Early Civilizations

  • 30,000 BCE

    Asian hunters arrived in the Americas

    Land bridges formed when water levels dropped during the Ice Age. Hunters followed animals from Asia and crossed over to the Americas.
  • 10,000 BCE

    The Bering Straight

    The land bridge was covered with water once again
  • 7000 BCE

    Farming

    People started farming in what is now central Mexico.
  • Period: 1300 BCE to 400 BCE

    Olmec civilization

    The first Americans to use stone in sculpture and architecture.
  • Period: 800 BCE to 100 BCE

    The Adena people

    One of the first Mound Builders. They lived along the Ohio River.
  • Period: 300 BCE to 909

    Mayan culture

    Existed in what is now southern Mexico and Guatemala.
  • Period: 100 BCE to 500

    The Hopewell Mound Builders

    The Hopewell Mound Builders lodged along the Ohio River.
  • Period: 200 to 1300

    The Anasazi

    The Anasazi lived in the Southwest in the Four Corners area (where Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona meet). They used irrigation to water their farms in the desert.
  • Period: 700 to

    The Mississippians.

    The Mississippians settled in the river valleys of present-day Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Arkansas, Missouri, Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio.
  • 1000

    The Cahokia

    The Cahokia lived along the Mississippi River. They built small, rounded piles of earth to bury their dead.
  • 1100

    the Aztecs

    Around AD 1100, the Aztecs settled in the Valley of Mexico.
  • 1325

    The Aztecs

    The Aztecs moved to an area around Lake Texcoco, called Tenochtitlan (which means "land of prickly pear cactus").
  • Period: 1400 to 1572

    Incas

    Incas conquered neighboring people and eventually stretched from present-day Ecuador to central Chile.
  • 1492

    Christopher Columbus

    Columbus landed in the Americas.
  • 1500

    Europeans

    The arrival of Europeans
  • 1500

    The Navajo

    The Navajo were introduced to sheep, goats, cattle, and horses when the Spanish came to America.
  • 1532

    The Inca Empire

    The Inca Empire was weakened by civil war.
  • 1533

    Inca invaded

    The Spanish invaded the Inca.
  • 1572

    Inca Empire

    The Inca Empire ended.
  • Period: to

    The Nez Perce

    The Nez Perce acquired horses and became skilled horse breeders and traders.