Cahokia Mounds
Collinsville, Madison County, Illinois
Marker Inscription
Largest pre-Columbian city north of Mexico. At its height around 1100 CE, Cahokia held some 20,000 people and the massive earthen Monks Mound.
Erected by Illinois State Museum
The Story
The Mississippian people built a sophisticated urban center of plazas, mounds, and a solar calendar of timber posts. Cahokia was larger than London at the time before declining by 1350.
Why it matters
Cahokia overturns the myth of a 'wilderness' continent — it was a great Native American city centuries before European contact.
Related events
- · Mississippian culture
Themes & tags
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