European colonies in the Americas

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.

Sir Joshua Reynolds, <em>Portrait of Syacust Ukah</em>
Sir Joshua Reynolds, Portrait of Syacust Ukah

This portrait of a Cherokee man was painted during a peace delegation from the Indigenous nation to meet the King of England

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

Teaching guide<br>Constructing identity in the Spanish colonies in America
Teaching guide
Constructing identity in the Spanish colonies in America

In New Spain, Indigenous people, Africans, Spaniards, and their descendants mixed together. Casta paintings show one way Spaniards attempted to place these mixed-race families and their children into a hierarchy, although the realities of race and status in Spanish colonial society were much more complex.
APUSH: KC-2.1.I.A

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

The making of an American myth
The making of an American myth

Re-examining a founding American myth

Teaching guide<br>Benjamin West, <em>Penn’s Treaty with the Indians</em>
Teaching guide
Benjamin West, Penn’s Treaty with the Indians

Between the Seven Years' War and the Revolutionary War, conflict between Indigenous people, American colonists, and British imperial officials intensified as American colonists encroached on Indigenous land. Benjamin West's painting of a popular myth helps to illustrate the changes in this period.
APUSH: KC-2.1.I.C

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

Among the earliest European representations of North America

Spanish conquest and U.S. expansion
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
Picturing America

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

Painting the French and Indian War
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?
Thought the Puritans were dour?

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