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title: Pre-Columbian Americas Interactive Map description: Clickable stylized map showing the geographic locations and key characteristics of six pre-Columbian civilizations: Iroquois Confederacy, Mississippian Culture, Aztec Empire, Inca Empire, Pueblo cultures, and Pacific Northwest peoples. image: /sims/pre-columbian-americas-map/pre-columbian-americas-map.png og:image: /sims/pre-columbian-americas-map/pre-columbian-americas-map.png status: built library: p5.js bloom_level: Remember (L1) — Identify quality_score: 68

Pre-Columbian Americas Interactive Map

Learning Objective

Clickable stylized map showing the geographic locations and key characteristics of six pre-Columbian civilizations: Iroquois Confederacy, Mississippian Culture, Aztec Empire, Inca Empire, Pueblo cultures, and Pacific Northwest peoples.

  • Bloom Level: Remember (L1) — Identify
  • Library: p5.js | Chapter: 2 — Pre-Columbian Americas and European Contact

Interactive Sim

Run Fullscreen

About This MicroSim

Six colored regions on a simplified map of the Americas represent major pre-Columbian civilizations. Clicking a region reveals its name, approximate dates, peak population, a defining cultural feature, and the consequences of European contact. The side-by-side map and info panel format reinforces geographic location alongside factual recall.

Embed This MicroSim

<iframe src="https://dmccreary.github.io/us-history/sims/pre-columbian-americas-map/main.html" height="532px" width="100%" scrolling="no"></iframe>

Lesson Plan

Duration: 10–15 minutes | Grade: High School | Subject: U.S. History

Before: Show a blank map and ask students to guess where each major civilization was located.

During: Students click each region and complete a note-taking chart: civilization, location, key feature, contact consequence.

After: Discussion: Why did civilizations develop where they did? How did geography shape their economies and social organization?

Extension: Students research one civilization in more depth and add 3–4 facts not shown in the sim.

References

  • Charles Mann, 1491: New Revelations of the Americas Before Columbus (2005)
  • Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, An Indigenous Peoples' History of the United States (2014)
  • National Museum of the American Indian — americanindian.si.edu (primary source images and community perspectives)