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Long before Europeans first set foot in North America, Cahokia, the City of the Sun, reigned as the continent's largest and most culturally complex city for hundreds of years. At its peak, between 1100 and 1200 A.D., the city covered about six square miles and had some 20,000 inhabitants. Houses with thatched roofs were arranged in neat rows around public plazas. Cahokia's residents had to deal with crime, sewage disposal, and other problems that face today's city dwellers. Gigantic earthen mounds, many with temples on their peaks, were found throughout the city. The construction of these mounds--including Monks Mound, the biggest earthen structure in North America--took years of hard labor by members of a society that had a well defined social structure. The City
that Corn Built Cahokia's
mysterious end
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Center
for Global Environmental Education |
Think
of the wonders of ancient civilization, and chances are that images of
Egyptian pyramids or Greek temples come to mind--not a long-lost
metropolis beside the Mississippi River near what is now the city of St.
Louis. 
You
could say that Cahokia was built on corn--the main staple of the diet
of those who lived in the ancient city. Throughout history in all parts
of the world, cultures that have been dependent on hunting and gathering
have not developed large cities and societies with members having specialized
jobs or social roles--including that of the artist who created the sculpture
from Cahokia at right. These developments have only occurred in places
where people learned to grow crops or domesticate animals. Today's dominant
civilizations all have grown from early agricultural societies with many
similarities to the one that flourished in Cahokia. 
