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civilizations in the Americas. With no known metal tools, famous for their great stone head sculptures. Much of Mesoamerican culture can be traced to them.

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One of the earliest known civilizations in the Americas. With no known metal tools, famous for their great stone head sculptures. Much of Mesoamerican culture can be traced to them.

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First nomads began crossing the Bering Land Bridge from Siberia around 16,000 years ago. First settlers were hunter-gatherers, and multiple waves of people came over across several centuries. Even after the rising sea water covered it, people continued to travel back and forth.

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Oldest known civilization in the Americas. First cities dates to before 3000 BC. Civilization lasted for over a thousand years before finally declining around 1800 BC.

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One of the earliest known civilizations in the Americas. With no known metal tools, famous for their great stone head sculptures. Much of Mesoamerican culture can be traced to them.

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Centered in the Yucatan peninsula. Very sophisticated civilization that was organized around city-states, with the city of Tikal having 100,000 residents at one point. Practiced human sacrifice and slavery.

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The Toltec, building off of earlier civilizations and states, built an empire that dominated central and southern Mexico. Their capital of Tula grew to be up to 60,000 people. Much of their history was destroyed by the later Aztecs

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Collection of ethnicities and civilizations spread throughout the American Southwest. Engaged in irrigation farming and famous for their towns carved into the sides of cliffs. In decline before the arrival and conquest of the Spanish.

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Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site, Collinsville, IL, USA

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Cahokia and the Mississippi civilization

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Cahokia and the Mississippi civilization

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The Mississippi river valley was home to a large, sophisticated civilization. While some cities were in decline, contact with Spain unleashed disease which destroyed their civilization.

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Centered around the city of Tenochtitlan, the empire dominated central Mexico. The empire began in the 1300s, and expanded until contact with the Spanish. The empire was decentralized, but rebellions were common as the Aztecs could be brutal.

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Begun in 1438, at its height, it controlled the coast from modern Ecuador to Chile. Culturally distinct from the cultures of Mexico. A civil war over succession to the throne occurred right before the Spanish invasion.