Pre-Columbian era

The pre-Columbian era is an important time in the history of the Americas, from when people first came to the continents until Europeans began arriving in 1492. This time includes many different Indigenous cultures who lived there before they met people from Europe.

During this era, many civilizations built cities, farmed the land, and created amazing buildings and structures. Some of these places still stand today, like the Mayan Temple of Kukulcán, the Aztec sun stone, and the Inca city of Machu Picchu.

Some of these civilizations had already ended by the time Europeans arrived, and we learn about them mainly through archaeology and stories passed down. Others, like the Maya civilization, kept written records, though many were lost. The surviving documents help us understand the rich cultures and knowledge of these ancient peoples.

Historiography

Before archaeology became a science in the 1800s, people learned about the time before Columbus mostly from stories told by Europeans who arrived in the Americas. They used what European explorers and early historians wrote. In the 1800s, explorers like John Lloyd Stephens, Eduard Seler, and Alfred Maudslay, along with places such as the Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology at Harvard University, helped change how people thought about these old stories. Today, scientists use many different kinds of research to study cultures from before Columbus.

Genetics

Main article: Genetic history of the Indigenous peoples of the Americas

Scientists study special parts of DNA to learn about the history of Indigenous peoples in the Americas. They found that one group of genes, called Q1a3a, has been in South America for at least 18,000 years. This helps us understand how people first came to the Americas and later when Europeans arrived.

The first people moved from the Bering Sea area to the Americas in steps, staying for a long time in a place called Beringia before moving further. Some groups, like the Na-Dené, Inuit, and Indigenous Alaskan peoples, have different DNA patterns, showing they came from later groups.

Peopling of the Americas

Main articles: Peopling of the Americas and Paleo-Indians

Asian nomadic Paleo-Indians are believed to have entered the Americas through the Bering Land Bridge, now known as the Bering Strait. Genetic studies from Indigenous peoples support the idea that many groups migrated from Asia. After crossing the land bridge, these early people traveled south along the Pacific coast and through a path that was free of ice. Over many years, they spread across all of North and South America.

There is much discussion about exactly when the first people arrived in the Americas. One of the earliest known cultures is the Clovis culture, which lived about 13,000 years ago. However, some places show signs of people living as far back as 20,000 years ago. Scientists have different ideas about when people first came, with some thinking it was as early as 40,000 years ago.

North America

Further information: Aboriginal peoples in Canada § History, History of North America § Pre-Columbian era, List of archaeological periods (North America), Native Americans in the United States § History, and Pre-Columbian Mexico

Lithic and Archaic periods

Main articles: Lithic stage and Archaic period in the Americas

The climate in North America changed a lot as the ice age ended during the Lithic stage. It settled down about 10,000 years ago, becoming much like today. During this time, known as the Archaic Period, many different groups of people lived there.

Lithic stage and early Archaic period

The changing climate caused people to move around a lot. Early groups known as Paleo-Indians spread across the Americas, forming many different tribes. These people were hunter-gatherers, traveling in small groups of about 20 to 50 family members. They moved to find food, often hunting large animals like mastodon and ancient bison. They carried tools like special stone points and knives for hunting and skinning animals.

Because North America is so big and has many different climates and lands, people formed many unique groups with their own languages and traditions. These stories are kept alive through oral histories and creation stories, which tell how each group has lived in their land since the beginning.

Over thousands of years, these early people learned to grow plants, which later became important crops that feed much of the world. While people in cold areas kept hunting and gathering, those in warmer places began agriculture, leading to bigger populations.

Middle Archaic period

After people first moved to North America, it took thousands of years for complex societies to develop. The first ones appeared about seven to eight thousand years ago. As early as 5500 BCE, people in the Lower Mississippi Valley built large dirt mounds, likely for religious reasons. One place called Watson Brake, with eleven mounds, was started around 3400 BCE. This shows that complex building didn’t need farming or big cities — these people organized to build amazing structures under different conditions.

Late Archaic period

Before discovering Watson Brake, another site called Poverty Point was thought to be the oldest. Built around 1500 BCE in the Lower Mississippi Valley, it has earthworks shaped like half-circles and mounds, covering nearly a mile.

Mound building continued with new shapes like animal effigies added by later cultures in the Mississippi and Ohio River valleys.

Woodland period

Main article: Woodland period

The Woodland period lasted from about 1000 BCE to 1000 CE. This time was named in the 1930s for sites between the Archaic period and later Mississippian cultures. Groups like the Adena culture and Hopewell tradition built big earthworks and created wide trade networks.

This period saw slow, steady changes in tools, farming, and building. Some people used spears and throwing sticks until bows and arrows replaced them at the end of this time.

Mississippian culture

Main article: Mississippian culture

The Mississippian culture spread across the Southeast and Midwest of what is now the United States, from the Atlantic coast to the plains, and from the Gulf of Mexico to the Upper Midwest. A key feature was building large dirt mounds and big open spaces, continuing earlier traditions. They grew maize and other crops, traded over long distances, and had complex social structures. This culture began around 1000 CE, developing from the Woodland period. The biggest city, Cahokia near modern East St. Louis, Illinois, may have had over 20,000 people. Other settlements were built across the Southeast, with trade reaching the Great Lakes and the Gulf of Mexico. At its height between the 12th and 13th centuries, Cahokia was the largest city in North America. Monks Mound, the main ceremony spot in Cahokia, is the biggest ancient earth building in the Americas. This culture peaked around 1200–1400 CE and declined before Europeans arrived.

Many Mississippian peoples met the expedition of Hernando de Soto in the 1540s, which brought hard times for everyone. The Spanish explorers faced many challenges, but the local people suffered greatly from new diseases. When Europeans returned a hundred years later, most Mississippian groups had disappeared, and their lands were mostly empty.

[Monks Mound](/wiki/Monks_Mound) of [Cahokia](/wiki/Cahokia) ([UNESCO World Heritage Site](/wiki/UNESCO_World_Heritage_Site)) in summer. The concrete staircase follows the approximate course of the ancient wooden stairs.

An artistic recreation of [The Kincaid site](/wiki/Kincaid_Mounds_State_Historic_Site) from the prehistoric Mississippian culture as it may have looked at its peak 1050–1400 CE

Engraved stone [palette](/wiki/Cosmetic_palette) from [Moundville](/wiki/Moundville_phase), illustrating two [horned rattlesnakes](/wiki/Horned_Serpent), perhaps referring to [The Great Serpent](/wiki/Southeastern_Ceremonial_Complex#Great_Serpent) of the [Southeastern Ceremonial Complex](/wiki/Southeastern_Ceremonial_Complex)

A human head effigy pot from the Nodena site

Ancestral Puebloans

Main article: Ancestral Puebloans

The Ancestral Puebloans lived in what is now the Four Corners region of the United States. Their culture began during the Early Basketmaker II Era around the 12th century BCE. They built multi-story houses and rooms from stone and clay, like the Cliff Palace in Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado and the Great Houses in Chaco Canyon, New Mexico. They also made a network of roads connecting Chaco Canyon to Kutz Canyon in the San Juan Basin. Some people call them "Anasazi," but this word comes from the Navajo and means "enemy ancestors," which today’s Pueblo peoples don’t like.

Hohokam

Main article: Hohokam

The Hohokam lived in the Sonoran desert in what is now Arizona and Sonora, Mexico. They built canals for water, helping the city of Phoenix, Arizona grow through the Salt River Project. They also built big settlements like Snaketown, an important trading place. After 1375 CE, their society declined and people left, probably because of drought.

Mogollon

Main article: Mogollon culture

The Mogollon lived in Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Sonora, and Chihuahua. They built underground rooms called kivas and homes in cliffs. In the village of Paquimé, they kept bright red parrots called scarlet macaws that they got through trade from Mesoamerica.

Sinagua

Main article: Sinagua

The Sinagua were people who hunted and farmed in central Arizona. They built kivas, big houses, and places to play ball games. Their old buildings include Montezuma Castle, Wupatki, and Tuzigoot.

Salado

Main article: Salado culture

The Salado lived in the Tonto Basin in southeastern Arizona from 1150 CE to the 1400s. They traded far away, as shown by seashells from the Gulf of California and parrot feathers from Mexico. Many of their cliff homes are in Tonto National Monument.

Iroquois

Main article: Iroquois

The Iroquois League, also called the Haudenosaunee or "People of the Long House," was a democratic society. Some historians think it may have inspired the United States Constitution, after a Senate resolution in 1988, though others disagree.

Calusa

Main article: Calusa

The Calusa lived in southern Florida and were a strong group that relied on fishing instead of farming. The "king’s house" at Mound Key could fit 2,000 people. The Calusa disappeared around 1750 after diseases from Spanish settlers spread among them.

Wichita

Main article: Wichita people

The Wichita people were a group of farmers and hunters in the eastern Great Plains. They built a city called Etzanoa with 20,000 people, but it was left empty around the 1700s after Spanish explorers arrived.

Historic tribes

When Europeans came, Indigenous peoples of North America lived many ways, from farmers to hunters. Many created new tribes or groups in response to European settlement. These groups are often sorted by where they lived, such as:

• Arctic, including Aleut, Inuit, and Yupik peoples
• Subarctic
• Northeastern Woodlands
• Southeastern Woodlands
• Great Plains
• Great Basin
• Northwest Plateau
• Northwest Coast
• California
• Southwest

Many societies stayed in one place, like the Tlingit, Haida, Chumash, Mandan, Hidatsa, and others. Some built big towns or cities, such as Cahokia in what is now Illinois.

Mesoamerica

Further information: Mesoamerican chronology

Mesoamerica is the region from central Mexico to the northwestern border of Costa Rica. It was home to many advanced cultures over about 3,000 years before Europeans arrived. The name "Mesoamerican" describes these shared cultures.

Between 2000 and 300 BCE, complex societies began to form. Some grew into well-known civilizations like the Olmec, Teotihuacan, Mayas, Zapotecs, Mixtecs, Huastecs, Purepecha, Toltecs, and Mexica/Aztecs. The Mexica were also called the Aztec Triple Alliance because they were three kingdoms working together.

These cultures made many important creations. They built pyramid temples, developed mathematics and astronomy, created writing systems, and made accurate calendars. They also grew crops, built cities, and created art. Though they used the wheel, it was only for toys. They worked with copper, silver, and gold.

Early carvings on rocks in northern Mexico show they could count using a base-20 system, including the number zero. These markings were linked to stars and planets. Later cities like Teotihuacan, Tenochtitlan, and Cholula became very large and important centers for trade, ideas, and ceremonies.

Mesoamerica had five major civilizations: the Olmecs, Teotihuacan, the Toltecs, the Mexica, and the Mayas. These groups spread their influence far and wide through trade, art, politics, technology, and religion. Other groups made alliances or fought with them but were often influenced by them.

There is much research on how people communicated across regions. Trade routes ran from northern Mexico to the Pacific coast and into Central America. These routes and contacts worked from early times up until around 900 CE.

Olmec civilization

Main article: Olmec

The Olmec were the first known civilization in Mesoamerica. They began around 2300 BCE in the Grijalva River area. By 1600–1500 BCE, they had a strong capital at San Lorenzo Tenochtitlán in Veracruz. The Olmec influenced many areas, changing how people thought about government, temples, writing, stars, art, math, economics, and religion. Their ideas helped start the Maya and other cultures in central Mexico.

Teotihuacan civilization

Main article: Teotihuacan

After the Olmec, Teotihuacan grew from 300 BCE. By 150 CE, it became the first big city in North America. Teotihuacan created a new way of organizing society and economy. Its influence reached into Central America, changing Maya cities like Tikal, Copan, and Kaminaljuyú. Teotihuacan had many people from different places living there. The city’s big buildings showed a new time for Mexican civilization. It grew weaker around 650 CE but kept influencing culture until about 950 CE.

Maya civilization

Main article: Maya civilization

The Maya were strong at the same time as Teotihuacan, from 250 to 650 CE. Though their cities were not all united under one ruler, they had a big effect on Mexico and Central America. The Maya built wonderful cities and made advances in math, astronomy, and calendars. They wrote using pictures and sounds on stone, pots, wood, and bark paper.

Huastec civilization

Main article: Huastec civilization

The Huastecs were a Maya group who moved north to the Gulf Coast of Mexico. They are different from the Maya because they left around 2000 BCE and did not use the Maya script. Some think they moved because of problems around 900 CE.

Zapotec civilization

Main article: Zapotec civilization

The Zapotec lived in the Oaxaca Valley from about 600 BCE until the Spanish came. Their important city, Monte Albán, was a religious center and capital from 700 BCE to 700 CE. The Zapotec fought off the Aztecs until 1502. After the Spanish arrived, they fought until they surrendered in 1563.

Mixtec civilization

Main article: Mixtec culture

The Mixtec also lived in the Oaxaca Valley. They were many small kingdoms instead of one big empire. They were taken over by the Aztecs but later helped the Spanish, keeping some of their traditions.

Totonac civilization

Main article: Totonac culture

The Totonac lived in Veracruz and Puebla. They built cities like El Tajín for trading. They later helped the Spanish fight against the Aztecs.

Toltec civilization

Main article: Toltec Empire

The Toltec started in the 8th century CE. They ruled parts of the Yucatán peninsula, including Chichen Itza. They traded with others in Central America and New Mexico. The Toltec collapsed in the early 12th century due to hunger and fighting. Many later groups, like the Aztecs, said they came from them.

Aztec/Mexica/Triple Alliance civilization

Main article: Aztec Empire

When the Toltec fell apart, the Mexica took over. They were from the desert and not from the Valley of Mexico, so people thought they were rough. But they became strong leaders of the ‘Triple Alliance’ with Tetxcoco and Tlacopan.

The Mexica thought they were continuing older cultures from Tula, the Toltec home. By about 1400, they ruled much of central Mexico. Their capital, Tenochtitlan, is where modern Mexico City is. It was one of the world’s biggest cities, maybe 200,000–300,000 people. The market there was huge when the Spanish arrived.

Tarascan/Purépecha civilization

Main article: Purépecha Empire

The Tarascan Empire started around 1300 when Tariacuri united many groups. Their capital was Tzintzuntzan, and they controlled many cities. They were very good at working with metals like copper, silver, and gold. They often fought the Aztecs and usually won. They had their own unique religion and culture, different from the Aztecs and others.

Tlaxcala republic

Main article: Tlaxcala (Nahua state)

Tlaxcala was a group in central Mexico who fought against the Aztecs. They later joined with the Spanish to defeat the Aztecs. The Spanish rewarded them for helping and keeping their culture.

Cuzcatlan

Main article: Cuzcatlan

Cuzcatlan was a group in present-day El Salvador, started by Toltec people around 1200 CE. They fought the Spanish in 1528 and finally surrendered to Pedro de Alvarado.

Lenca

Main article: Lenca

The Lenca lived in El Salvador and Honduras. Cities like Yarumela were important for trading. Some Lenca people fought against becoming Christian, while others joined peacefully.

Nicānāhuac

Main article: Nicarao people

Nicānāhuac was the name the Nicarao people used for western Nicaragua. They were from El Salvador and lived in many small groups. They fell when the Spanish arrived in 1522.

Nicoya kingdom

Main article: Kingdom of Nicoya

The Nicoya kingdom was in the Nicoya peninsula in Costa Rica. It started around 800 CE and lasted until the Spanish came in the 1500s.

South America

Main articles: Pre-Columbian Peru, Inca Empire, and Muisca Confederation

See also: Andean civilizations and Isthmo-Colombian Area

By the first millennium, South America's rainforests, mountains, plains, and coasts were home to millions of people. Some groups formed permanent settlements. Among those groups were Chibcha-speaking peoples ("Muisca" or "Muysca"), Valdivia, Quimbaya, Calima, Marajoara culture, and the Tairona. The Muisca of Colombia, Valdivia of Ecuador, the Quechuas, and the Aymara of Peru and Bolivia were important groups in South America. Many ancient cities have been found in the Amazon rainforest, Brazil, showing that complex societies lived there long ago. The Upano Valley sites in Ecuador are some of the oldest known cities in the Amazon.

Norte Chico civilization

Main article: Norte Chico civilization

On the coast of present-day Peru, Norte Chico was a civilization that began around 3200 BCE. It had large cities, with the Sacred City of Caral being one of the biggest. They did not use machines or pottery but still traded goods like cotton and dried fish. They lived in a society with leaders and traded with others. Their main foods were from farming and fishing. It is one of the oldest civilizations in the Americas.

Valdivia culture

Main article: Valdivia culture

The Valdivia culture lived on the coast of Ecuador. They were among the oldest cultures in the Americas, living from 3500 to 1800 BCE. They built houses in circles or ovals around a central space. They farmed and fished, and sometimes hunted deer. They grew crops like maize, kidney beans, squash, cassava, chili peppers, and cotton. Their pottery started simple but became fancy and large over time.

Cañari people

Main article: Cañari

The Cañari were the original people of today's Cañar and Azuay in Ecuador. They had advanced building skills and strong religious beliefs. The Inca destroyed many of their buildings. The Cañari fought hard against the Inca but were finally defeated. Many of their descendants still live in Cañar.

Chavín civilization

Main article: Chavín culture

The Chavín were a civilization in Peru that began around 900 BCE. They built farms and traded goods. We know about them from artifacts found at a place called Chavín de Huántar in Peru.

Muisca confederation

Main article: Muisca people

The Chibcha-speaking communities were numerous and well-developed in Colombia. By the 8th century, they had built their civilization in the northern Andes. They lived in areas that are now Santander, Boyacá, and Cundinamarca in Colombia.

Tairona confederation

Main article: Tairona

The Tairona civilization lived in the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountains in northern Colombia. They thrived from the 1st century CE until the Spanish arrived in the 16th century. Some of their descendants, like the Kogi, still keep many of their traditions today.

Moche civilization

Main article: Moche culture

The Moche lived on the north coast of Peru from about 100 to 800 CE. They were skilled workers and traders. We learn about them from their pottery, which shows scenes from their daily lives.

Wari Empire

Main article: Wari Empire

The Wari Empire was in western Peru from the 6th to the 11th century. Their capital was called Wari, near modern Ayacucho. They built cities and farms across much of Peru.

Tiwanaku Empire

Main article: Tiwanaku Empire

The Tiwanaku empire was in western Bolivia and also reached into Peru and Chile from 300 to 1000 CE. It was an important civilization before the Inca Empire, with its capital near Lake Titicaca.

Inca Empire

Main article: Inca Empire

The Inca civilization ruled from their capital at Cusco in Peru from 1438 to 1533. They controlled a large area with many different groups of people. They built cities with stone walls and farmed on mountain terraces. They were skilled in metalwork and even performed advanced surgeries.

Aymara kingdoms

Main article: Aymara kingdoms

The Aymara kingdoms were a group of kingdoms in Bolivia and parts of Peru and Chile. They lasted from 1151 until they were conquered by the Inca in 1477.

Caribbean coast of South America

Archeologists found old tools and hunting items from early people in Venezuela. These date from 13,000 to 7000 BCE. Some places like Taima-Taima have shown us about these early times. The number of people before the Spanish came may have been around a million, but it dropped a lot after diseases from Europe arrived. People grew maize in the west and manioc in the east.

Diaguita confederation

Main article: Diaguita

The Diaguita were groups of people in Argentine Northwest. Their culture began around 1000 CE. They fought against Spanish rule but were forced to stop in 1667.

Taíno

Main article: Taíno

The Taíno people lived on islands in the Caribbean. They were the first to meet Christopher Columbus in 1492. Many of them suffered from diseases brought by the Spanish.

Huetar kingdoms

Main article: Huetar people

The Huetar people lived in Costa Rica. They had several kingdoms, like the western kingdom ruled by Garabito and the eastern kingdom ruled by El Guarco and Correque. After the Spanish arrived, their descendants moved to the Quitirrisí reserve.

Marajoara culture

Main article: Marajoara culture

The Marajoara culture lived on Marajó Island at the mouth of the Amazon River in Brazil from 800 to 1400 CE. They built large mounds and settlements. They farmed using special soil called terra preta.

Kuhikugu

Main article: Kuhikugu

Kuhikugu was an urban area in the Xingu Indigenous Park in Brazil. It had around 50,000 people and 20 settlements. They built roads, bridges, and trenches for protection. They farmed cassava and used terra preta. Diseases from Europeans caused their population to drop.

Cambeba

Main article: Cambeba people

The Cambeba, also called Omagua, lived in the Amazon basin in Brazil. They were a large, organized society before the Europeans came. Their numbers dropped quickly after contact with Europeans. Explorers reported seeing many people along the Amazon River. They may have used wood for buildings because stone was not available. Evidence shows they farmed and used special soil.

Upano Valley cultures

Main article: Upano Valley sites

In the Upano River valley in eastern Ecuador, several cities were built by the Upano and Kilamope cultures around 500 BCE. These cities grew crops like corn, manioc, and sweet potato. The cities began to decline around 600 CE.

Agricultural development

Further information: Eastern Agricultural Complex, Agriculture in the prehistoric Southwest, Agriculture on the prehistoric Great Plains, Incan agriculture, and Hoe-cultivation belt

See also: Columbian Exchange and List of pre-Columbian engineering projects in the Americas

Long ago, people in the Americas started growing their own food. They changed wild plants like teosinte into what we now call corn. They also grew many other foods such as potatoes, cassava, tomatoes, tomatillos, pumpkins, chili peppers, squash, beans, pineapple, sweet potatoes, quinoa, amaranth, cocoa beans, vanilla, onion, peanuts, and many kinds of berries like strawberries, raspberries, blueberries, and blackberries. They also grew papaya and avocados.

These early farmers used fire to help their plants grow. They burned parts of the land to clear spaces and help certain plants thrive. They also raised animals like domesticated turkeys for meat and feathers, and in some places, they had special dogs for food. In the Andes, they raised llamas and alpacas for wool and to carry heavy loads. By the year 1500, corn was being grown from Mexico all the way to the East Coast of the United States and even into southern Canada.