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History
50 States and Capitals - Pick a state, any state. Or pick a territory; they are here too. You'll get a page with lots of information about each area. For example, look at Nebraska, the Cornhusker State; its capital is Lincoln. See the state flag, the bird, the flower, the song, even links to other information about the state. Hey, did you know Nebraska was the birthplace of President Gerald R. Ford? You do now!
America's Story from America's Library! - "America's Story from America's Library" wants you to have fun with history while learning at the same time. We want to put the story back in history and show you some things that you've never heard or seen before. The stuff you see comes from the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. The Library is the largest in the world and has millions of amazing things that will surprise you.
Anne Frank Online - She was a kid just like you. Her diary helps us remember that she lived and then died in a German concentration camp. Who is she? Anne Frank. Here is her history, along with photos of Anne and her family. Read some of the things she wrote in her small red-and-white plaid diary. Maybe you would like to start keeping a journal about your life.
Archaeology's Dig - How's this for a fantastic factoid? In 1996, at a dig site in Sweden, archaeologists found what they think is the world's oldest piece of chewing gum! It was made of birch bark tar and might be over 6,500 years old. For some reason no one checked if it had lost its flavor. You'll really dig this kids' magazine on archaeology.
Battle of Gettysburg - How did the war begin? Who were the major players and what were the most important battles? This heavily illustrated site will help further your understanding of the Civil War as you follow along day by day. Numerous quotes from primary sources help to give you a clear picture of the events. In the Aftermath section there are photographs of war casualties, and this section is not for the sensitive. This site was created by students for the ThinkQuest competition.
Biography of America, A - A Biography of America is a telecourse and video series that presents American history as a living narrative. This series web site lets you delve further into the topics of the 26 video programs. For each program you'll find an interactive feature related to the subject or the time period of the program. In addition, you'll find a listing of key events of the period, a map relevant to the period, the transcript of the video program, and a "Webography" - a set of annotated web links.
Birth of a Nation - This site won the social science division in the 1998 ThinkQuest Junior contest. You can learn all about the events of April 18-19, 1775. You remember, that's when Paul Revere rode to warn the countryside that "the British are coming!" If you're not up to speed on the minutemen, this site will give you an overview of the important names, places, and deeds. There's also a neat game on daily eighteenth-century wear for men, women, and kids. You can mix and match parts of the photos and try to come up with a complete historical costume.
Colonial Family and Community - While you're getting used to time travel, zoom into the mid-1700s to visit the Daggett farm, in Connecticut. Become a history detective and pore over clues from the Daggett's family account book. Based on the evidence there, plus what you'll see in animations and QuickTime movies, can you guess what Samuel Daggett did for a living? What was home life like for Anna Daggett and the Daggett children, Asenath, Tabitha, and Isaiah? What happened in the social, religious, and political life of the community? The real challenge comes at the end when you must decide "what's wrong with this picture?" Click on anything you think is misplaced in this illustration of the time period. (Hint: there were no cellular phones in the eighteenth century!)
Colonial Kids - For a kids'-eye view of the 1700s in southeastern Pennsylvania, hang out with this ThinkQuest Junior team, who knows all about it. They dressed up in period costume and made videos to help other kids learn what life was like before Nintendo and Pokémon. Visit the spring house, take the barn tour, discover the clackety-clack of playing marbles, and try some of the other wholesome activities. There are also crafts and recipes for those who really want a taste of the eighteenth century.
Conquistadors - Join Michael Wood as he sails back half a millennium to a time when the Americas were "new" and Spain was a superpower, a nation of crusading adventurers whose quest for gold, land and souls destroyed ancient civilizations and created the modern globe.
Copernicus Election Watch:
The 2000 U.S. Presidential Election for Educators and Students - Move on to this site for more details on the election process. Click on The Path to the White House and select any section that interests you. Try "Running a Campaign." (I had a lot of fun writing my own "mad-libs" campaign speech as President Mommy, running on a platform of cleaning up our rooms, doing our homework, and stamping out mean people). Worth a look is the Campaign Ad Critique lesson plan, also in this section. Can you spot a negative ad from one that's warm and fuzzy? Other parts of this superb site include kid-oriented looks at the major candidates and their stands on the issues.
Daily Life In Ancient Egypt - Do you know what the ancient Egyptians believed would cure a toothache? Find out here! Read some Egyptian Tall Tales, and an original story about Ancient Egyptian Daily Life.
Diggin' Up the Facts About Archaeology - What is archaeology, anyway? Isn't it just a lot of dusty old artifacts and broken pottery? You're partially right, but learning about past civilizations can be fun, too. Find out how archaeologists work to make great discoveries such as the pyramids. Read interviews with archaeologists; then play a word search and try a quiz. This site was created by students for the ThinkQuest Junior competition.
Discovery Online - You'd expect to find background articles on many of the Discovery Channel's programs here, and you'd be right. There are stories and pictures from shows on history, nature, science, and people. And there's more: links to the Learning Channel and Animal Planet programming and a way to search the archives of past fascinating stories! A new area is DiscoveryKids, which highlights features of particular interest to kids.
EgyptWorld - You may be familiar with the Pyramids at Giza, but did you know these monuments are spread throughout Egypt? Take a tour of them as you explore this graphically rich site. Along the way there's a time line, various media kiosks, and games. Learn about the Rosetta stone, which gave the key to unlock the secrets of hieroglyphics. This site was created by students for the ThinkQuest competition.
Gargoyles and Grotesques - Carved in Stone - The word "Gargoyle" shares a root with the word "Gargle"; they come from "gargouille", an old French word for "Throat". A true gargoyle is a waterspout. An unusual carved creature that does not serve that purpose is properly called a "Grotesque". These fantastic creatures have been with us for thousands of years, and continue to delight us in the 21st. century. You'll find many pages of gargoyle information.
History Happens - History would be much easier to learn if you could just watch a music video about, say, Pearl Harbor, the Underground Railroad, or the Civil War. Your worries are over--this historical music video site lists many of the lyrics and has Real Audio so you can hear the songs. There's also an excellent selection of links.
How We Made the First Flight - This is Orville Wright's firsthand account of how he and his brother, Wilbur, built and flew the first successful airplane. It is an interesting description of events and an important historical document. This is a great resource for any report on the topic of the Wright brothers, famous inventors, or aviation history.
Journey Through the Middle Ages - On your quest to rise from a squire to a knight you'll have to solve puzzles and answer questions relating to medieval history and castle life. The answers are all on this site, and never fear, because you'll have James the Jingling Jester to help you out with some clues. This site, created by kids, was a finalist in the 1998 ThinkQuest Junior contest.
Mali Interactive - Take a virtual trip to a dig in Africa! Look at maps, pictures, and journals from a real excavation in Jenné, Mali.
Middle Ages Pages - Grade 8 Students pages on the Middle Ages offers information on people and topics with original artwork.
National Trust for Historic Preservation Home Page - Many historic sites are old--so how come they look so nice? Because people like you care enough to save them from deterioration. This is called historic preservation. This resource will help you find out how to save historic sites in your area.
National Women's Hall of Fame - "Come Stand Among Great Women." That's the motto of the official home page of the National Women's Hall of Fame, which is located in Seneca Falls, New York. That town was the site of the first Women's Rights Convention, back in 1848. The convention led to the passage of the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, which granted U.S. women the right to vote. Visit this site to learn about women who have been inducted into the Hall of Fame. They include Sandra Day O'Connor, Ella Fitzgerald, Georgia O'Keeffe, Rosa Parks, and many others. Know of a woman who should be in the Hall of Fame? Check out the How to Nominate section--or perhaps The Wall of Fame--where, for $100, you can make a personal tribute to an extraordinary woman of your choice.
Portland State University Greek Civilization Home Page - These pages have been designed by Portland State sophomores primarily for the use of middle school students (ages 11-14) investigating Greek civilization of the Classical period. They include appropriate information and maps, links to other relevant sites on the World Wide Web, and suggestions for further reading.
Remembering Pearl Harbor - Remembering Pearl Harbor. Multimedia Map and Time Line: Photos, footage, firsthand accounts, and narration bring the attack on Pearl Harbor in Oahu, Hawaii, to life-moment by moment, target by target. Searchable Archive of Survivors' Stories: Read personal tales of heroism and disaster, find a long-lost friend, or submit your own true tale of December 7, 1941. Pearl Harbor Ships and Planes, World War II Time Line, and More: Get the facts in easy-print form, click to related sites, and review recommended resources.
Roanoke: A Mystery in History - This 1998 ThinkQuest Junior finalist explores the lost colony of Roanoke Island, in what is now North Carolina. In 1586 it was a tiny garrison of 15 men, but it was later found abandoned in July of 1587. One mysterious human skeleton was found on the beach, but no other trace was found. Ninety-one men, women, and children arrived from England and started fixing up the fort so they could live in it. They had the beginnings of a thriving settlement and had begun to make friends with the Native Americans. In August, some of the colonists went back to England for more supplies. Because England was at war with Spain, no ships could be spared to resupply Roanoke until three years later. When the search party arrived in 1590, no one could be found, although a large fire blazed on the north end of the island. Where did the colonists go? Examine some of the theories at this site, and see what seems believable to you.
Technology in 1900 - You know how much technology affects your life now, what with telephones, television, computers, and other things you take for granted. What about kids living 100 years ago? What was considered high tech back then? According to this site, kids would have been drooling to get their hands on a phonograph record! And electricity really hadn't even made its way to many places yet. What predictions for the future did people make? How many of them have come true? Why did phone companies stop using boys as operators and start hiring girls instead? The answer may surprise you.
The American Experience - Gold Rush - After gold was discovered in 1848 in California's American River, the news traveled slowly. The great influx of people didn't get there until 1849--another name for the gold-seekers was the forty-niners. Find out about the "affliction" known as gold fever, the various routes to the gold fields (getting there was no picnic), and what happened when the would-be miners got there. Meet famous people from the gold rush era, and (in the Joke Space) discover how hard it is to make up humor about this period of history.
The American President - If you need a refresher course on presidential history, try this companion site to the PBS television series of the same name. Fascinating biographies, Web site recommendations, and lesson plans make this resource a must for both students and teachers. Think you could manage a successful campaign strategy all the way from the New Hampshire primary to the November election? Try your skills in the War Room simulation game. Choose your candidate (be sure to read their biographies first, and listen to the audio advice), then select your strategies. How much of your candidate's time will be spent campaigning, and how much time fund raising? Will your ads be positive, negative, or a mix of both? How will you handle a press crisis? Can you steer your candidate to victory? This game requires that you register your "team" (it's free) in order to play.
The Revolutionary War: A Journey Towards Freedom - The Infopedia has it all. Take a virtual tour of Washington's headquarters at Valley Forge. Check a history of the American flag. There are even some colonial recipes: Yankee pot roast--yum! There are some neat games too. Answer the questions quickly in order to move Paul Revere forward to warn the colonists. Otherwise the British will win! This site was created by students for the ThinkQuest competition.
The Second World War: The Pacific Theatre - Although much attention is given to the European theater of war, this site is focused on the war in the Pacific. There's a quick summary of events as well as a time line, in-depth articles about major battles, and pages about weapons, aircraft, and aircraft carriers. There are interesting audio interviews with veterans of the war. One was only 16 when he joined up. A library of photos and a memorial page rounds out the offerings at this very special site. This site was created by students for the ThinkQuest competition.
Travel to the Roman Empire - How much do you know about Roman emperors? You have heard of Julius Caesar, and maybe Nero--but did you know there were almost 80 more of them? The last one was a woman named Irene; in fact, she is considered a saint by the Greek Orthodox church. Explore this site to learn about 800 years of Roman rule. But the coolest thing on this site is watching "yesterday's" pictures of famous Roman sites morph into those of "today." This site was created by students for the ThinkQuest competition.
Within These Walls - The National Museum of American History presents the history of a 250-year-old house and 5 of the families that have occupied it over the past 200 years. Built in the mid-1760s, the Ipswich, Massachussetts, house's diverse inhabitants have included colonists ), revolutionaries ), reformers ), and immigrants ). The actual house was moved from Massachusetts and now resides on the Smithsonian second floor. If you can't make it to Washington, D.C., this site allows you to experience the great changes and events of the nation's past through the eyes of these families.
World War II, An American Scrapbook - World War II has been in the news in recent years since it has reached its 50th anniversary. One school's assignment was to develop a Web site on World War II and to get the information for it by talking to family members who had been involved in the war. They shared their memories, and here they are! You can also explore links to a number of other World War II Web sites. This site was a finalist in the ThinkQuest Junior competition. The students are from McRoberts School in Katy, Texas.
World War Web: Online World War I Simulator and Educator - World War I ) had far-reaching social, political, and economic effects. Click on Biographies and read about 12 major figures in World War I, from the principal world leaders to fighter pilots Eddie Rickenbacker (U.S.) and Raoul Lufbery (France). Check the Armory to see the weapons, aircraft, land units, and naval units on both sides. Find out how the war started and what were its outcomes. There's also a Shockwave game and links for further exploration. This site was created by students for the ThinkQuest competition.
World's Columbian Exposition - Back in 1893, a wonderful fair took place in Chicago, Illinois, and it was called the Columbian Exposition. It introduced the American public to the wonders of the day: electric lights, the cotton gin, typewriters, and all manner of nineteenth-century technology. It was also the first appearance of food products we know so well today: carbonated soda, hamburgers, Juicy Fruit gum, Cracker Jack, and Aunt Jemima syrup, among many others. There were strange displays, too, such as a map of the United States "made entirely of pickles" and "not one, but two Liberty Bell models--one in wheat, oats, and rye, and one entirely in oranges." Take a virtual visit to the past here!
World's Columbian Exposition: Idea, Experience, Aftermath - You'll find a thoughtful essay and more pictures about the World's Columbian Exposition. Click on Legacy and learn how it has influenced places such as Disney World. Find out which famous composer wrote a piece in honor of the Exposition and more as you explore this site.
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