13th century in North American history
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| Centuries: | 12th century 12th century in North American history The 12th century in North American history provides a timeline of events occurring within the North American continent from 1101 to 1200 CE in the Gregorian calendar. This time period is known as the Post-archaic period... - 13th century - 14th century 14th century in North American history The 14th century in North American history provides a timeline of events occurring within the North American continent from 1301 to 1400 CE in the Gregorian calendar. This time period is known as the Post-archaic period... |
The 13th century in North American history provides a timeline of events occurring within the North American continent from 1201 to 1300 CE in the Gregorian calendar
Gregorian calendar
The Gregorian calendar, also known as the Western calendar, or Christian calendar, is the internationally accepted civil calendar. It was introduced by Pope Gregory XIII, after whom the calendar was named, by a decree signed on 24 February 1582, a papal bull known by its opening words Inter...
. This time period (from 1000 BCE–present) is known as the Post-archaic period (Post-archaic stage). Although this timeline segment may include some European or other world events that profoundly influenced later American life, it focuses on developments within Native American
Indigenous peoples of the Americas
The indigenous peoples of the Americas are the pre-Columbian inhabitants of North and South America, their descendants and other ethnic groups who are identified with those peoples. Indigenous peoples are known in Canada as Aboriginal peoples, and in the United States as Native Americans...
communities. The archaeological records supplements indigenous recorded and oral history
Oral history
Oral history is the collection and study of historical information about individuals, families, important events, or everyday life using audiotapes, videotapes, or transcriptions of planned interviews...
.
Because of the inaccuracies inherent in radiocarbon dating and in interpreting other elements of the archaeological record, most dates in this timeline represent approximations that may vary a century or more from source to source. The assumptions implicit in archaeological dating methods may also yield a general bias in the dating in this timeline.
List of events
- 1150–1350: Ancestral Pueblo people are in their Pueblo III EraPueblo III EraThe Pueblo III Era, AD 1150 to 1350, was the third period, also called the "Great Pueblo period" when Ancient Pueblo People lived in large cliff-dwelling, multi-storied pueblo, or cliff-side talus house communities...
- 1200: Construction begins on the Grand Village of the NatchezGrand Village of the NatchezGrand Village of the Natchez, also known as the Fatherland Site, is a site encompassing a prehistoric indigenous village and earthwork mounds in present-day south Natchez, Mississippi. The village complex was constructed starting about 1200 CE by members of the prehistoric Plaquemine culture....
near Natchez, MississippiNatchez, MississippiNatchez is the county seat of Adams County, Mississippi, United States. With a total population of 18,464 , it is the largest community and the only incorporated municipality within Adams County...
. This ceremonial center for the Natchez peopleNatchez peopleThe Natchez are a Native American people who originally lived in the Natchez Bluffs area, near the present-day city of Natchez, Mississippi. They spoke a language isolate that has no known close relatives, although it may be very distantly related to the Muskogean languages of the Creek...
is occupied and built upon until the early 17th century. - 1200–1400: Middle Mississippian culture flourishes in the Eastern Woodlands
- 1250: Pensacola culture emerges in FloridaFloridaFlorida is a state in the southeastern United States, located on the nation's Atlantic and Gulf coasts. It is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the north by Alabama and Georgia and to the east by the Atlantic Ocean. With a population of 18,801,310 as measured by the 2010 census, it...
- 1250: Cliff PalaceCliff PalaceThe Cliff Palace is the largest cliff dwelling in North America. The structure built by the Ancient Pueblo Peoples is located in Mesa Verde National Park in their former homeland region...
, Mesa VerdeMesa Verde National ParkMesa Verde National Park is a U.S. National Park and UNESCO World Heritage Site located in Montezuma County, Colorado, United States. It was created in 1906 to protect some of the best-preserved cliff dwellings in the world...
, and other Ancestral Pueblo architectural complexes reach their apex - The Inuit Thule peopleThule peopleThe Thule or proto-Inuit were the ancestors of all modern Inuit. They developed in coastal Alaska by AD 1000 and expanded eastwards across Canada, reaching Greenland by the 13th century. In the process, they replaced people of the earlier Dorset culture that had previously inhabited the region...
have completely displaced the old Dorset cultureDorset cultureThe Dorset culture was a Paleo-Eskimo culture that preceded the Inuit culture in Arctic North America. It has been defined as having four phases, with distinct technology related to the people's hunting and tool making...
in Arctic Alaska. - PuebloPuebloPueblo is a term used to describe modern communities of Native Americans in the Southwestern United States of America. The first Spanish explorers of the Southwest used this term to describe the communities housed in apartment-like structures built of stone, adobe mud, and other local material...
people in the American Southwest evacuate most above-ground pueblos to build spectacular cliff dwellings housing hundreds of people. - The dominant Ancestral Pueblo begin gradually absorbing the Mongollon culture in the American Southwest.
- Athapaskan-speaking people begin migrating from the prairies of Alberta and Montana toward the American Southwest.
- The Four Corners area of the American Southwest suffered severe droughts late in the century, causing many Pueblos to abandon their cliff dwellings for irrigable settlements along the Rio GrandeRio GrandeThe Rio Grande is a river that flows from southwestern Colorado in the United States to the Gulf of Mexico. Along the way it forms part of the Mexico – United States border. Its length varies as its course changes...
in southern New Mexico. - 1300: Cliff PalaceCliff PalaceThe Cliff Palace is the largest cliff dwelling in North America. The structure built by the Ancient Pueblo Peoples is located in Mesa Verde National Park in their former homeland region...
is abandoned.