Great Plains Forts introduces readers to the fortifications that have impacted the lives of Indigenous peoples, fur trappers and traders, travelers, and military personnel on the Great Plains and prairies from precontact times to the present. Using stories to introduce patterns in fortification construction and use, Jay H. Buckley and Jeffery D. Nokes explore the eras of fort-building on the Great Plains from Canada to Texas. Stories about fortifications and fortified cities built by Indigenous peoples reveal the lesser-known history of precontact violence on the plains. Great Plains Forts includes stories of Spanish presidios and French and British outposts in their respective borderlands. Forts played crucial roles in the international fur trade and served as emporiums along the overland trails and along riverway corridors as Euro-Americans traveled into the West. Soldiers and families resided in these military outposts, and this military presence in turn affected Indigenous Plains peoples. The appendix includes a reference guide organized by state and province, enabling readers to search easily for specific forts.  

* Up-to-date with current literature and research * The text is accessible and approachable, and filled with practical advice that speaks directly to teachers (preservice and practicing) * More resources for implementation in the classroom and new questions for reflection * Includes connections to film, fiction, and other media

* Up-to-date with current literature and research * The text is accessible and approachable, and filled with practical advice that speaks directly to teachers (preservice and practicing) * More resources for implementation in the classroom and new questions for reflection * Includes connections to film, fiction, and other media

Focusing on ten key figures whose careers illuminate the history of the European exploration of North America, this book presents compelling first-person narratives that bring to life the challenges of historical scholarship in the academic classroom. Explorers of the American East: Mapping the World through Primary Documents covers 280 years of North American exploration and colonization efforts, ranging geographically from Florida to the Arctic. Arranged thematically and mononationally, the work focuses on a selection of 10 explorers who represent the changing course of North American exploration during the early modern period. The use of biography to narrate this history draws in readers and makes the work accessible to both a specialized and general audience. The dozens of primary source documents in this guided source reader span travel accounts, autobiographies, letters, official reports, memoirs, patents, and articles of agreement. This wide variety of primary sources serves to bring to life the failures and triumphs of exploring a newly discovered continent in the early modern period. This work focuses on ten explorers, including those who are well known, including John Cabot, John Smith, Jacques Cartier, and Samuel de Champlain, as well as discoverers who have slipped from our modern historical consciousness, such as George Waymouth, John Lawson, and J.F.W. Des Barres. The documents that narrate the voyages of these adventurers are arranged chronologically, vividly telling the story of historical events and presenting different voices to the reader. This variety of viewpoints serves to heighten readers' critical engagement with historical source material. The vast variety of primary source materials present students with the opportunity to read and engage critically with different types of historical documents, thereby growing their analytical skillsets.

With original primary source documents, this anthology brings readers into the vast unknown 19th-century American West-through the eyes of the explorers who saw it for the first time. This volume brings together book excerpts, maps, and illustrations from 12 explorers from the 19th century, highlighting their lives and contributions. Arranged chronologically, the 10 chapters focus on individual explorers, with biographies and background information about and document excerpts from each person. The chapters offer analyses of each document's relevance to the historical period, geographic knowledge, and cultural perspective. This guide shares the important contributions from explorers like Lewis and Clark, Zebulon Pike, Jedediah Smith, James P. Beckwourth, John C. Fremont, Susan Magoffin, and John Wesley Powell. It also nurtures readers' historical literacy by modeling historians' methods of analyzing primary sources. Readers will see new and familiar events from different perspectives, including that of a woman traveling along the Santa Fe Trail, one of the most famous African American mountain men, and a Civil War veteran, among many others. Collects primary source materials such as journal entries, book excerpts, and maps from various 19th-century American explorers, enabling readers to "discover" the vast unknown American West, as seen for the first time by those of European descent Includes a topical guide to aid readers in cross-referencing entries Presents illustrations and photographs as well as original textual documents and maps