Worlds collide (1491-1607)

This course is a part of US history, a 10-course Topic series from Khan Academy.

The history of North America began long before Columbus set foot in a new world. But once he did, things would never be the same.

This course contains 4 segments:

Thinking like a historian

Historians approach the past with a mindset of hypothesis and discovery. Learn about reading primary documents and interpreting sources.

Before contact

Native Americans arrived in North America as many as 16,000 years ago! In this tutorial, learn about the many and varied cultures of the continent's first inhabitants.

Old and new worlds collide

Christopher Columbus set sail for the East Indies in 1492, but he ended up in a whole new world. The impact on the peoples of North America, Europe, and Africa would be enormous.

Spanish colonization

The Spanish dominated the early colonial era, racing to extract the riches of the New World at any price. For Native Americans, that price was heavy indeed. And the Spanish were only the first to arrive . . .