Colonial Period
(1400 - 1750)
Starving Settlers in Jamestown Colony Resorted to Cannibalism
New archaeological evidence and forensic analysis reveals that a 14-year-old girl was cannibalized in desperation
May 01, 2013 |
By Joseph Stromberg
Ben Franklin: Patriot, Foodie
American patriot Benjamin Franklin was a fan of food and helped France change their opinion on potatoes
July 02, 2009 |
By Smithsonian.com
Solving a 17th-Century Crime
Forensic anthropologists at the National Museum of Natural History find answers to a colonial cold case
March 2009 |
By Joseph Caputo
The Inventor of Air
Known for discovering oxygen, scientist Joseph Priestly also influenced the beliefs of our founding fathers.
February 09, 2009 |
By Bruce Hathaway
Sarah Vowell on the Puritans' Legacy
The author and 'This American Life' correspondent talks about her book on the colonies' early religious leaders
November 04, 2008 |
By Amanda Bensen
Revolutionary Real Estate
Statesmen, soldiers and spies who made America and the way they lived
December 2007 |
By Hugh Howard
Beyond Jamestown
After the colony was founded, 400 years ago this month, Capt. John Smith set out to explore the riches of Chesapeake Bay. With Smith's journals to guide him, a modern-day sailor retraces that historic voyage
May 2007 |
By Terence Smith
Lost City of Powhatan
The Algonquian settlement crucial to the survival of Jamestown 400 years ago has been found. Finally
April 2007 |
By Andrew Lawler
Pilgrims' Progress
We retrace the travels of the ragtag group that founded Plymouth Colony and gave us Thanksgiving
November 2006 |
By Simon Worrall
Spain Makes a Stand
After more than 400 years, a fort built by conquistadors in the Carolinas has finally been found
March 2006 |
By Andrew Lawler
Native Intelligence
The Indians who first feasted with the English colonists were far more sophisticated than you were taught in school. But that wasn't enough to save them
December 2005 |
By Charles C. Mann
Rethinking Jamestown
America's first permanent colonists have long been considered lazy and incompetent. But new evidence suggests that it was a prolonged drought—not indolence—that almost did them in
January 2005 |
By Jeffery L. Sheler
Washington Slept Here
A look at the first president's "best bed" leads to a recollection of the real man and his exemplary life
December 1999 |
By Timothy Foote
