We often think about the history of the United States as linked with Britain, but what about the Spanish, Dutch and French?
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Over the next two years, Seeing America will grow to include 100 videos, 18 essays, quizzes, discussion questions and lesson plans.
Teaching guide
Six Portraits of the Levy-Franks family
Elite identities in the early days of New York City
Teaching guide
Constructing identity in the Spanish colonies in America
Works that point to the complexities of racism in the colonial Americas
A Jewish Family in Early New York
A Jewish family in New York and London during the French Indian Wars
Teaching guide
Benjamin West, Penn’s Treaty with the Indians
A history that's part fact and part myth.
Spanish conquest and U.S. expansion
De Soto led hundreds of soldiers on the first European expedition into what became the United States.
Picturing America
De Bry's images of the Americas affirm and assert a sense of European superiority.
Painting the French and Indian War
West turned the conventions of history painting on their head by choosing a contemporary subject and dress.
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
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
Forget what you think you know about Puritan fashion and get ready to Freake.
Browse Smarthistory images for teaching & learning!