Editing History of the Americas (section)

===Classic stage (800 BCE – 1533 CE)===
{{main|History of North America|History of Mexico|History of Central America|History of the Caribbean}}
[[File:Langs N.Amer.png|thumb|Pre-contact: distribution of North American [[Indigenous languages of the Americas|language families]], including northern Mexico]]
====Cahokia====
{{main|Cahokia}}
Cahokia was a major regional [[chiefdom]], with trade and tributary chiefdoms located in a range of areas from bordering the [[Great Lakes]] to the [[Gulf of Mexico]].

===== Haudenosaune =====
{{main|Iroquois}}
The [[Iroquois|Iroquois League of Nations]] or "People of the Long House", based in present-day upstate and western [[New York (state)|New York]], had a [[Confederation|confederacy]] model from the mid-15th&nbsp;century. It has been suggested that their culture contributed to political thinking during the development of the later United States government. Their system of affiliation was a kind of federation, different from the strong, centralized European monarchies.<ref>{{cite book |title=33 questions about American history you're not supposed to ask |first=Thomas E |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=dCMcnBRKR-0C&pg=PA62 |last= Woods |page=62|publisher=Crown Forum |year=2007 |isbn=978-0-307-34668-1}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |last=Wright |first=R |year=2005 |title=Stolen Continents: 500 Years of Conquest and Resistance in the Americas |publisher=Mariner Books |isbn=978-0-618-49240-4}}</ref><ref name="Tooker">{{cite book |editor=Clifton JA |title=The Invented Indian: Cultural Fictions and Government Policies |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ARbVmr941TsC&pg=PA107|publisher=Transaction Publishers |location=New Brunswick, N.J. |year=1990 |pages=107–128 |chapter=The United States Constitution and the Iroquois League |isbn=978-1-56000-745-6|author=Tooker E}}</ref>

Leadership was restricted to a group of 50 [[sachem]] [[Tribal chief|chief]]s, each representing one [[clan]] within a tribe; the [[Oneida people|Oneida]] and [[Mohawk people]] had nine seats each; the [[Onondaga people|Onondagas]] held fourteen; the [[Cayuga people|Cayuga]] had ten seats; and the [[Seneca people|Seneca]] had eight. Representation was not based on population numbers, as the Seneca tribe greatly outnumbered the others. When a sachem chief died, his successor was chosen by the senior woman of his tribe in consultation with other female members of the clan; property and hereditary leadership were passed [[matrilineality|matrilineally]]. Decisions were not made through voting but through consensus decision making, with each sachem chief holding theoretical [[Veto|veto power]]. The Onondaga were the "[[firekeeper]]s", responsible for raising topics to be discussed. They occupied one side of a three-sided fire (the Mohawk and Seneca sat on one side of the fire, the Oneida and Cayuga sat on the third side.)<ref name="Tooker"/>

Long-distance trading did not prevent warfare and displacement among the indigenous peoples, and their oral histories tell of numerous migrations to the historic territories where Europeans encountered them. The Iroquois invaded and attacked tribes in the Ohio River area of present-day Kentucky and claimed the hunting grounds. Historians have placed these events as occurring as early as the 13th&nbsp;century, or in the 17th&nbsp;century [[Beaver Wars]].<ref name="Burns">{{cite web|url=http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/O/OS001.html |title=Osage |publisher=Oklahoma Encyclopedia of History and Culture |access-date=2010-11-29 |last=Burns |first=LF |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110102050914/http://digital.library.okstate.edu/encyclopedia/entries/O/OS001.html |archive-date=2011-01-02 }}</ref>

Through warfare, the Iroquois drove several tribes to migrate west to what became known as their historically traditional lands west of the Mississippi River. Tribes originating in the Ohio Valley who moved west included the [[Osage Nation|Osage]], [[Kaw people|Kaw]], [[Ponca]] and [[Omaha people]]. By the mid-17th century, they had resettled in their historical lands in present-day [[Kansas]], [[Nebraska]], [[Arkansas]] and [[Oklahoma]]. The Osage warred with [[Caddo]]-speaking Native Americans, displacing them in turn by the mid-18th century and dominating their new historical territories.<ref name="Burns"/>

====Oasisamerica====
{{Main|Oasisamerica}}

===== Pueblo people =====
<gallery>
Chaco Canyon Chetro Ketl great kiva plaza NPS.jpg|The Great Kiva of [[Chetro Ketl]] at the [[Chaco Culture National Historical Park]], [[World Heritage Site]]
mesaverde cliffpalace 20030914.752.jpg|Cliff Palace, [[Mesa Verde National Park]], a World Heritage Site
NMtrip-05-047.jpg|[[Taos Pueblo]], a World Heritage Site, belonging to a Native American tribe of [[Puebloans|Pueblo people]], marking cultural development during the [[Pre-Columbian era]].
Canyon de Chelly1.jpg|White House Ruins, [[Canyon de Chelly National Monument]]
</gallery>
The [[Puebloans|Pueblo people]] of what is now occupied by the [[Southwestern United States]] and northern [[Mexico]], living conditions were that of large stone apartment like [[adobe]] structures. They live in Arizona, New Mexico, Utah, Colorado, and possibly surrounding areas.
[[File:ChanBahlumCatherwood.jpg|thumb|upright=.7|[[Kʼinich Kan Bahlam II|K'inich Kan B'alam II]], the Classic period ruler of [[Palenque]], as depicted on a [[Stele|stela]]]]

====Aridoamerica====
{{Main|Aridoamerica}}

===== Chichimeca =====
{{main|Chichimeca}}

Chichimeca was the name that the [[Aztecs|Mexica]] (Aztecs) generically applied to a wide range of semi-[[nomad]]ic peoples who inhabited the north of modern-day [[Mexico]], and carried the same sense as the European term "[[barbarian]]". The name was adopted with a pejorative tone by the Spaniards when referring especially to the semi-nomadic [[hunter-gatherer]] peoples of northern Mexico.

====Mesoamerica====
{{main|Mesoamerica}}

===== Olmec =====
The [[Olmecs|Olmec]] civilization emerged around 1200 BCE in Mesoamerica and ended around 400 BCE. Olmec art and concepts influenced surrounding cultures after their downfall. This civilization was thought to be the first in America to develop a writing system. After the Olmecs abandoned their cities for unknown reasons, the Maya, Zapotec and Teotihuacan arose.

===== Purepecha =====
The [[Purépecha|Purepecha]] civilization emerged around 1000 CE in Mesoamerica. They flourished from 1100 CE to 1530 CE. They continue to live on in the state of [[Michoacán]]. Fierce warriors, they were never conquered and in their glory years, successfully sealed off huge areas from Aztec domination.

===== Maya =====
{{main|History of the Maya civilization}}
[[Maya civilization|Maya]] history spans 3,000 years. The [[Classic Maya collapse|Classic Maya]] may have collapsed due to changing climate in the end of the 10th century.

===== Toltec =====
The [[Toltec]] were a nomadic people, dating from the 10th–12th century, whose language was also spoken by the Aztecs.

===== Teotihuacan =====
[[Teotihuacan]] (4th century BCE – 7/8th century CE) was both a city, and an empire of the same name, which, at its zenith between 150 and the 5th century, covered most of Mesoamerica.

===== Aztec =====
The [[Aztecs|Aztec]] having started to build their empire around 14th century found their civilization abruptly ended by the Spanish conquistadors. They lived in Mesoamerica, and surrounding lands. Their capital city Tenochtitlan was one of the largest cities of all time.

====South America====
[[File:Inca Quipu.jpg|thumb|right|200px|Inca Quipu. [[Larco Museum|Larco Museum Collection.]]]]
{{main|Pre-Columbian South America}}

===== Valdivia culture =====
[[Valdivia culture|The Valdivia culture]] is one of the oldest settled cultures recorded in the Americas. It emerged from the earlier [[Las Vegas culture (archaeology)|Las Vegas culture]] and thrived along the coast of [[Santa Elena Peninsula|Santa Elena peninsula]] in [[Santa Elena Province]] of [[Ecuador]] between 3500 BCE and 1500 BCE.{{cn|date=July 2024}}

===== Norte Chico =====
One of the oldest known civilization of the Americas was established in the [[Caral-Supe civilization|Norte Chico]] region of modern Peru. Complex society emerged in the group of coastal valleys, between 3000 and 1800 BCE. The [[Quipu]], a distinctive recording device among Andean civilizations, apparently dates from the era of Norte Chico's prominence.{{cn|date=July 2024}}

===== Chavín =====
The [[Chavín culture|Chavín]] established a trade network and developed agriculture by as early as (or late compared to the Old World) 900 BCE according to some estimates and archaeological finds. Artifacts were found at a site called Chavín in modern [[Peru]] at an elevation of 3,177 meters. Chavín civilization spanned from 900 BCE to 300 BCE.{{cn|date=July 2024}}

==== Upano Valley ====
The [[Upano Valley sites]] in present-day eastern Ecuador predate all known complex Amazonian societies, spanning from approximately 500 BCE to 300-600 CE.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Yuhas |first=Alan |last2=Jiménez |first2=Jesus |date=2024-01-23 |title=Remnants of Sprawling Ancient Cities Are Found in the Amazon |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2024/01/23/science/ecuador-amazon-cities-discovery.html |access-date=2024-07-06 |work=The New York Times |language=en-US |issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

===== Inca =====
{{main|Inca Empire}}
Holding their capital at the great city of [[Cusco]], the [[History of the Incas|Inca civilization]] dominated the Andes region from 1438 to 1533.
Known as ''Tawantinsuyu'', or "the land of the four regions", in [[Quechuan languages|Quechua]], the Inca culture was highly distinct and developed. Cities were built with precise, unmatched stonework, constructed over many levels of mountain terrain. [[Terrace (earthworks)|Terrace farming]] was a useful form of agriculture. There is evidence of excellent metalwork and even successful [[Trepanning|trepanation]] of the skull in Inca civilization.