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30,000 BCE
Natural land bridges formed when water levels dropped during the Ice Age.
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10,000 BCE
Earths temperature had begun to raise and the Ice Age was ending.
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7000 BCE
People started planting seeds to grow food in South America and central Mexico.
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Period: 1300 BCE to
The Olmec people lived along the Gulf Coast of what is now now southern Mexico.
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Period: 800 BCE to 100 BCE
The Adena people, one of the first Mound Builders, lived along the Ohio River.
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Period: 300 BCE to 909
The Mayan culture existed in what is now southern Mexico and Guatemala.
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Period: 100 BCE to 500
The Hopewell Mound Builders lodged in the same area.
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Period: 200 to 1300
The Anasazi culture emerged in the Southwest in the Four Corners area.
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Period: 700 to
The Mississippian civilization existed.
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900
Mayan civilization disappeared for reasons unknown.
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1000
The Cahokia lived along the Mississippi River.
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1100
Aztecs settled in the Valley of Mexico.
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1300
Anasazi began leaving the pueblos and cliff dwellings to live in smaller communities.
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1325
The Aztecs moved to an area around Lake Texoco, called Tenochtitlan.
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Period: 1400 to 1572
Incas established their empire in southern Peru.
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1492
Christopher Columbus landed in the Americas.
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1519
Hernan Cortes, a Spanish conquistador, first led his soldiers to the Aztec civilization.
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1521
Spaniards had defeated the Aztecs and ended their empire.
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1532
Inca Empire was weakened by civil war.
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1572
Inca Empire ended.