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Lower Mississippi Valley

 

Other Ancient Moundbuilders of Arkansas areas:

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The lower Mississippi Valley (defined here as the states of Illinois , Missouri, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Tennessee, and Kentucky) is a diverse region. The cultural landscape is as varied as a classic American quilt: from bluegrass to the blues, from Cajun Bayous to Amish Farmland. Fertile farmland can be found throughout the Valley: from the cornfields of Illinois to the rice and cotton fields of the lower delta. The natural landscape is equally diverse. Deep prairie soils, beech, birch, and maple forests, alluvial plains, rocky oak/hickory uplands, and cypress swampland; all are found in the lower Valley of the Mississippi.

The lower Mississippi Valley has a rich history as well. The region has been inhabited for over 5000 years. The original inhabitants lived in small family groups, gathered wild foods, and hunted with the dart and atlatl. Mound builders moved into the region around 1500 B.C. Villages were built , agricultural techniques improved, and trade routes established (copper , whelk shells, and mica were traded widely throughout the region). Later , the land was farmed with new cultivars from the south: corn, beans, and squash . As the years passed, settlements sprang up, flourished, and vanished as people moved to and froe on the land. In the 16th and 17th century A.D. European explorers passed through the region. As Europeans, from colonized lands to the east, began moving into the lower Mississippi Valley in the 18th century the native inhabitants were displaced. With the founding of the American nation in 1776 more white settlers moved into the region. Forests were cleared for agriculture, towns were built in the European manner, and the region began to look more and more as it does today.