High School Portfolio Website

US History

I learned about the following subjects:
- prehistoric history of the americas
- Native American societies before Columbus
- The arrival of Europeans in North America
- Who emigrated to North America and why?
- Circumstances while traveling to North America
- The Mayflower
- The situation of the first settlers
- The "wild" West of North America
- relations between native inhabitants and newcomers
- health and epidemiological issues during those times
- war and strife
- Trade and economics
- Slavery
- relationship with other countries
- The tea party
- The founding of the U.S.
- Societal strata in different regions
- The civil war, background and course
- Development after the civil war
- Religious groups in the U.S.

The first Thanksgiving in America

The Treaty of Penn with the Indians, Benjamin West, 1771 - William Penn and Tamanend, a Lenape chief, entering into the Treaty of Shackamaxon in present-day Philadelphia

For the most part I researched the topics via the internet and through documentaries. I made an effort to try to find eye-witness accounts.
Some of the websites I used:
- Hillsdale College: The great American story
- Wondrous: Ancient Civilizations of North America
- Timeline: The Untold Story Of The Americas Before Columbus
- National Geographic: Wild West, Discovery of a land
- Free Documentary History: The United States - From Colony to World Power
- ColumbiaLearn: Eric Foner - The Civil War and Reconstruction, 1850-1861
- Professor Aren Jurel: American History 101
- University of Pennsylvania: Benjamin Franklin and His World

I took a field trip to the electronics history museum in Eindhoven, Netherlands, to get a feel for the technological developments in the 20th century, that were shaped for a great deal by inventions and influences from the US.