Mississippian culture

The Mississippian culture was a collection of Native American societies that flourished in what is now the Midwestern, Eastern, and Southeastern United States from approximately 800 to 1600 CE, varying regionally. These societies were known for building large, earthen platform mounds and other shaped mounds for important purposes.

They lived in urban settlements and smaller satellite villages connected by trading networks. The largest city was Cahokia, believed to be a major religious center, located in what is present-day southern Illinois.

The Mississippian way of life began in the Mississippi River Valley, and cultures in the Tennessee River Valley also developed similar practices. Most Mississippian sites existed before 1539–1540 when Hernando de Soto explored the area, though some communities like the Natchez kept their traditions alive into the 18th century.

Cultural traits

The Mississippian culture had several special features that made them unique. They built large, flat-topped mounds made of earth, often square or rectangular, and used them for homes, temples, or important buildings. They grew a lot of corn (maize), which helped them have bigger communities and develop special skills. They also made pottery using crushed shells to make it stronger.

They traded goods over long distances, from the Rocky Mountains to the Atlantic Ocean. Their societies had leaders who held a lot of power, and some people had more status than others. They lived in towns where one big center controlled several smaller villages. They had special rituals and beliefs, often linked to games, and made beautiful copper decorations, though they did not write or build with stone.

Chronological history

The Mississippian stage is split into three main time periods. Each period marks changes in how people lived and built their communities.

• The Early Mississippian period (around 1000–1200) saw people changing from moving around to settling in one place. They began farming more corn, which helped them grow bigger villages.
• The Middle Mississippian period (around 1200–1400) was when big towns and important ceremonies grew, especially at Cahokia in what is now Illinois. Many people lived there, and special art and symbols became common.
• The Late Mississippian period (around 1400–1540) had more fighting and moving around. Some towns, like Cahokia, were left empty. Climate changes made it harder to grow food, which may have caused people to leave big towns. This period ended when Europeans arrived in the 16th century.

Regional variations

The term Middle Mississippian describes the heartland of the classic Mississippian culture. This area includes the central Mississippi River Valley, the lower Ohio River Valley, and parts of Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, and Mississippi. Sites here often had large ceremonial platform mounds, homes, and were sometimes surrounded by ditches or wooden fences.

Middle Mississippian cultures, especially around Cahokia near East St. Louis, Illinois, had a big influence on nearby areas. Valuable items like stone statues and special pottery linked to Cahokia have been found far beyond this region. Local artists also copied these styles.

Important sites include:

• Cahokia (1050–1350 CE): The largest Mississippian site and the biggest settlement north of Mexico before European contact. It had copper working, astronomy, and important ceremonial areas.
• Angel Mounds: A chiefdom in southern Indiana near Evansville.
• Kincaid site: A major mound center in southern Illinois.
• Moundville: One of the two most important Mississippian sites, located near Tuscaloosa, Alabama.
• The Parkin site: Believed to be the home of the Casqui people visited by Hernando de Soto in 1542.

The South Appalachian Mississippian area covered parts of Alabama, Georgia, Florida, South Carolina, North Carolina, and Tennessee. These people started adopting Mississippian ways later than those in the Middle Mississippian area. Their villages, often near rivers, had defensive wooden walls around platform mounds and homes.

Prominent examples include Etowah and Ocmulgee in Georgia, both with large earthwork mounds. Villages with single platform mounds were common in the mountainous areas of western North and South Carolina and eastern Tennessee, which were home to the historic Cherokee people.

The Caddoan Mississippian area covered parts of eastern Oklahoma, western Arkansas, northeastern Texas, and northwestern Louisiana. The Caddo people and their ancestors lived here for a very long time. The climate was drier, making farming harder, and they may have faced fewer conflicts with neighbors.

Major sites like Spiro and the Battle Mound Site were in the Arkansas and Red River Valleys. The Caddo spoke languages that are still spoken today by the Caddo Nation of Oklahoma. Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto met several Caddoan groups in the 1540s. The Caddo were organized into three confederacies: the Hasinai, Kadohadacho, and Natchitoches.

Main article: Caddoan Mississippian culture

The Plaquemine Mississippian culture was in the lower Mississippi River Valley in western Mississippi and eastern Louisiana. Examples include the Medora site, Anna, Emerald Mound, Winterville, and Holly Bluff sites. This culture existed at the same time as the Middle Mississippian culture near Cahokia.

• Emerald Mound: A very large earthwork near Stanton, Mississippi, dating from 1200 to 1730. It is the second-largest Pre-Columbian earthwork in the United States.
• Grand Village of the Natchez: The main village of the Natchez people, with three mounds. It is the only mound site used and kept up into historic times.

Main article: Plaquemine culture

Known Mississippian settlements

Main article: List of Mississippian sites

The Mississippian culture included many towns and smaller villages. Even though much was lost before it could be recorded, researchers have found many places where these people lived. These settlements help us learn about their way of life.

Related nations

The Mississippian people were the ancestors of many American Indian nations living in the Midwest, East, and Southeast when European trade began. Some of these nations include: the Alabama, Apalachee, Arikara, Caddo, Chickasaw, Catawba, Choctaw, Muscogee Creek, Guale, Hitchiti, Ho-Chunk, Houma, Iowa, Kansa, Koroas, Missouria, Mobilian, Natchez, Omaha, Osage, Otoe, Pawnee, Ponca, Quapaw, Seminole, Taensas, Tunicas, Yamasee, Yazoos, and Yuchi.

Contact with Europeans

See also: Mississippian shatter zone

When Spanish explorers like Hernando de Soto traveled through the areas where Mississippian people lived in the 1500s, they met many villages. Sometimes these meetings were peaceful, and other times they were not. De Soto even helped some villages make peace with each other.

Sadly, diseases brought by the Europeans, like measles and smallpox, caused many Mississippian people to become very sick. This changed their way of life. Some groups started using horses and moved around more.

In one place called Joara near Morganton, North Carolina, Spanish explorers built a fort named Fort San Juan in 1567. But after a year and a half, the local people destroyed the fort and the soldiers there.

Later, as more stories were written, the Mississippian way of life had changed forever. Some groups still remembered their history, while others had moved far away and did not know their ancestors built the mounds that dot the land.