Chronograph AtlasIncluding Mesoamerica. Explore selected places, societies and political changes in this region. Each account links to its corresponding year and place in the interactive atlas.
c. 610–695
Kaanul rulers compete with Tikal for allies and subordinate cities.
Sources: James Doyle. A Maya Game of Thrones and Artistic Innovation in Golden Kingdoms. Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2018.
View on the map: Calakmul · Kaanul, 610c. 610–900
Cholula remains an important city of the Puebla–Tlaxcala Valley after Teotihuacan’s decline. The Great Pyramid and ceremonial plazas reflect a long urban history. The fertile valley supports farming, while routes connect different parts of Mesoamerica.
Cholula serves as a local urban and religious centre.
Valley farming combines with exchange in pottery and other goods.
Monumental temples and murals reflect the townspeople’s collective ceremonies.
Sources: INAH. Zona Arqueológica Cholula; Cholula, Lugares INAH.
View on the map: Cholula, 610c. 610–738
Copán is the political and religious centre of its valley and one of the Maya kingdoms. Its dynasty builds temples, palaces and inscribed monuments. Quiriguá in the Motagua Valley lies within Copán’s orbit. The map highlights the kingdom’s core in the Copán Valley.
Sources: UNESCO. Maya Site of Copan: Outstanding Universal Value.; Matthew G. Looper. New Perspectives on the Late Classic Political History of Quirigua, Guatemala. Ancient Mesoamerica 10, 1999.
View on the map: Kingdom of Copán, 610c. 1000–1200
Settlements spread in eastern Texas. Centres are connected along the Red, Sabine and Neches rivers; individual communities retain their leaders.
Sources: Texas Archeological Research Laboratory, University of Texas at Austin. Tejas: Caddo Timeline; Early Caddo; Middle Caddo.
View on the map: Caddo societies, 1000c. 1000–1200
A society with hereditary elites and subordinate settlements develops in the valley, centred on Moundville.
Sources: Vernon James Knight. Ancient Site. Moundville Archaeological Park, University of Alabama.
View on the map: Moundville, 1000c. 1000–1300
Chief-led communities are linked by maritime exchange and ceremonial centres.
Sources: Metropolitan Museum of Art. Central America and the Caribbean, 1000–1400 A.D.; Arte del mar: Artistic Exchange in the Caribbean.
View on the map: Greater Antilles · Taíno, 1000c. 1300–1399
Cahokia’s population contracts; by the end of the fourteenth century its large urban centre is abandoned. Mississippian societies continue in other valleys.
Sources: National Park Service. Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site: World Heritage Site; Archeology This Month: Native American Heritage.
View on the map: Cahokia, 1300c. 1300–1449
Large canals serve the Gila and Salt valleys. Casa Grande is built around 1350; by the mid-fifteenth century the large-settlement network undergoes major changes.
Sources: National Park Service. Casa Grande Ruins: History & Culture; Casa Grande Ruins.
View on the map: Hohokam · Gila and Salt valleys, 1300c. 1300–1399
Fortified Mayapan brings together noble families, craftspeople and trade. The city heads a major Maya political coalition.
Sources: Douglas J. Kennett et al. Drought-Induced Civil Conflict Among the Ancient Maya. Nature Communications 13, 3911, 2022. INAH. Mayapán.
View on the map: Mayapan, 1300c. 1601–1762
Towns govern communal lands and maintain their own diplomatic and trading connections.
Local councils and community leaders.
Farming, crafts and exchange between settlements.
Kinship, languages and local traditions persist through political changes.
Sources: National Park Service. Muscogee Nation; The Muscogee Creek, 1600–1840. Cherokee Nation. History.
View on the map: Cherokee, 1601c. 1601–1762
Distinct nations retain councils, settlements and alliances around the lakes; European posts depend on their participation.
Local councils and community leaders.
Farming, crafts and exchange between settlements.
Kinship, languages and local traditions persist through political changes.
Sources: Treaty of Paris, 1763. Office of the Historian. The Royal Proclamation of 1763.; Onondaga Nation. Timeline; A Chronology of Major Events, 1763–1832. Pennsylvania Tribal Consultation Handbook.
View on the map: Peoples of the Great Lakes, 1601c. 1601–1654
A small Spanish colony maintains farming and connections with nearby islands.
Royal officials, town councils and local intermediaries.
Sugar production depends on enslaved labour.
Colonial society assigns unequal rights to Indigenous residents, settlers, free and enslaved people.
Sources: The National Archives. American and West Indian Colonies before 1782; Slavery and the British Transatlantic Slave Trade; Resistance and Rebellion in the Caribbean.
View on the map: Jamaica, 16011803–1815
The Louisiana transfer changes government; river trade connects the town to the continental interior.
Sources: Louisiana Purchase Treaty, 1803. National Archives.
View on the map: Louisiana · colonial centres, 18031803–1815
The Louisiana transfer changes government; river trade connects the town to the continental interior.
Sources: Louisiana Purchase Treaty, 1803. National Archives.
View on the map: St Louis · river trade, 18031803–1815
France transfers its rights to Louisiana to the USA. The outline shows the acquired region; much of the interior remains the land of independent Indigenous nations.
Sources: Louisiana Purchase Treaty, 1803. National Archives.
View on the map: USA · Louisiana Purchase, 18031915–1918
The British crown governs colonial centres; Acadian and Mi’kmaq history continues through wars, expulsions and migration.
Royal officials, town councils and local intermediaries.
Taxation, markets and maritime trade.
Colonial society assigns unequal rights to Indigenous residents, settlers, free and enslaved people.
Sources: Parks Canada. Port-Royal; Annapolis Royal Historic District. Library and Archives Canada. Port-Royal, les débuts de la colonisation.
View on the map: Acadia and Nova Scotia, 19151915–1918
The Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo transfers the territory to the United States.
Sources: National Archives. Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo (1848); Office of the Historian. Texas annexation and the Mexican-American War.
View on the map: Spanish settlements of Alta California, 19151915–1918
British Columbia joins in 1871 and Prince Edward Island in 1873. Newfoundland remains a separate colony.
Power and participation: compare government institutions with who was entitled to vote.
Railways, migration and land policy reshaped towns and economic connections.
Political boundaries did not mean the disappearance of Indigenous peoples and communities.
Sources: Canadian Heritage. Historical Boundaries of Canada; Constitution Act (1867).
View on the map: Canada · St Lawrence Valley, 19151946–1960
After the Red River War, the principal groups move to a reservation in Indian Territory.
Sources: National Park Service. Red River War; Dawes Act; Indian Territory and Oklahoma Statehood.
View on the map: Comanche groupings, 19461946–1960
Federal government is restored after the Confederacy’s defeat.
Sources: National Archives. Emancipation Proclamation (1863); 13th Amendment (1865); Homestead Act (1862).
View on the map: Pensacola · West Florida, 19461946–1960
The 1739–1740 agreements define land and obligations for individual communities without abolishing island slavery.
Local councils and community leaders.
Farming, crafts and exchange between settlements.
Kinship, languages and local traditions persist through political changes.
Sources: The National Archives. American and West Indian Colonies before 1782; Slavery and the British Transatlantic Slave Trade; Resistance and Rebellion in the Caribbean.
View on the map: Jamaican Maroons, 19461992–2000
Federal government is restored after the Confederacy’s defeat.
Sources: National Archives. Emancipation Proclamation (1863); 13th Amendment (1865); Homestead Act (1862).
View on the map: Mobile · Gulf port, 19921992–2000
Oklahoma becomes a state; the peoples and their social institutions continue to exist.
Sources: National Park Service. Red River War; Dawes Act; Indian Territory and Oklahoma Statehood.
View on the map: Muscogee · alliance of towns, 19921992–2000
US troops withdraw; domestic administration returns to the national government.
Sources: Foreign Relations of the United States, 1934, Volume V; Office of the Historian. Good Neighbor Policy, 1933.
View on the map: French Saint-Domingue, 1992Historical frontiers are reconstructions at atlas scale. A territory, a dependent polity and a cultural area do not mean the same thing: read the selected card for its status and period. Medieval boundaries often followed zones of influence rather than surveyed lines. Modern borders provide a geographical reference, not evidence of historical ownership.