Essays

Exploration

The essays in this section have been written by leading scholars of American history. They provide additional depth on events and ideas referred to in the introductory essay and, in some cases, different interpretations by historians looking at the same events. These essays are particularly useful in introducing your students to one of the most exciting aspects of studying history—understanding the past from a variety of perspectives.

Imaginative depiction of Magellan from a map published in Americae nona & postrema pars, edited by Theodor de Bry (Frankfurt: Apud M. Beckerum, 1602). (Library of Congress Rare Book and Special Collections Division)

Magellan: Missing in Action

Author: Laurence Bergreen Curriculum Subjects: Geography, Literature, World History Grade Levels: 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

Detail from a seventeenth-century map showing the waters off Cape Hatteras. (Gilder Lehrman Collection)

Navigating the Age of Exploration

Author: Ted Widmer Curriculum Subjects: Geography, World History Grade Levels: 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

A secret agreement among pirate hunters, signed by Captain William Kidd, 1696. (Gilder Lehrman Collection)

Perils of the Ocean in the Early Modern Era

Author: Robert C. Ritchie Curriculum Subjects: Geography, Science, Technology, Engineering and Math, World History Grade Levels: 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

Essays from Other Sub-Eras

Conflict and Commerce: The Rise and Fall of New Netherland

Author: Simon Middleton Curriculum Subjects: Economics, World History Grade Levels: 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

The defeat of the Spanish Armada, 1588. (Library of Congress, Kraus Collection, Rare Book and Spec. Collections Div.)

England on the Eve of Colonization

Author: Paul E. J. Hammer Curriculum Subjects: World History Grade Levels: 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

French enter the River of May in Florida, engraving by Theodor de Bry in Brevis Narratio eorum quae in Florida Americae [1591]. (Library of Congress Rare Book and Special Collections Division)

Native American Discoveries of Europe

Author: Daniel K. Richter Curriculum Subjects: Economics, Geography, World History Grade Levels: 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

Detail from a 1682 map of North America, Novi Belgi Novaeque Angliae, by Nicholas Visscher. (Gilder Lehrman Collection)

The Columbian Exchange

Author: Alfred Crosby Curriculum Subjects: Economics, Geography, Science, Technology, Engineering and Math, World History Grade Levels: 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13+

The Discovery of the Americas and the Transatlantic Slave Trade

Author: Ira Berlin Curriculum Subjects: Grade Levels: