What was Cahokia and what was unique about it?

Cahokia was the largest city ever built north of Mexico before Columbus and boasted 120 earthen mounds. Many were massive, square-bottomed, flat-topped pyramids — great pedestals atop which civic leaders lived. At the vast plaza in the city’s center rose the largest earthwork in the Americas, the 100-foot Monks Mound.

Why is Cahokia a special place?

Covering more than 2,000 acres, Cahokia is the most sophisticated prehistoric native civilization north of Mexico. Best known for large, man-made earthen structures, the city of Cahokia was inhabited from about A.D. 700 to 1400. Agricultural fields and a number of smaller villages surrounded and supplied the city.

Did the Native Americans build the city of Cahokia?

It had been built by the Mississippians, a group of Native Americans who occupied much of the present-day south-eastern United States, from the Mississippi river to the shores of the Atlantic. Cahokia was a sophisticated and cosmopolitan city for its time.

In what way did Cahokia resemble Native American cities in Mexico?

Largest settlement of mound builders; Present day Illinois; Mississippians built Cahokia after AD 900; 10,000 or more mounds; Monks Mound is the largest in Cahokia; Cahokia resembled large cities in Mexico; The buildings were pyramid shaped and had a temple at the top of it; The Natchez people are the descendants of …

What does Cahokia mean in history?

Wild Geese
Founded in 1699 by Quebec missionaries and named for a tribe of Illinois Indians (Cahokia, meaning “Wild Geese”), it was the first permanent European settlement in Illinois and became a centre of French influence in the upper Mississippi River valley.

What type of government did the Cahokia have?

The Cahokia polity was a political entity that existed with Cahokia as its center and exercising control over outlying areas. Unlike other Mississippian chiefdoms, the Cahokia polity had an unusual early emergence, high population, and noted greater regional influence.

When did Cahokia flourish?

Cahokia was first occupied in ad 700 and flourished for approximately four centuries (c. 950–1350). It reached a peak population of as many as 20,000 individuals and was the most extensive urban centre in prehistoric America north of Mexico and the primary centre of the Middle Mississippian culture.

Who were the Cahokia related to?

The Cahokia were members of the Illinois, a group of approximately twelve Algonquian-speaking tribes who occupied areas of present Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, and Arkansas.

Where was Cahokia located and why was it significant?

Cahokia became the most important center for the people known today as Mississippians. Their settlements ranged across what is now the Midwest, Eastern, and Southeastern United States. Cahokia was located in a strategic position near the confluence of the Mississippi, Missouri, and Illinois Rivers.

What happened to the Cahokia tribe?

Now an archaeologist has likely ruled out one hypothesis for Cahokia’s demise: that flooding caused by the overharvesting of timber made the area increasingly uninhabitable. “Cahokia was the most densely populated area in North America prior to European contact,” she says.

How did Cahokia gain power?

Then, Climate Change Destroyed It : The Salt The Mississippian American Indian culture rose to power after A.D. 900 by farming corn.

Where was Cahokia located and how was it important to the Hopewell peoples What did Archaeologists find at the site be specific?

Where was Cahokia located, and how was it important to the Hopewell peoples? What did archaeologists find at the site? It was located in Illinois and the hopewell people built mounds of dirt for ceremonies and tombs. Its importance is a burial site for the Hopewell people.

What is the history of Cahokia?

Cahokia was a sophisticated and cosmopolitan city for its time. Yet its history is virtually unknown by most Americans and present-day Illinoisans. It is one of many stories that have been bypassed in favour of the shopworn narrative – reinforced in literature and a century of American cinema – of Native Americans as backward and primitive.

What is the Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site?

The Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site /kəˈhoʊkiə/ (11 MS 2) is the site of a pre-Columbian Native American city (which existed circa 1050–1350 CE) directly across the Mississippi River from modern St. Louis, Missouri.

Was Cahokia the largest city in the United States?

If the highest population estimates are correct, Cahokia was larger than any subsequent city in the United States until the 1780s, when Philadelphia’s population grew beyond 40,000. Moreover, according to some population estimates, the population of 13th-century Cahokia was equal to or larger than the population of 13th-century London.

Why did the Mississippians abandon Cahokia?

Long before Columbus reached the Americas, Cahokia was the biggest, most cosmopolitan city north of Mexico. Yet by 1350 it had been deserted by its native inhabitants the Mississippians – and no one is sure why