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North American First Peoples

Mound builders, Pueblo, and the peoples of the plains and forests.

1,776 CE

Thirteen colonies declare independence, and a continental expansion follows.

1,500 CE – 1,600 CE

Epidemic disease moves ahead of European settlers, killing a large majority of the population.

1,400 CE

The great Mississippian centres empty out, before European contact.

1,100 CE – 1,300 CE

Multi-storey stone villages built into canyon walls in the Southwest.

1,050 CE – 1,350 CE

A city on the Mississippi larger than contemporary London, with a plaza and a pyramid of earth.

800 CE

Maize, beans and squash, adopted from Mesoamerica, are grown together in a system that feeds all three.

100 BCE – 500 CE

Trade networks moving obsidian, copper and shell across most of the continent.

1,700 BCE – 1,100 BCE

Enormous earthwork ridges in Louisiana, built by people who did not farm.

2,850 BCE

A bristlecone pine sprouts in California. It is still alive — the oldest known non-clonal organism on Earth.