Timeline of North American prehistory facts for kids

Hopewell Interaction Area and local expressions of the Hopewell tradition

Have you ever wondered what North America was like before Europeans arrived? This timeline explores the amazing history of the continent from 1000 BC until Europeans first made contact. It's a journey through thousands of years, showing how different groups of people lived, created, and traded across the land.

Ancient Times in North America: 1000 BC to AD 1500

To learn about times before 1000 BC, check out the Archaic period (North America)#Timeline.

Early Cultures and New Skills

• 1000 BC–800 AD: The Norton tradition developed in the Arctic, along the coast of Alaska near the Bering Strait.
• 1000 BC: People who spoke Athapaskan languages arrived in Alaska and northwestern North America. They might have come from Siberia.
• 1000 BC: Making pottery became common for people in the Eastern Woodlands.
• 1000 BC–100 AD: The Adena culture grew in the Ohio River valley. These people made beautiful stone pipes and buried them with their dead in huge mounds.
• 500–1 BC: The Basketmaker period began for the early Ancestral Pueblo people in the American Southwest.
• 500 BC–AD 1000: The Plains Woodland period took place on the Great Plains.
• 300 BC: The Mogollon people appeared in southeast Arizona and southwest New Mexico. They might have been related to the Cochise tradition.
• 200 BC–500 AD: The Hopewell tradition became very important across much of the East. They mined copper mainly in the Great Lakes area.
• 1 BC: Some groups on the central and eastern prairies learned to grow crops and make pottery from the mound builders to their east.
• 500 BC–700 AD: The Old Bering Sea culture thrived in the western Arctic.
• 50 BC–800 AD: The Ipiutak culture also thrived in the western Arctic.
• 1 AD: More prairie peoples learned farming and pottery from the mound builders.

Growing Societies and New Ways of Life

• 100–1000: The Weeden Island culture flourished along the coast of Florida. They were known for their amazing wood carvings that have lasted a long time.
• 200: The Adena culture in the Ohio River valley changed and became part of the Hopewellian exchange network.
• 200–800: Late Eastern Woodlands cultures thrived in Eastern North America.
• 200–1450: The Hohokam culture flourished in Arizona and northern Mexico.
• 400: Growing maize (corn) began in the American Southeastern Woodlands and soon reached the Northeastern Woodlands. Corn, first grown in Mesoamerica, completely changed farming in the East.
• 400: Ancestral Pueblo people in the American Southwest wove incredibly long nets to catch small animals. They also made large bags from yucca fibers.
• 500: The Late Basketmaker II Era of the Ancestral Pueblo culture started to decline in the American Southwest.
• 700: The Basketmaker III Era people in the American Southwest developed into the early Pueblo culture.
• 755–890: These are the likely dates when the Blythe Geoglyphs were carved by the ancestors of the Quechan and Mojave people in the Colorado Desert, California.
• 700–800: Ancestral Pueblo people in the American Southwest began moving from pit houses to multi-story homes made of adobe and stone, called pueblos.

Major Civilizations and European Contact

• 800–1500: The Mississippian culture created powerful chiefdoms of great farming Moundbuilders throughout the Eastern Woodlands.
• 875: Patayan people started farming along the Colorado River valley in western Arizona and eastern California.
• 900: The earliest event recorded in the Battiste Good Winter count (a historical record) happened.
• 900: The Ancestral Pueblo culture was very strong across much of the American Southwest.
• 900: Southwestern American tribes traded with Indigenous peoples of Mexico to get copper bells made using the lost-wax technique.
• 915: Construction began at Pueblo Bonito, the largest Ancestral Pueblo Great House.
• 1000: Leif Ericson discovered Vinland, leading to Norse colonization of North America.
• 1000-1200: Acoma Pueblo and Old Oraibi were founded. They are now the oldest continuously lived-in communities in the United States.
• 1000–1750: The Fort Ancient culture, different from the Mississippian culture, appeared in what is now southern Ohio, northern Kentucky, southeastern Indiana, and western West Virginia.
• 1000–1780: The Plains Village period occurred on the Great Plains, from North Dakota to Texas.
• 1070: The Great Serpent Mound was built in Ohio.
• 1100: Pueblo Bonito in Chaco Canyon reached its largest size with 800 rooms.
• 1100: The Hohokam culture reached its peak in present-day Arizona.
• Early 11th Century: Scandinavians briefly settled Vinland (likely L'Anse aux Meadows on Newfoundland). They might have traveled as far south as New England.
• 11th Century: The Thule people began to take over the old Dorset culture in Arctic Alaska.
• 900–1150: The Pueblo II Era took place in the American Southwest.
• 1000–1200: The Early Mississippian culture developed in the Eastern Woodlands.
• 1142: The League of the Iroquois was founded, and the Great Law of Peace was adopted by the Mohawk, Seneca, Cayuga, Onondaga, and Oneida people. Wampum was created by Ayenwatha, which the Haudenosaunee used to record important information.
• 1150–1350: The Pueblo III Era occurred in the American Southwest.
• 12th Century: The Inuit Thule people largely replaced the old Dorset culture in Arctic Alaska.
• 12th Century: Cahokia, the most important city of the Mississippian culture mound builders, reached its peak. It was the largest city in North America at that time.
• 1150–1350: Ancestral Pueblo people were in their Pueblo III Era.
• 1200: Construction began on the Grand Village of the Natchez near Natchez, Mississippi. This important center for the Natchez people was used until the early 17th century.
• 1200–1400: The Middle Mississippian culture flourished in the Eastern Woodlands.
• 1250: The Pensacola culture emerged in Florida.
• 1250: Cliff Palace at Mesa Verde, and other Ancestral Pueblo buildings, reached their most impressive state.
• 13th Century: The Inuit Thule people completely replaced the old Dorset culture in Arctic Alaska.
• 13th Century: Pueblo people in the American Southwest moved from most above-ground pueblos to build amazing cliff dwellings that housed hundreds of people.
• 13th Century: The main Ancestral Pueblo culture slowly began to include the Mongollon culture in the American Southwest.
• 13th Century: Athapaskan-speaking people started moving from the prairies of Alberta and Montana toward the American Southwest.
• Late 13th Century: The Four Corners area of the American Southwest suffered bad droughts. This caused many Pueblos to leave their cliff dwellings for settlements along the Rio Grande in southern New Mexico, where they could irrigate their crops.
• 1300: Cliff Palace was abandoned.
• 1200–1400: The Middle Mississippian culture was active in the Eastern Woodlands.
• 14th Century: The Little Ice Age likely caused a decline in the Mississippian culture, especially in the northern states. Studies of tree rings suggest that severe droughts hit the American Southwest and Southern Plains early in this period, leading to a quick cultural decline.
• 14th Century: Athapaskan-speaking people continued to move south from the Canadian prairies toward the American Southwest.
• 14th Century: Athapaskan-speaking Apache and Navajo people reached the American Southwest after migrating for over three centuries.
• 15th Century: Important cultures included the Mississippian culture (like the Pensacola culture, Plaquemine culture, Lake George Phase, Fort Walton culture), the Late Woodland Southeast (like the Alachua culture, Suwannee Valley culture), and the Safety Harbor culture.
• 1492: Christopher Columbus sailed to the Americas, marking the first European contact on the continent since the Norse colonization of North America 500 years earlier.
• 1497: Italian explorer John Cabot sailed from England to Newfoundland.