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Columbus’s arrival launched an era of initial encounters between Europeans, Native Americans, and Africans that continued for nearly 300 years. This video examines how these contacts began the phenomenon now known as the Columbian Exchange, profoundly altering the way of life of peoples around the globe.

As encounter changed to settlement, relations between Native Americans and European colonial powers became more complex. This unit charts the changing interactions between competing European powers and Native Americans, and the increasing reliance on the race-based enslavement of Africans.

In the eighteenth century, Enlightenment-based ideas of freedom and equality swept through the British colonies.

Following the War of Independence, Americans disagreed—often passionately—about the form and function of the federal government. This unit explores how those conflicts played out as the new Republic defined its identity in relation to other nations.

The United States acquired vast territories between the time of the Revolution and the Civil War, paying a price economically, socially, and politically.

This DVD contains four 20-minute segments:

This drama presents a historical overview of America's first permenent English settlement, including the Jamestown settler's origins in England and the first quarter century of the colony's existence.

The free but difficult life of the first wave of American settlers to cross the Appalachian Mountains is colofully re-created in this program. The impact of the westward-moving frontier on American values is made clear. The program explores the roles and relationships that existed in Colonial times.

Even though the availability of land gave American colonists more self-determination than their European cousins, there were still class divisions. How these differences were overcome as the Revolution approached is explore in this enlightening program. 

The relationships of children and parents and of husbands and wives in colonial America are depicted in this engaging program, which clearly shows the role each person played. The program explores the roles and relationships that existed in Colonial times.

This live-action program features realistic sixteenth-century reenactments in both Elizabethan England and America at the beginning of European settlement in the New World. Strong acting combined with accurate historical costumes and sets convey the drama of the Roanoke colony's disappearance.

Using actors in period costumes, this engaging program re-creates the foundign of Plymouth Plantation. It also tells the story of the first Thanksgiving from a unique perspective, emphasizing Native Americans' contributions to this national holiday.

The importance of family, social class, religion, and self-government in the American colonies created a unique set of values. This informative program uses historical vignettes to deptict those values on the eve of the Revolution.

Five warring Native American tribes, also known as the "Five Nations", the Mohawk, the Oneida, the Onondaga, the Cayuga, and the Seneca, negotiated the Great Law of Peace or the League of the Iroquois, which influenced American political thinkers. Nonetheless, the American Revolution split the confederation, pitting old friends against each other and signaling the decline of their power.