories and observations about the lands he saw. As part of this appointment, Marco did much traveling inside China.

Several times, Kublai refused to let the Polos return to Europe because he enjoyed their company and they became useful to him. However, around 1291, he finally granted the Polos permission to return home, entrusting them with their last duty: to accompany the Mongol princess Kököchin, who was to become the wife of Arghun Khan in Persia. After leaving the princess in Persia, the Polos traveled to Constantinople. They later decided to return to their home.

The Polos returned to Venice in 1295, after 24 years, with many riches and treasures. They had travelled almost 15,000 miles (24,000 km).

Marco Polo was later captured in a minor clash in the war between Venice and Genoa. He spent the few months of his imprisonment in 1298 dictating to a fellow prisoner, Rustichello da Pisa, a detailed account of his travels in the then-unknown parts of the Far East.

His book, Il Milione (the title comes from either "The Million," then considered a gigantic number, or from Polo's family nickname Emilione), was written in Old French and entitled Le divisament dou monde ( The Description of the World). The book was soon translated into many European languages and is known in English as The Travels of Marco Polo. The original copy has been lost and there are now several often-conflicting versions of the translations. The book became an instant success, which was quite an achievement, considering that it was written before the invention of the printing press.

Marco Polo was finally released from captivity in the summer of 1299, and he returned home to Venice, where his father and uncles had bought a large house in the central quarter named contrada San Giovanni Grisostomo with the company's profits.

The company continued its activities, and Marco was now a wealthy merchant. While he financed other expeditions, he would never leave Venice again. In 1300, he married Donata Badoer, a woman from an old, noble family. Marco fathered three children with her: Fantina, Bellela, and Moreta. All of them later married into noble families.

Between 1310 and 1320, he wrote a new version of his book, Il Milione, in Italian. The text was lost, but not before a Franciscan friar, named Francesco Pipino, translated it into Latin. This Latin version was then translated back into Italian, creating conflicts between different editions of the book.

Marco Polo died in his home on January 8, 1324, at almost 70 years old. He was buried in the Church of San Lorenzo.

Skepticism of Marco's stories

On their return from China in 1295, the Polos became a sensation and attracted crowds of listeners who had difficulty believing their reports of distant China. According to a late tradition, since many listeners did not believe him, Marco Polo invited them to dinner one night during which the Polos dressed in the simple clothes of a peasant in China. Shortly before the crowd ate, the Polos opened their pockets to reveal hundreds of rubies and other jewels which they had received in Asia. Though they were impressed, many in Venice still doubted the Polos.

According to a famous story, when Marco was on his deathbed, a priest begged him to confess that he had lied in his stories. Marco refused, insisting, "I have not told half of what I saw!" This anecdote is an example of the skepticism that surrounded Marco's tales during his life.

In recent times, while most historians believe Marco Polo did reach China, some have suggested that he did not get that far and only retold information he had heard from others who were traveling along the silk road. Those skeptics point out that among other omissions, his account fails to mention Chinese writing, chopsticks, tea, or the Great Wall (although in the last case, this should not be surprising given that the wall was not built at its present location until the Ming Dynasty). Also, Chinese records of the time do not mention him, even thought he claimed to have served as a special emissary for Kublai Khan. This is puzzling, given the careful record-keeping in China at that time.

On the other hand, Marco describes other aspects of Far Eastern life in much detail: paper money, the Grand Canal, the structure of a Mongol army, tigers, and the Imperial postal system. He also refers to Japan by its Chinese name "Zipang" or "Cipangu." This is usually considered the first mention of Japan in Western literature.

In his defense, there are no known arguments today that disprove any of Marco's written descriptions. Additionally, Marco gives a detailed account of accompanying an embassy from China to the Khan of Persia and of the delivery of Princess Kököchin for marriage to the Khan. This mission is mentioned both in the Chinese and Persian records, including the names of the envoys, but Marco provides additional information about the journey which could only have been known by his being present on the trip.

Marco Polo is also believed to have described a bridge that later was the site of the Marco Polo Bridge Incident, a battle that marked the beginning of the Sino-Japanese War.

Historical impact

Although the Polos were by no means the first Europeans to reach China by land (for example, Radhanites traded and Giovanni da Pian del Carpine explored in Asia), thanks to Marco's book, their trip was best-documented. That is why Marco Polo is the person most people think of when they think of explorers of the Far East.

Marco Polo's description of the Far East and its riches inspired Christopher Columbus's decision to try to reach those lands by a western route. Columbus owned a copy of Polo's book with many markings and comments.

Legend has it that Marco Polo introduced Italy to some products from China, including ice cream, the piñata, and pasta, especially spaghetti.

The name Marco Polo was also given to a children's game ( Marco Polo), a story in the science fiction series (Marco Polo), and a three-masted clipper ship built in Saint John, New Brunswick, in 1851. The fastest ship of her day, the Marco Polo was the first ship to sail around the world in under six months. Several ships of the Italian navy were named Marco Polo. The airport in Venice is named Marco Polo International Airport.

A species of sheep called the Marco Polo sheep is named for the explorer, who described it during his crossing of Pamir (ancient Mount Imeon) in 1271.

Cartography

Marco Polo's travels may have brought about European cartography, ultimately leading to the European voyages of exploration a century later. The 1453 Fra Mauro map (famous map of the world) is said to have been an improved copy of the one brought from China by Marco Polo.

Marco Polo quotes

"I believe it was God's will that we should come back, so that men might know the things that are in the world."

"I speak and speak, [...] but the listener retains only the words he is expecting. [...] It is not the voice that commands the story: it is the ear."

"Without stones there is no arch."

"I did not write half of what I saw, for I knew I would not be believed."

Interesting facts about Marco Polo

Marco Polo was not the first European to travel to Asia. Giovanni da Pian del Carpine traveled to China in the 1240s, followed by other missionaries.

Marco's father and uncle traveled to Asia and returned when he was fifteen. Marco accompanied them on their second trip in 1271.

He documented animals that were unfamiliar to him and thought that some were mythical. He thought the Asian rhinoceros was a unicorn.

He traveled about 15,000 miles from the time he was seventeen until he was forty-one.

Marco developed a relationship with and worked for Kublai Khan.

Paper money began being used in Europe after Marco's return home.

Marco Polo dictated his stories to a fellow prisoner and friend, Rustichello de Pisa, while they were in prison in Italy. This resulted in the book The Travels of Marco Polo.

Several historians have dismissed some of Marco's stories as lies.

Questions Kids Ask about Marco Polo

Why is Marco Polo so famous?
He was a famous merchant who wrote about his travels. The Western world was fascinated by them, especially his travels in Asia.

How old would Marco Polo be today?
Marco would be 769 years old today.

What did Marco Polo discover?
Marco Polo was not the first European to travel to Asia. However, through reading about his travels, Europeans were able to learn about Asia and its people and customs. They were introduced to technology such as the use of coal, paper money, gunpowder, porcelain, and the invention of the compass.

How did Marco Polo change the world?
He opened up trade routes to East India and China.

Did Marco Polo live with the Mongols?
Marco spent over 20 years with the Mongol ruler Kublai Khan, who was the grandson of Genghis Khan.

What cities did Marco Polo visit?
Marco Polo visited many cities. Some examples of cities he visited in China are Dadu (where Beijing is located today), Xanadu ( Shangdu), Xi'an, and Hangzhou.

Where is Marco Polo buried?
Church of San Lorenzo, Venice, Italy

Related pages

Images for kids

He greatly influenced European cartography, leading to the introduction of the Fra Mauro map.

Corte del Milion is still named after the nickname of Polo, "Il Milione"

San Lorenzo church in the sestiere of Castello ( Venice), where Polo was buried. The photo shows the church as is today, after the 1592 rebuilding.

Plaque on Teatro Malibran, which was build upon Marco Polo's house

In Spanish: Marco Polo para niños

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Leif Eriksson was probably the first European to visit North America. He was a Viking. The Vikings were warriors from northern Europe who traveled far by sea during the Middle Ages.

Leif was born on the island of Iceland sometime before 1000 ce. He grew up on the nearby island of Greenland. His father, Erik the Red, had started a Viking settlement there.

There are two different tales of Leif's North American voyage. According to one tale, he got lost while on a mission to bring the Christian religion to Greenland. He landed on an unknown shore that he called Vinland because he saw grapevines there. Vinland might have been where Nova Scotia, Canada, is today.

According to a second tale, another Viking saw Vinland first and told Leif about it. In about 1000 ce Leif got together a group of explorers. The group reached Vinland and other places as well. Leif called one place Helluland. Helluland might have been the part of eastern Canada that is now called Labrador. Leif named another place Markland. Markland might have been the island of Newfoundland. Many scholars believe the second tale is closer to the truth.

Leif returned to Greenland after his famous voyage. Other Vikings later started settlements in North America. Scientists have found traces of a Viking settlement on the island of Newfoundland. These settlements did not last long, however. They were gone long before the next group of Europeans arrived in the area in the late 1400s.

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Leif Eriksson was probably the first European to visit North America. He was a Viking. The Vikings were warriors from northern Europe who traveled far by sea during the Middle Ages. Leif was born on the island of Iceland sometime before 1000 ce. He grew up on the nearby island of Greenland.

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History for kids - Free history network for kids

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Christopher Columbus

Christopher Columbus is a name that most give tribute to for so many of the explorations of the 15th century.

Columbus was an Italian explorer who was financed by the Spanish royalty to compete with the Portuguese in the most explosive time of seafaring exploration.

During that era, ships sailing to Asia took long and hazardous routes for necessary trade.

Explorers that were sent out to sea were also tasked with the job of finding new lands to claim and bring wealth back to the country they represented.

Christopher Columbus Facts for Kids

Columbus was an Italian explorer.

He believed he could reach Asia by sailing west.

He convinced King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella of Spain to fund his voyage.

He reached the Caribbean in 1492.

He made four voyages to the Americas.

His voyages led to the colonization of the New World.

Columbus Day is celebrated in the United States.

The Atlantic Ocean

Columbus made a total of four trips across the Atlantic Ocean: 1492, 1493, 1498, and 1502.

On one of these voyages he was in search of India, and when he landed in what is now America, he mistook it for India and named the indigenous people "Indians."

The 15th and 16th centuries were known as the "Age of Exploration," and with newly designed ships, many countries were sending explorers out to find spices, gold, and other items from Africa and Asia.

Spain and Portugal led the way with the most ships and explorers and it was during this time that Christopher Columbus was given ships to sail to unknown territories to claim land for Spain.

When Was Christopher Columbus Born

He was born on October 31, 1451, in Genoa, Italy, and began sailing when he was just a teenager.

Columbus was married to Felipa Moniz Perestrelo, in 1477 who later died while giving birth in 1485.

In his early life, Columbus studied cartography, mathematics, astronomy, and navigation. These lessons were valuable for his future voyages.

Columbus had different ideas

The Portuguese had figured out a way to shorten sailing to Asia, but Columbus had a different idea.

He took a chance on believing that he could sail across the Atlantic instead of around the African Cape of Good Hope, and this was the basis for his planned voyages.

Columbus thought that those that had configured the circumference of the Earth had miscalculated. His idea was that it was smaller than the experts thought and an easier voyage from Europe to Asia could be accomplished.

He was to later find out that his math was incorrect, but it did lead him to other successes.

Columbus approached both the Portuguese and the English to accomplish his ideas, but only Ferdinand of Aragon and Isabella of Castile, monarchs of Spain were interested.

Their goal was more land, riches, and expansion of the Catholic religion, and they believed that Columbus' ideas were sound.

Columbus made a deal with the Spanish monarchs to keep ten percent of the riches he might find as well as have a Spanish noble title, and be the governor of any lands that he discovered.

Discoveries in 1492

1492 is the famous year that Columbus launched the ships named the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria, with the goal of finding a shorter route to the East Indies.

The first landfall was on one of the islands in the Bahamas.

Columbus and the three ships sailed for months from one island to the next in what is now the Caribbean.

At this point, they were in search of riches such as gold, silver, precious stones, spices, and any other valuables.

By 1493 Columbus had to leave some of the men from the ships behind in what was known as Hispaniola; today's Haiti and the Dominican Republic, so that he could return to Spain.

Detailed diary

Columbus kept a very detailed diary of the first voyage, documenting everything from daily life with the crew to wildlife they encountered.

The diary includes very racist impressions of local inhabitants and his belief that they should be enslaved.

Six months later Columbus set out on another voyage to the Americas. His voyage to find riches was mostly a failure, but he brought 500 slaves back to Queen Isabella.

To the surprise of Columbus, Isabella rejected the slaves as she felt these people were Spanish subjects and she returned the "gift."

What happened in 1498

By 1498 Columbus was on his third voyage and this time he stopped at the mainland of South America and Trinidad.

When he sailed back to Hispaniola the colonists had revolted due to mismanagement of the colony and the native Taino population had all but been destroyed.

Although Columbus was arrested and returned to Spain in chains, he was cleared of charges in 1502 but lost his noble title.

The last voyage of an aging Columbus took his ship to Panama, only miles from the Pacific Ocean.

After storms damaged two of the four ships he abandoned them and returned to Spain where he died in 1506.

Did Christopher Columbus Discover America

Columbus didn't find North America. He was the first person from Europe to see a group of islands called the Bahamas and an island that is now called Haiti and the Dominican Republic.

On his next trips, he traveled even further south, visiting Central and South America.

Facts about Christopher Columbus for Kids

Born - October 31, 1451, in Genoa, Italy.

Married - Felipa Moniz Perestrelo, in 1477, and had one son. Felipa died while giving birth in 1485

Later in life, he had another son with Beatriz Enríquez de Trasierra

His real name in Italian was Cristoforo Colombo

His name in Spanish was Cristóbal Colón

He had ideas to sail across the Atlantic Ocean to reach China and East Asia and spent years trying to find funds.

Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand of Spain decided to help fund and pay for the trip

He left Spain on August 3, 1492, with three ships called the Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria

On October 12, 1492, he discovered the small island in the Bahamas that he later named San Salvador

Died - May 20, 1506

What did you learn?

What country did Italian explorer Christopher Columbus sail his ships for?

Spain

What were the reasons the Spanish royalty agreed to finance Columbus' voyages?

Riches, wealth, new routes for trade, and expansion of the Catholic religion

What education did Columbus have that helped him as one of the new explorers?

Columbus studied cartography, mathematics, astronomy, and navigation

What was the deal that Columbus made with the Spanish royalty for his voyages?

Keep ten percent of the riches he might find as well as having a Spanish noble title, and be the governor of any lands that he discovered

What were the names of the three most famous ships that were under Columbus' control?

Nina, the Pinta, and the Santa Maria

What was the goal of Columbus' first voyage?

Find a shorter route to the East Indies

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Christopher Columbus is a name that most give tribute to for so many of the explorations of the 15th century. Columbus was an Italian explorer who was financed by the Spanish royalty to compete with the Portuguese in the most explosive time of seafaring exploration.

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Set up your classroom, without IT

You can quickly and easily set up your classroom in Quill by inputting student names or providing students with a unique code. If you use Google Classroom or Clever, you can automatically set up your classroom with one click.

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Quill.org | Interactive Writing and Grammar

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Set up your classroom, without IT You can quickly and easily set up your classroom in Quill by inputting student names or providing students with a unique code. If you use Google Classroom or Clever, you can automatically set up your classroom with one click.

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Lots of pages to look for your explorer!

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Lots of pages to look for your explorer!

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Animals Fine Arts Language Arts Places Plants and Other Living Things Science and Mathematics Social Studies Sports and Hobbies World Religions

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Sir Walter Raleigh was an English explorer and a great favorite at the court of Queen Elizabeth I. He traveled to distant lands in search of new territories and riches. He…

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Age of Discovery Archives - Ages of Exploration

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Abel Janszoon Tasman's explorations across the Indian Ocean and into the South Pacific helped him become the first European to discover Tasmania, and confirm Australia as an island continent.

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Find your explorer and click on their name for more information

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Find your explorer and click on their name for more information

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For Kids

People become explorers for many reasons. Some like adventure. Some are scientists. Some are looking for riches. Some want to make new discoveries. Some are missionaries. Whatever their reason, explorers have some important things in common - they face the unknown, they suffer hardships, and some never make it back to tell their tales. Here are some famous explorers, each who experienced quite an adventure!
New World Explorers
Leif Eriksson: One famous Norse (Viking) explorer was Leif Eriksson. You might call Leif a teen idol. He was tall and blonde and young and brave. He loved adventuring. Lief and a small band of men sailed across the sea and landed in North America 500 years BEFORE Columbus. The Vikings established a settlement on the coast of North America. But the Viking settlers missed their homeland, and returned home. Learn more about the Vikings.

Christopher Columbus: Columbus was an Italian explorer. He is credited with discovering America, even though Lief Erickson discovered it about 500 years earlier, and Native Americans found it much earlier than that. The round trip, including his adventures in the New World, took Columbus eight months. He was well paid for his trip. Columbus was highly respected and, thanks to his adventures, he was also quite wealthy. He was happily married. He had a couple of kids. He was incredibly stubborn. To the day he died, he never once admitted that he had found a New World. He insisted that he had, in fact, discovered the back door to China.

Amerigo Vespucius: Vespucius was an Italian explorer. He sailed thousands of miles along the Atlantic shore of the New World. It was a map maker in Germany who named the New World after Amerigo (Americus) Vespucius. He named it America. The name quickly caught on and spread through Europe. Most historians today agree that Vespucci had nothing to do with the New World being named America in the 1500s. Still, for many years, some people accused Vespucius of trying to steal this discovery from Columbus. When the topic came up in his hearing, Columbus took every opportunity to point out that he did not find a New World; he found a back door to China. (So stubborn!) Columbus did not mind at all that the New World was named after his good friend, and fellow explorer, Amerigo (Americus) Vespucius.

John Cabot: Cabot was an Italian explorer. His family moved to England when he was a kid. In 1497, five (5) years after Columbus, Cabot sailed away from England, looking for a back door to China, just as Columbus had done. He landed in the New World. He claimed land in what would become Canada for England, because England paid for the cost of trip. But, like Columbus, Cabot thought he had successfully discovered a back door to China. He was not as stubborn as Columbus. He soon realized his mistake, and enjoyed many adventures exploring the New World, and much fame at home.

Francisco Pizarro and the Incas: Pizarro was a Spanish explorer. Pizarro and his band of 167 soldiers arrived in the Inca capital city, high in the Andes Mountains of South America, looking for riches. Pizarro knew they were in trouble the minute he entered the city. There was gold everywhere. There were people everywhere. There were temples and beautiful art. This was a civilization, and an organized one. Although their welcome was warm, they were worried they would be killed. It was a very real worry. Pizarro and his men planned all night how to escape. They knew they had very little chance of success. They got lucky! Read the story of Francisco Pizarro and the Incas to find out how.

Hernan Cortes & the Aztecs: Cortes was a Spanish explorer. In the 1500s, when the Spanish conquistador, Hernan Cortes, entered Aztec territory (Mexico) with a small band of his men, the Aztecs misunderstood why they were there. The Aztecs thought these men had been sent by their god, Quetzalcoatl. But the Spanish were looking for people to convert to the Catholic religion, as well as gold to capture. The Aztecs soon became suspicious. Cortes and his men were lucky to leave unharmed.

Vasco Balboa - Balboa was a Spanish explorer, a swordplay teacher, a pig farmer, husband of an Indian princess, and the first to see the eastern shore of Pacific Ocean. He named it Mar del Sur. Later on, Magellan renamed it Mar Pacifica, because when Magellan first saw the Pacific Ocean, the Ocean was especially calm that day. And Magellan's name stuck.

Sir Walter Raleigh: Raleigh made several trips to the New World. He was a soldier, an explorer, a writer, and a favorite with the Queen of England. In 1587, Raleigh sent English colonists to establish a Roanoke Island Colony in the New World. When that didn't work, he claimed land near Roanoke Island, and called it Virginia.

Jacque Cartier: This French explorer made three trips to the New World, looking for a back door to China. He gave the country of Canada its name. Cartier misunderstood the Iroquois word for village - Kanata - and thought it meant the region.

Samuel de Champlain: This French explorer discovered Lake Champlain in what is now Canada, and founded the city of Quebec. The people in Quebec today still speak both French and English.

Henry Hudson: Hudson was hired to find a route to China and India. Instead, like Columbus and Cabot, he ran into the New World instead, and explored the Hudson River.

Hernando De Soto, a Spanish explorer, explored the southeastern part of the New World. He discovered the Mississippi River.

Father Jacques Marquette: Marquette was a French missionary. He explored the Great Lakes Region of North America. Marquette did a lot of exploration with his good friend and fellow explorer, Louis Joliet, a Canadian. They also explored quite a ways down the Mississippi.

Rene Robert de La Salle, a French explorer, also explored the Mississippi. He was the first to navigate all the way down to the mouth of the river. He claimed all the land he discovered for France. Later, after the Revolutionary War, the new government of the United States purchase that land from France. We refer to this as the Louisiana Purchase.

Juan Ponce de Leon led the first Spanish exploration to Florida. He was searching for the legendary fountain of youth. Ponce de Leon sailed with Columbus the second time Columbus came to America.

The Exploration of Canada Interactive - Meet several explorers

Lewis and Clark: Pushed west across America, and explored the Louisiana Purchase. Join the adventure!
Other Explorers
Ferdinand Magellan: Magellan, a Portuguese explorer, was the first man to attempt to sail around the globe on purpose. He died on the way, and never got to finish the trip, but his men finished it for him.

Prince Henry the Navigator: Prince Henry was one of the son's of the king of Portugal. He loved adventure and he loved Portugal. He believed if he could find a way to India to trade for gold, gems, silks, and spices by sea, rather than the dangerous and torturous trip overland, Portugal would become the most wealthy and most powerful nation in the world. He had always been fascinated by the huge African continent to the south of Portugal. Prince Henry believed as big as Africa was, it had to end somewhere, and maybe, just maybe, it ended at a sea, once that could be sailed around the end and travel on to India by boat. He funded many explorations down the West African coastline, each time moving a bit further south. One day, he was proven right! Towards the end of the 1400s, Vasco da Gama, probably the most famous of the many famous Portuguese explorers, rounded the Cape of Good Hope at the bottom tip of the land mass of Africa, and was able to continue on by sea to reach India.

Vasco da Gama: Vasco da Gama was a Portuguese explorer during the Age of Exploration. Vasco da Gama was the first explorer to sail around the tip of Africa and reach India. Bartolomeu Dias, another explorer, had rounded the cape, but his men wanted to turn back because they had already spent so much time at sea, so he never reached India. Vasco da Gama loved adventuring. He did not mind being out to sea for long periods of time. King John of Portugal appointed Vasco da Gama to try again to round the tip of Africa and reach India. It was under King Manuel of Portugal that the voyage was actually made in 1497-1499. King Manuel provided four specially designed ships for the trip, along with enough salted beef and wine to last for years! Vasco da Gama had planned on replacing vegetables and fresh water as needed, with quick stops along the coast of Africa. He brought a great many trinkets with him to trade with the natives. But he couldn't find many places along the African coastline to safely land his boats, and when he could, the natives were not often friendly. Many men died of scurvy from lack of fruit and vegetables on the trip. But, Vasco da Gama did reach India. He brought back jewels and spices to prove it.

James Cook & Australian Explorers: Explored the South Pacific and Australia

Francis Drake: Drake was the first English explorer to sail around the world. He did make it home. The Queen was so pleased with him that she named him Sir Francis Drake.

Marco Polo: Marco Polo was an Italian explorer. He traveled all over Asia in search of knowledge in the Middle Ages. His journal about his travels made many people want to go exploring as well.

Howard Carter: Carter discovered King Tut's tomb. Learn about this fascinating man and play some Tut games here.

Games & Interactives for Explorers

Online Free Games & Activities about Explorers
For Teachers
Lesson Plans and Units
Free Powerpoints about Explorers

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Age of Exploration and New World Explorers for Kids - Free Lesson Plans, Games, Activities, Powerpoints

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People become explorers for many reasons. Some like adventure. Some are scientists. Some are looking for riches. Some want to make new discoveries. Some are missionaries. Whatever their reason, explorers have some important things in common - they face the unknown, they suffer hardships, and some never make it back to tell their tales.

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Find information on your Explorer!

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This extensive section includes biographies on 21 of the world's most important explorers including Christopher Columbus, Ferdinand Magellan, Jacques Carti

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Find information on your explorer!

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Ms. Schoettlin's 5th Grade Social Studies

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Kids learn about the biography and life of various world explorers from Columbus to Neil Armstrong.

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The Arctic

The Arctic culture area, a cold, flat, treeless region (actually a frozen desert) near the Arctic Circle in present-day Alaska, Canada and Greenland, was home to the Inuit and the Aleut. Both groups spoke, and continue to speak, dialects descended from what scholars call the Eskimo-Aleut language family.

Because it is such an inhospitable landscape, the Arctic's population was comparatively small and scattered. Some of its peoples, especially the Inuit in the northern part of the region, were nomads, following seals, polar bears and other game as they migrated across the tundra. In the southern part of the region, the Aleut were a bit more settled, living in small fishing villages along the shore.

Did you know? According to the U.S. Census Bureau, there are about 4.5 million Native Americans and Alaska Natives in the United States today. That's about 1.5 percent of the population.

The Inuit and Aleut had a great deal in common. Many lived in dome-shaped houses made of sod or timber (or, in the North, ice blocks). They used seal and otter skins to make warm, weatherproof clothing, aerodynamic dogsleds and long, open fishing boats (kayaks in Inuit; baidarkas in Aleut).

By the time the United States purchased Alaska in 1867, decades of oppression and exposure to European diseases had taken their toll: The native population had dropped to just 2,500; the descendants of these survivors still make their homes in the area today.

The Subarctic

The Subarctic culture area, mostly composed of swampy, piney forests (taiga) and waterlogged tundra, stretched across much of inland Alaska and Canada. Scholars have divided the region's people into two language groups: the Athabaskan speakers at its western end, among them the Tsattine (Beaver), Gwich'in (or Kuchin) and the Deg Xinag (formerly-and pejoratively-known as the Ingalik), and the Algonquian speakers at its eastern end, including the Cree, the Ojibwa and the Naskapi.

In the Subarctic, travel was difficult-toboggans, snowshoes and lightweight canoes were the primary means of transportation-and population was sparse. In general, the peoples of the Subarctic did not form large permanent settlements; instead, small family groups stuck together as they traipsed after herds of caribou. They lived in small, easy-to-move tents and lean-tos, and when it grew too cold to hunt they hunkered into underground dugouts.

The growth of the fur trade in the 17th and 18th centuries disrupted the Subarctic way of life-now, instead of hunting and gathering for subsistence, the Indians focused on supplying pelts to the European traders-and eventually led to the displacement and extermination of many of the region's native communities.

The Northeast

The Northeast culture area, one of the first to have sustained contact with Europeans, stretched from present-day Canada's Atlantic coast to North Carolina and inland to the Mississippi River valley. Its inhabitants were members of two main groups: Iroquoian speakers (these included the Cayuga, Oneida, Erie, Onondaga, Seneca and Tuscarora), most of whom lived along inland rivers and lakes in fortified, politically stable villages, and the more numerous Algonquian speakers (these included the Pequot, Fox, Shawnee, Wampanoag, Delaware and Menominee) who lived in small farming and fishing villages along the ocean. There, they grew crops like corn, beans and vegetables.

Life in the Northeast culture area was already fraught with conflict-the Iroquoian groups tended to be rather aggressive and warlike, and bands and villages outside of their allied confederacies were never safe from their raids-and it grew more complicated when European colonizers arrived. Colonial wars repeatedly forced the region's Indigenous people to take sides, pitting the Iroquois groups against their Algonquian neighbors. Meanwhile, as white settlement pressed westward, it eventually displaced both sets of Indigenous people from their lands.

The Southeast

The Southeast culture area, north of the Gulf of Mexico and south of the Northeast, was a humid, fertile agricultural region. Many of its natives were expert farmers-they grew staple crops like maize, beans, squash, tobacco and sunflower-who organized their lives around small ceremonial and market villages known as hamlets. Perhaps the most familiar of the Southeastern Indigenous peoples are the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek and Seminole, sometimes called the Five Civilized Tribes, some of whom spoke a variant of the Muskogean language.

By the time the U.S. had won its independence from Britain, the Southeast culture area had already lost many of its native people to disease and displacement. In 1830, the federal Indian Removal Act compelled the relocation of what remained of the Five Civilized Tribes so that white settlers could have their land. Between 1830 and 1838, federal officials forced nearly 100,000 Indigenous people out of the southern states and into "Indian Territory" (later Oklahoma) west of the Mississippi. The Cherokee called this frequently deadly trek the Trail of Tears.

The Plains

The Plains culture area comprises the vast prairie region between the Mississippi River and the Rocky Mountains, from present-day Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. Before the arrival of European traders and explorers, its inhabitants-speakers of Siouan, Algonquian, Caddoan, Uto-Aztecan and Athabaskan languages-were relatively settled hunters and farmers. After European contact, and especially after Spanish colonists brought horses to the region in the 18th century, the peoples of the Great Plains became much more nomadic.

Groups like the Crow, Blackfeet, Cheyenne, Comanche and Arapaho used horses to pursue great herds of buffalo across the prairie. The most common dwelling for these hunters was the cone-shaped teepee, a bison-skin tent that could be folded up and carried anywhere. Plains Indians are also known for their elaborately feathered war bonnets.

As white traders and settlers moved west across the Plains region, they brought many damaging things with them: commercial goods, like knives and kettles, which Indigenous people came to depend on; guns; and disease. By the end of the 19th century, white sport hunters had nearly exterminated the area's buffalo herds. With settlers encroaching on their lands and no way to make money, the Plains natives were forced onto government reservations.

The Southwest

The peoples of the Southwest culture area, a huge desert region in present-day Arizona and New Mexico (along with parts of Colorado, Utah, Texas and Mexico) developed two distinct ways of life.

Sedentary farmers such as the Hopi, the Zuni, the Yaqui and the Yuma grew crops like corn, beans and squash. Many lived in permanent settlements, known as pueblos, built of stone and adobe. These pueblos featured great multistory dwellings that resembled apartment houses. At their centers, many of these villages also had large ceremonial pit houses, or kivas.

Other Southwestern peoples, such as the Navajo and the Apache, were more nomadic. They survived by hunting, gathering and raiding their more established neighbors for their crops. Because these groups were always on the move, their homes were much less permanent than the pueblos. For instance, the Navajo fashioned their iconic eastward-facing round houses, known as hogans, out of materials like mud and bark.

By the time the southwestern territories became a part of the United States after the Mexican War, many of the region's native people had already been killed. (Spanish colonists and missionaries had enslaved many of the Pueblo Indians, for example, working them to death on vast Spanish ranches known as encomiendas.) During the second half of the 19th century, the federal government resettled most of the region's remaining natives onto reservations.

The Great Basin

The Great Basin culture area, an expansive bowl formed by the Rocky Mountains to the east, the Sierra Nevadas to the west, the Columbia Plateau to the north, and the Colorado Plateau to the south, was a barren wasteland of deserts, salt flats and brackish lakes. Its people, most of whom spoke Shoshonean or Uto-Aztecan dialects (the Bannock, Paiute and Ute, for example), foraged for roots, seeds and nuts and hunted snakes, lizards and small mammals. Because they were always on the move, they lived in compact, easy-to-build wikiups made of willow poles or saplings, leaves and brush. Their settlements and social groups were impermanent, and communal leadership (what little there was) was informal.

After European contact, some Great Basin groups got horses and formed equestrian hunting and raiding bands that were similar to the ones we associate with the Great Plains natives. After white prospectors discovered gold and silver in the region in the mid-19th century, most of the Great Basin's people lost their land and, frequently, their lives.

California

Before European contact, the temperate California area had more people than any other North American landscape at the time, with approximately 300,000 people in the mid-16th century. It's estimated that 100 different tribes and groups spoke more than 200 dialects. These languages were derived from the Penutian (the Maidu, Miwok and Yokuts), the Hokan (the Chumash, Pomo, Salinas and Shasta), the Uto-Aztecan (the Tubabulabal, Serrano and Kinatemuk) and the Athapaskan (the Hupa, among others). Many of the "Mission Indians" who were driven out of the Southwest by Spanish colonization also spoke Uto-Aztecan dialects.

Despite this great diversity, many native Californians lived very similar lives. They did not practice much agriculture. Instead, they organized themselves into small, family-based bands of hunter-gatherers known as tribelets. Inter-tribelet relationships, based on well-established systems of trade and common rights, were generally peaceful.

Spanish explorers infiltrated the California region in the middle of the 16th century. In 1769, the cleric Junipero Serra established a mission at San Diego, inaugurating a particularly brutal period in which forced labor, disease and assimilation nearly exterminated the culture area's native population.

The Northwest Coast

The Northwest Coast culture area, along the Pacific coast from British Columbia to the top of Northern California, has a mild climate and an abundance of natural resources. In particular, the ocean and the region's rivers provided almost everything its people needed-salmon, especially, but also whales, sea otters, seals and fish and shellfish of all kinds. As a result, unlike many other hunter-gatherers who struggled to eke out a living and were forced to follow animal herds from place to place, the Indians of the Pacific Northwest were secure enough to build permanent villages that housed hundreds of people apiece.

Those villages operated according to a rigidly stratified social structure, more sophisticated than any outside of Mexico and Central America. A person's status was determined by his closeness to the village's chief and reinforced by the number of possessions-blankets, shells and skins, canoes and even slaves-he had at his disposal. (Goods like these played an important role in the potlatch, an elaborate gift-giving ceremony designed to affirm these class divisions.)

Prominent groups in the region included the Athapaskan Haida and Tlingit; the Penutian Chinook, Tsimshian and Coos; the Wakashan Kwakiutl and Nuu-chah-nulth (Nootka); and the Salishan Coast Salish.

The Plateau

The Plateau culture area sat in the Columbia and Fraser River basins at the intersection of the Subarctic, the Plains, the Great Basin, California and the Northwest Coast (present-day Idaho, Montana and eastern Oregon and Washington). Most of its people lived in small, peaceful villages along streams and riverbanks and survived by fishing for salmon and trout, hunting and gathering wild berries, roots and nuts.

In the southern Plateau region, the great majority spoke languages derived from the Penutian (the Klamath, Klikitat, Modoc, Nez Perce, Walla Walla and Yakima or Yakama). North of the Columbia River, most (the Skitswish (Coeur d'Alene), Salish (Flathead), Spokane and Columbia) spoke Salishan dialects.

In the 18th century, other native groups brought horses to the Plateau. The region's inhabitants quickly integrated the animals into their economy, expanding the radius of their hunts and acting as traders and emissaries between the Northwest and the Plains.

In 1805, the explorers Lewis and Clark passed through the area, followed by increasing numbers of white settlers. By the end of the 19th century, most of the remaining members of Plateau tribes had been cleared from their lands and resettled in government reservations.

Photo Galleries

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Native American Cultures - Facts, Regions & Tribes

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Native Americans, also known as American Indians and Indigenous Americans, are the indigenous peoples of the United States. By the time European adventurers arrived in the 15th century A.D., scholars estimate that more than 50 million Native Americans were already living in the Americas - 10 million in the area that would become the United States.

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"the daily bellringer" "american history" "classroom management strategy" "short history video warm up" "warm up" education "junior high history" "high schoo...

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The first 5 minutes of history class are tough. Students have to shift their mindset from the previous subject they were just in to now studying the past. Teachers have basic procedural duties they have to attend to such as taking attendance, writing passes, getting materials together for class, catching up with that student that was absent, and the list goes on and on.

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This page is where you will go to sign in to amplify, when asked to do so.
Click "Log in with Amplify"
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Welcome to Amplify ELA, Science, Math teacher and student login.

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"The Most Important Star We've Ever Looked at (so Far)

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"The Most Important Star We've Ever Looked at (so Far)

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Let me know what you think about this in the comments!

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The strange behavior of Tabby's Star, or KIC 8462852, has inspired modern astronomy's wildest guessing game, with explanations ranging from aliens to sunspots. Writer Stephen Petranek got Tabby herself to assess the competing ideas.

Far, far away in the constellation Cygnus lies a relatively ordinary F class star about one and a half times the size of our Sun. Astronomers unromantically call it KIC 8462852; others call it Tabby's Star.

If you could travel at the speed of light, it would take you about 1,500 years to reach it, meaning it's too distant to have much of an impact on earthlings. But it just might be the most significant object homo sapiens has ever looked at - out of the billion trillion stars in our universe, this one is different from any other star we've yet observed.

Data from the Kepler space telescope has left astronomers in awe: recent observations show that Tabby's Star has dimmed dramatically over the past century. It dimmed about 18 percent in a single week in 2011 and as much as 22 percent over a period of a hundred days in 2013. Data and old photographs going back to 1890 indicate the star has dimmed during both very long intervals as well as very short ones. This is scientific heresy, however. Stars don't do that; a typical star actually gets brighter as it ages.

This weird behavior began to attract attention in September 2015 when astronomer Tabetha Boyajian (TED Talk: The most mysterious star in the universe) authored a paper titled "Where's the Flux". Astronomers refer to a star's brightness as flux, and yes, the paper's initials are not coincidentally WTF. It caused an uproar soon after it was published in the prestigious journal Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society and astronomers have been furiously positing what is going on ever since.

Why all the excitement? Because, maybe, aliens. The tension between two schools of thought have driven much of the interest: those who think the dimming could be caused by an alien civilization and astronomers who prefer a natural-phenomena explanation. "Scientists like puzzles," says Boyajian, a professor of astronomy and physics at Louisiana State University. "Trying to figure this out is actually fun." Astronomers have published or proposed more than a dozen serious papers, concepts and theories to account for what is happening to Tabby's Star. Here's her evaluation of the latest explanations, from the far-fetched to the possibly somewhat likely.

1. An alien civilization is utilizing the star's energy: "Aliens are in consideration until we can rule them out," says Boyajian. "We will continue to observe this star, and we will learn."

2. A huge planet around the star is blocking the light: Boyajian doesn't buy this theory. "A Jupiter-size planet around this star would dim it by one half of a percent," she says. "You would need more than 50 Jupiter-size planets to be transiting across the star all perfectly lined up at the same time to get such a smooth decrease in the star's brightness. It's pretty much impossible for that to happen."

3. A black hole near the star is eating its light: Nope. "That idea doesn't work," she says. "A black hole would lens the light, magnify it and make it brighter."

4. A very large black hole in the space between us and the star is eating its light: As Boyajian points out, "You'd have a lot of junk flying around the edge of the black hole, and some of it could be doing the light blocking. This is possible, but not very likely, because it doesn't really explain the long-term dimming we observe. Whatever hypothesis is put forward has to explain day-long dips in the light as well as decades-long dimming."

5. Star-forming clouds of interstellar gas and dust are passing between us and the star: "If you look at pictures of the Milky Way," Boyajian says, "you see dark bands in the middle. That's dust. We know it can block light very well. The problem is, you'd be looking at several orders of magnitude of density and sizes greater than what we've ever observed before. The kind of cloud it would take to explain our observations is a whole lot more dense than any other cloud that we actually know of. I'm not saying it couldn't exist; it's just something we don't know about. What's hard for me to wrap my head around is that you have this kind of stuff in interstellar space everywhere, in all directions. So why don't we see this happening everywhere? Why is it we're only seeing this happen with one star?"

6. The dimming is caused by huge sunspots: Not so likely. "These kinds of stars are not known to have sunspots at all," Boyajian says. "F type stars don't have the convective atmosphere that it takes to form sunspots, like our Sun, and they don't have the magnetic field necessary."

7. Small and large patterns of disruption similar to those observed in avalanches on Earth suggest Tabby's Star is about to undergo a phase transition: "The authors of a recent paper looked at the data and said it shows the star has similar characteristics to other phenomena that we've seen, suggesting there is some instability within the star that is going to produce a change soon," Boyajian says. "In the end, the authors said that it may not explain anything. I wouldn't want to rule out that some sort of intrinsic phenomenon is happening to the star. What if this is some sort of special stage in stellar evolution that we don't know about because our models aren't sophisticated enough? Still, the paper is more exploratory than an explanation."

8. Debris from colliding planets blocks the light: "Suppose you have a very young solar system with a lot of debris that hasn't been swept up yet and formed into planets," Boyajian asks. "You could have a catastrophic event, like two huge bodies that ran into each other and that produce a lot of shrapnel that blocks out the starlight. But the problem is, heat would be generated. We see no infrared gain associated with this star."

9. A single planet with huge moons is in an elliptical orbit around the star. The planet's moons are kicked out of orbit as it gets close to the star. The planet's orbit degrades and the star gobbles it up, causing an increase in brightness that dims over time: "This paper builds a model that drops a planet into the star," Boyajian says. "The moons are still in orbit and are being torn apart - which explains the short-term dimming of the star - while the planet being taken into the star explains the brightening of the star that slowly dims over time. The probability that this is the explanation is so small that we should not ever expect to see this elsewhere."

10. Dust from a swarm of comet fragments, broken up in a recent collision, is blocking the starlight: "I still favor this one. I haven't seen anything more workable, but I'm biased because it's the one we proposed in the paper that I'm the lead author on," Boyajian says. "An awful lot of things have to line up for this to be the explanation. All the ideas out there, including this one, are several orders of magnitude farther away from an explanation than I'm comfortable with. We're monitoring the stars nearby this star, and we'll be looking for any similar periodic events."

So even though Boyajian leans towards the last theory, she cautions, "I think we probably haven't heard the right explanation yet." And while she hopes we'll find intelligent life somewhere in the universe, she doubts that dimming stars are the best place to look. "We'll find it when we find a twin of Earth and when our instruments are good enough to detect exactly the right amount of oxygen in its atmosphere, and greenhouse gases, and plate tectonics, and all the other things we know promote life. There's an Earth-like planet in the habitable zone of one out of every five stars that's like our sun. There are tons of Earths out there that can support life," she says. "We just need to find one and start listening."

Meanwhile, a lot more Kepler data about Tabby's Star still needs to be analyzed. The Greenbank radio telescope in West Virginia has piled up readings on the star, as has the FAST radio telescope in China. "The datasets collected are very very big; they're being processed right now," Boyajian says. "There are dozens of searches and observations going on focused on this star, including several by SETI [the Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence Institute, a 2009 TED Prize winner]. Radio telescopes around the world are on alert to focus on the star when we see unusual activity."

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The most important star we've ever looked at (so far)

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Far, far away in the constellation Cygnus lies a relatively ordinary F class star about one and a half times the size of our Sun. Astronomers unromantically call it KIC 8462852; others call it Tabby's Star.

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Read more about the timeline of the constitution, and more

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Timelines connect to each of the articles and amendments in the Constitution as well as to topics, such as health care, energy and the environment, and women's rights. Also available is an interactive in which judges explain the parts of the Sixth Amendment.

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Use this game to be an explorer of the world!

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GeoGuessr is a geography game which takes you on a journey around the world and challenges your ability to recognize your surroundings.

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We will use this in class to practice our math facts!

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The easiest most fun way to practice math facts in a classroom! Instantly engaging and perfect for all-class activities. No students' accounts required.

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Grab some free images or icons to use on visual projects!

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Noun Project: Free Icons & Stock Photos for Everything

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Noun Project has the most diverse collection of free icons and stock photos. Download SVG and PNG. Over 5 million art-quality icons and free photos.

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If you break apart the word "infographic," you get info and graphic.  This is a tool to create a graphic that, you guessed it, gives information! Use it for posters, projects, cover pages, or to get creative!

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Easel.ly is a simple web tool that empowers anyone to create and share powerful visuals (infographics, posters)... no design experience needed! We provide the canvas, you provide the creativity.

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An endless source for information on just about anything!

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Latest Content

Free for the World, Supported by You

World History Encyclopedia is a non-profit organization. For only $5 per month you can become a member and support our mission to engage people with cultural heritage and to improve history education worldwide.

Become a Member Donate

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The free online history encyclopedia with fact-checked articles, images, videos, maps, timelines and more; operated as a non-profit organization.

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Explore this site to see art pieces in America throughout history. There's also lots of other awesome things to see on this site!

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A portal to American art and history

Seeing America was created by Smarthistory with 17 leading museums collections. Together we examine the long history of the United States, from before European settlers to the modern era.

Use the tabs below to sort Seeing America content by theme, historical period, and classroom topic or view all Seeing America content here.

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A portal to American art and history Seeing America was created by Smarthistory with 17 leading museums collections. Together we examine the long history of the United States, from before European settlers to the modern era. Use the tabs below to sort Seeing America content by theme, historical period, and classroom topic or view all Seeing America content here.

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Explore videos and articles on this page to learn more about many different topics!

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The term "Promethean" denotes creativity, rebellion and expansion of the mind in the spirit of the wiley Titan. In Greek mythology, Prometheus assumes an important position as not only the creator of humans but the figure who allowed humans to progress. With fire, humans could expand their abilities and extend their influence. To an ancient Greek culture that valued knowledge and innovation, Prometheus therefore became a figure who symbolized humans' capacity for greatness. Learn more about ancient Greek society and culture here and here.

But Prometheus is an attractive idea far beyond the classical age - Prometheus appears across music, poetry, and pop culture. This piece considers the role of Prometheus in literature. You can click here for information on depiction of Prometheus in painting.

For the Romantics, Prometheus was especially appealing as a renegade figure who sacrificed himself for the sake of expanding all minds. You can learn more about the Romantics and Prometheus here. Two famous examples of Romantic poetry that speculate on the plight of Prometheus are Percy Bysshe Shelley's "Prometheus Unbound" and Lord Byron's "Prometheus".

The story of Prometheus follows a pattern about the evolution of human progress that is echoed in many other world mythologies. These tales often involve a trickster figure who acts as a mediator between divine and mortal, ultimately stealing fire from the Gods and thus unlocking the secret of human advancement. See this wikipedia entry on a range of myths about the theft of fire from across the globe. And on the international stage today, a symbol of Prometheus' rebellion still burns brightly: The Olympic Flame, which burns for the duration of the games.

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The myth of Prometheus - Iseult Gillespie

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Before the creation of humanity, the Greek gods won a great battle against a race of giants called the Titans. Most Titans were destroyed or driven to the eternal hell of Tartarus. But the Titan Prometheus, whose name means foresight, persuaded his brother Epimetheus to fight with him on the side of the Gods.

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Use this to familiarize yourself with both sides of some controversial topics, in order to get ready to write persuasive pieces in class.

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ProCon.org - Pros and Cons of 100+ Topics

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Explore both sides of debated issues. Presented in a non-partisan format with supporting background information, statistics, and resources.

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Use this website to caption a comic picture, as well as create your own comics! Screenshot it and share it to SeeSaw so your parents, teacher and classmates can see!

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Comic Strip Starters | MakeBeliefxComix.com

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Comic Strip Starters: The comic templates on this page can be a useful resource as you introduce your students to MakeBeliefsComix.com.

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Do your very best when completing assignments after reading assigned texts.

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Login with the class code: DKDMNW
Use Password: memo82

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SplashLearn: Fun Math & ELA Program for PreK-Grade 5

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SplashLearn is an award-winning learning program loved by over 40 million kids for engaging Math and ELA practice. Aligned with Common Core and various state standards.

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Learn More About Everything with Mr. Nussbaum! 

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Learn More About Everything with Mr. Nussbaum! 

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Explore this site for information on every subject!

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Mr. Nussbaum - Educational Games, Activities, Resources for Kids Ages 5-14 and Teacher Tools.

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MrNussbaum.com is a kids website that features over 10,000 online and printable activities including over 400 games, tutorials, simulations, videos, interactive maps, research tools, and much more for kids ages 5-14. Established in 2003!

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Look for tribes in your region and learn more about them!

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Mr. Nussbaum History Native Americans Activities

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This massive section contains profiles, games, printables, historical accounts, and activities related to Native Americans for kids in grades K-8.

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Explore this website to see actual news articles written by actual kids, just like you!

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Kid Reporters' Notebook | Scholastic Inc. | News for kids by kids

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The inflatable landscape travels around the country, offering fun for kids of all ages.

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You can check to see if your citations are correct by using easybib's "create citation" tool.

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EasyBib®: Free MLA Citation & Bibliography Generator

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Generate accurate MLA citations with EasyBib. Automatically create your works cited page and format your bibliography.

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Explore this site to learn more about what's going on in the scientific world, today!

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Science News Explores publishes news from all fields of science for students and other curious individuals from middle school and up, with resources for parents and educators.

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Explore the 5th grade news articles here!

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One day when DeJuan Strickland was in fourth grade, he didn't have the money for school lunch. "That really kind of stuck with me," DeJuan, now 15, told TIME for Kids. This year, DeJuan, who goes by DJ, raised money...

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NASA has a website dedicated to monitoring how our planet changes in various ways over time. Explore the website to learn more!

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Climate Change: Vital Signs of the Planet

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Home - Climate Change: Vital Signs of the Planet

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Vital Signs of the Planet: Global Climate Change and Global Warming. Current news and data streams about global warming and climate change from NASA.

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Smithsonian - National Museum of American History

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Smithsonian - National Museum of American History

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Use this website to search for your historical topic!

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Support for Smithsonian's History Explorer is provided by the Verizon Foundation

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LOG IN WITH GOOGLE

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If you're seeing this message, it means we're having trouble loading external resources on our website.

If you're behind a web filter, please make sure that the domains *.kastatic.org and *.kasandbox.org are unblocked.

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Learn for free about math, art, computer programming, economics, physics, chemistry, biology, medicine, finance, history, and more. Khan Academy is a nonprofit with the mission of providing a free, world-class education for anyone, anywhere.

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Browse information on animals!

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Copyright © 1996-2015 National Geographic SocietyCopyright © 2015-2026 National Geographic Partners, LLC. All rights reserved

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We will use this resource in class to simulate different science topics.

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Over 1.1 billion simulations delivered

160interactive simulations

97language translations

3001teacher-submitted lessons

Founded in 2002 by Nobel Laureate Carl Wieman, the PhET Interactive Simulations project at the University of Colorado Boulder creates free interactive math and science simulations. PhET sims are based on extensive education research and engage students through an intuitive, game-like environment where students learn through exploration and discovery.

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Founded in 2002 by Nobel Laureate Carl Wieman, the PhET Interactive Simulations project at the University of Colorado Boulder creates free interactive math and science simulations. PhET sims are based on extensive education research and engage students through an intuitive, game-like environment where students learn through exploration and discovery.

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Log in with Google to use Zearn!

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Zearn Math | Top-rated Math Learning Platform

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Learning with Zearn helps math make sense. Students explore math through pictures, visual models, and real-life examples. Log in to your Zearn account.

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iCivics.org is a website you can explore to play games that teach you about how our Government works!

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In this new Private i History Detectives unit, Elementary students analyze primary sources to discover how Constitutional Amendments attempted to address slavery's wrongs, how the courts challenged unfair laws, and how individuals and groups fought for civil rights.

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In this new Private i History Detectives unit, Elementary students analyze primary sources to discover how Constitutional Amendments attempted to address slavery's wrongs, how the courts challenged unfair laws, and how individuals and groups fought for civil rights.

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Use imagine math to complete math assignments, and earn points. Log in HERE

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Imagine Math and Imagine Math Facts support students and teachers with personalized, interactive math instructions for grades PreK through High School.

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Login by clicking the GOOGLE button to play Prodigy!

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Amazing pets, epic battles and math practice. Prodigy, the no-cost math game where kids can earn prizes, go on quests and play with friends all while learning math.

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use this website to download free images to add to assignments or use for backgrounds

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Beautiful Free Images & Pictures | Unsplash

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Beautiful, free images and photos that you can download and use for any project. Better than any royalty free or stock photos.