1. Indigenous Cities and Civilizations Preceded Columbus
Long before Columbus arrived, Native Americans established thriving cities and sophisticated societies. One remarkable example is Cahokia, near present-day St. Louis, which was home to tens of thousands around 1100 CE. The Mississippian culture’s monumental earthworks and urban planning rivaled the great cities of Europe at the time. This challenges the outdated idea that North America was a sparsely populated wilderness before European arrival.
