1607 – 1754

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videos + essays

Over the next two years, Seeing America will grow to include 100 videos, 18 essays, quizzes, discussion questions and lesson plans.

Codex Canadensis
Codex Canadensis

This manuscript contains about 180 illustrations of people, plants, and animals—including a unicorn

Teaching guide<br>Six Portraits of the Levy-Franks family
Teaching guide
Six Portraits of the Levy-Franks family

The Levy-Franks were a prosperous Jewish family in early 18th century New York. Their portraits help to reveal a closely-connected British Empire spanning the Atlantic. The Levy-Franks supplied the British during the Seven Years' War, carried goods on Caribbean trade routes, and possibly brought enslaved people to the Americas.
APUSH: KC-2.2.I.A, KC-2.2.I.B

A Jewish Family in Early New York
A Jewish Family in Early New York

A Jewish family in New York and London during the French Indian Wars

Teaching guide<br>Covered sugar bowl
Teaching guide
Covered sugar bowl

This sugar bowl recalls the transatlantic trade network that developed around sugar in the early American colonial era, bolstered by the growing popularity of tea, coffee, chocolate, and punch in Europe. Its expanded production depended on the labor of enslaved people, many of whom were abducted from Africa, to harvest and process sugar cane in the Caribbean.
APUSH: KC-2.1.III.A, KC-2.2.II.A

Europe’s earliest views of America
Europe’s earliest views of America

Among the earliest European representations of North America

Picturing America
Picturing America

De Bry's images of the Americas affirm and assert a sense of European superiority.

The triangle trade
The triangle trade

Global trade in a cup of tea: Colonial America, sugar and slavery.

Thought the Puritans were dour?
Thought the Puritans were dour?

We think of Puritans aesthetics as restrained and humble, but this elaborate cupboard proves otherwise.

The mission church at Acoma Pueblo
The mission church at Acoma Pueblo

This mesa in New Mexico is believed to hold one of the oldest continuously inhabited communities in the US.

The quiet ostentation of early Puritans
The quiet ostentation of early Puritans

Forget what you think you know about Puritan fashion and get ready to Freake.