AD 1000-1492

In North America this period saw the introduction of crops and cultural features from Mexico, with agriculture becoming more important across the continent. After AD 1000 Mississippian peoples were constructing ritual centres, including large flat-topped earthen pyramids, probably with temples on the top. In the south west, where trade with Mexico was strongest, the Ancient Puebloans built towns of complex multi-room houses, with roads between them.

In Central and Meso America a number of small states had arisen, including the Toltec of central Mexico and the Maya of the Yucatan peninsula. By the 1400s the Aztec ruled an empire that covered most of Mexico with trade networks extending as far north as the south west of what is now the United States, and south to Guatemala.

In South America the tropics were inhabited by a great number of ethnic groups, often organised into large communities and probably competing for access to the banks of major rivers. Trade networks linked the peoples of the continent. By the late 1400s the Inca had conquered all the other Andean states and created a huge empire stretching from present-day Ecuador in the north to Chile in the south.

This would all change following the arrival of the Europeans and their subsequent conquest of the continent.