"Long before Columbus reached the Americas, Cahokia was the biggest, most cosmopolitan city north of Mexico. Yet by 1350 it had been deserted by its native inhabitants the Mississippians – and no one is sure why".
Probably got tired of laying up on that second level to reach the Green. They abandoned it for a par-5; that raised par-3 looks pretty hard even with modern clubs.
Other peoples just disappeared didn't they - the Mayans and some others that I can't recall right now - I think me brain is melting ......................
I never even heard of it. I guess that is one of the Lost Cities that have come before. Lost cities are one thing, but somehow we managed to lose a whole continent. I am talking about Atlantis. I like to watch Expedition Unknown because that show delves into the realms of some of that kind of stuff. However, they are always "finding just enough" to keep viewers entertained I think. I wonder if it is planted evidence. Anyway, the show is fun to watch and historical too.
It looks as thpugh it is surrounded by a low lying area. Flooding? Perhaps a disease killed them off?
"The Native Americans at Cahokia farmed, traded and hunted. They were also early urban planners, who used astronomical alignments to lay out a low-scale metropolis of 10-20,000 people, featuring a town centre with broad public plazas and key buildings set atop vast, hand-built earthen mounds. The largest of these mounds was 100 feet tall and covered 14 acres – and still exists today. But rather than developing, like London, into a modern metropolis, Cahokia is more like the fabled lost continent of Atlantis. Having become a major population centre around AD1050, by 1350 it was largely abandoned by its people – and no one is sure why. Neither war, disease, nor European conquest drove Cahokia’s residents from their homes. Indeed, the first white man to reach these lands, Spanish explorer Hernando de Soto, didn’t do so until 1540".
Why did it say "Mississippians"? "This article is about a Native American site at Cahokia Mounds. For the modern city located about 10 miles (16 km) to the southwest, see Cahokia, Illinois." see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cahokia Monks Mound, the largest earthen structure at Cahokia (for scale, an adult is standing on top)
"In its prime, about four centuries before Columbus stumbled on to the western hemisphere, Cahokia was a prosperous pre-American city with a population similar to London’s". "Located in southern Illinois, eight miles from present-day St Louis, it was probably the largest North American city north of Mexico at that time. It had been built by the Mississippians, a group of Native Americans who occupied much of the present-day south-eastern United States, from the Mississippi river to the shores of the Atlantic". "Cahokia was a sophisticated and cosmopolitan city for its time. Yet its history is virtually unknown by most Americans and present-day Illinoisans. It is one of many stories that have been bypassed in favor of the shopworn narrative – reinforced in literature and a century of American cinema – of Native Americans as backward and primitive".
I have come across episodes of National Geographic or Discovery Channel on ancient cities that were deserted for unknown reasons. One theory is the arrival of aliens who terrorized the place hence the population dwindled until none was left. Or maybe a suicide bomber had targeted the area, huh. But there were no bombs yet at that time. On a serious note, there was this theory about superstition. You know the olden times when voodoo had great influence on people such that the so called witch doctors seemed to be running the government at times. A superstition can drive away people. Like when there was an outbreak of Ebola, I'm sure the elders in Africa were blaming the gods for their misfortune and if a famous witch doctor would declare to abandon their country then it would be deserted like what we find now in ancient cities.
Here is another informative video lecture that shows pictures of the mounds at Cahokia, and also some very interesting other mounds and underground chambers that were built in around the same timeframe. The man telling about these structures is a stone mason, and he can readily understand the difficulty involved, and the skills necessary to build these odd chambers, which are made to coordinate with the calendar and movements of the sun. This is totally connected with the other historical information that has been hidden, or forgotten, that concerns early inhabitants of North America, all the way back to hundreds of years BC. I have started a thread on that, and hope to have more information as I study and learn more about what our actual history of the people of North America was. It is pretty obvious that the early American Indians were not the uneducated savages that they have been portrayed to be in our history books and movies.
What an awesome map, @Joe Riley ! All it is lacking is more information ...... Ahem. Are the green markers all mounds or places where early Americans lived ? I noticed that two of them are relatively close to where I am at, the ones at Florence, and also the Hobbs Island ones. Hobbs Island is just down along the Tennessee River, and I think that Robin took Bobby and I down there one day last summer. I will do some research on this, because I just know that "Indiana Robin" will want to go and see ancient mounds or whatever it is that is there. Where did you find the map, and does the website have more detailed information about the mounds ?
I don't know where Joe found his map but here is a site with info, @Yvonne Smith https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mississippian_culture Also a whole, bunch of maps... http://www.bing.com/images/search?q...6BFE7EB2853D9A32C351A40B84343C605&FORM=IDBQDM