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Please select a historical period: 25 years ago / 50 years ago / 80 years ago / 125 years ago / 150 years ago 250 years ago / 400 years ago / 700 years ago / 1,200 years ago 1,500 years ago / 2,000 years ago / 3,000 years ago / 4,000 years ago / 5,000 years ago / 10,000 years ago 2,000 Years Ago in North America The so-called Hopewell culture reaches its peak between 200 BC and 500 AD along the Ohio valley--called "mound builders" after their huge monuments made out of earth. Most of the mounds were burial places, but some were used for meetings and ceremonies. The Hopewell culture develops into the "Fort Ancient Indians" who lived in ordered towns and villages protected by wooden walls or palisades. Mound building began to decline (why is not known). These people are likely related to the ancestors of the Iroquois-speaking peoples (Wendake, Haudenosaunee, Attiwondaronk, Petun, Erie). The Great Peacemaker brings the Great Law of Peace to the warring clans of the Great Lakes. This forms the constitution of the Haudenosaunee, in English called the League of the Five Nations, which still exists. First Nations historian, Jake Thomas, places the formation of the Haudenosaunee as much as 2000 years ago. Extensive trade routes along the Ohio and Mississippi rivers carry trade goods between Central America and the Great Lakes area. back to map 25 years ago / 50 years ago / 80 years ago / 125 years ago / 150 years ago 250 years ago / 400 years ago / 700 years ago / 1,200 years ago 1,500 years ago / 2,000 years ago / 3,000 years ago / 4,000 years ago / 5,000 years ago / 10,000 years ago