In the 12th century Cahokia on the Mississippi was as populous as London or Paris of the day. It remained the largest city in what is now the US until the 1780s, when Philadelphia passed 40,000.

1150 · 1780 · apart: 630 years

◍ Show on the globe

The event

• Rise of Cahokiac. 1050 · Cahokia. Around 1050, Cahokia in the Mississippi valley grew into the largest city in North America north of Mexico, with an estimated 10,000–20,000 people. At its heart stood Monks Mound, the largest earthen platform mound on the continent.

12th century · 18th century

More amazing facts

• 1147 · 1150 Moscow is first mentioned in a chronicle in 1147 — around the time Angkor Wat was being completed in Cambodia.
• 1147 Moscow first appears in the chronicles as the venue for a feast.
• 1150 The first known reference to hops as a beer preservative is thought to come from a nun: Hildegard of Bingen, in her 12th-century book on healing plants.
• 1154 · 1295 Marco Polo did not bring pasta back from China.
• 1163 · 1185 When Prince Igor marched against the Polovtsians in 1185, Notre-Dame had been under construction for 22 years.
• 1163 · 1280 New Zealand was settled after work on Notre-Dame had begun.

All amazing facts (1058) →