Chapter 1:
Native Americans
Chapter 2:
European Background
Chapter 3:
Discovery and Exploration
Chapter 4:
Conquest and Settlement
Chapter 5:
Iberian Elements
Chapter 6:
French Elements
Chapter 7:
African Elements
Chapter 8:
17th Century
Chapter 9:
18th Century
Chapter 10:
Revolutionary Era
Chapter 11:
Founding of the United States
Chapter 12:
Early 19th Century

European Discovery and Exploration

  • Columbian Exchange

  • Specific Explorers

    • Leif Ericson

    • Christopher Columbus

    • John Cabot

    • Henry Hudson

    • Ponce DeLeon

    • Hernando Cortez

    • Henry the Navigator

    • French Jesuits




Potatoes, which originated in Peru, were unknown in Europe before the Columbian Exchange. Other American foods unknown in Europe before the 16th century included tomatoes and chili peppers. "As American as apple pie" is historically ironic because apples were a European fruit unknown in the Americas.


Photo Credit: Scott Bauer, United States Department of Agriculture, 2004