in Wisconsin History
Mississippian Culture and Aztalan
About the same time that Viking settlers founded colonies in Greenland and Canada, carriers of a new culture appeared in Wisconsin. Archaeologists call their culture "Middle Mississippian." About AD 1000, emigrants left the ceremonial center of Cahokia, across the Mississippi River from modern St. Louis, and built new towns in northern Illinois. Shortly afterwards, Middle Mississippians moved up the Mississippi and Rock River valleys into Wisconsin.
At its peak, between AD 1100 and 1200, Cahokia was a massive community with a population of between ten thousand and forty thousand (larger than London, Paris, or Rome at the time). The city centered... more...