Mississippian - American Indian culture consisting of a series of powerful chiefdoms that developed around 800 AD along the lower Mississippi River floodplain and then spread along the floodplains of the river's tributaries. The floodplains afforded rich, fertile, and easily tilled soils where people grew squashes, beans, and maize. They also ate seasonal crops of nuts, fruits, and berries, and hunted deer and waterfowl. Most Mississippian peoples lived in scattered settlements or small compact villages. The largest Mississippian site was Cahokia on the east bank of the Mississippi with a permanent population of at least 35,000 and large impressive mounds and plazas. Mississippian culture flourished until the appearance of the Spanish and their diseases in the 16th century.
