History of The Southern United States - Native American Civilizations

Native American Civilizations

In Pre-Columbian times, the only inhabitants of what is now the Southern United States were Native Americans. The most important Native American nation in the region was the Mississippian people, who were a Mound builder culture that flourished in the Midwestern, Eastern, and Southeastern United States in the centuries leading up to European contact. The Mississippian way of life began to develop around the 10th century in the Mississippi River Valley (for which it is named).

Notable Native American nations that developed in the South after the Mississippians include what are known as "the Five Civilized Tribes": the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek and Seminole.

These people were for the most part hunters and farmers. Some were nomadic, but others built fortified villages, as there were frequent wars between tribes. In villages, a central meeting house was the focal point and was used for ceremonial purposes, or for religious worship. Some built mounds to honor their dead. Women made pottery from clay and decorated it with depictions of people and animals. Some tribes had a caste system in which chiefs and their families were honored and a kind of nobility was alive.