The Mississippian people represent the Mississippian culture, an Antiquity Age civilization in Civilization VII.
The Mississippians' civilization ability is Goose Societies, which grants a 
Food adjacency to all of their buildings when they are next to resources. Their associated wonder is the Monks Mound, and their unique components are as follows:
- Unique units: Burning Arrow (military), Watonathi (civilian)
- Unique improvement: Potkop
- Unique civics: Earthworks, Cah-nah-ha, Waahih
Intro[]
A great dais rises from the earth, heralding a new day. What the Mississippians build will uphold the world.
The Mississippians - named for the river near where their earthen mounds stand - leave no writing behind, but archaeology tells of a complex society, a political system where cities waxed and waned in influence, maize farming, and trade in copper, shells, and hides. But by 1400 CE, whether through natural or political means, the Mississippians had already faded into memory.
Strategy[]
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Civilopedia entry[]
In the late first millennium CE and the early second, the Mississippian society stretched from Louisiana to Michigan, and from east Texas to the South Carolina Atlantic. These people were called Mississippians largely on account of the river that ran through their center. Archaeologically speaking, they were a culture, meaning they had commonalities in land use, architecture, pottery, and other tools. However, since the Mississippians lacked a system of writing, our understanding of their culture is missing details: whether or not the group was united or divided, the names of its famous people, and the specific meanings of its symbols and legends. The archaeological imprint of violence (or the lack of it), the movement of goods, and shared iconography suggest political structures and reveal trade routes. Still, several questions remain: were city-states politically unified? Did they all speak the same language? Does the evidence for large public ball games in North America point to the same institution from Maya sites? Archaeologists can make educated guesses, but they are only educated guesses.
Mississippians would not have called themselves Mississippians. Cahokia, the name of the biggest settlement, is named for the people who lived there in the 1600s, but the clearest living descendants of the Mississippians are the Caddo people, who descend from a western variant of the central Mississippian group.
The Mississippians grew out of what archaeologists call the late Woodland period (1000 BCE-1000 CE). During this time, people in this region steadily increased the use of stone and bone technologies, and invented tools like blowguns and the bow (they had previously used spear-like atlatls). Over time, hunting groups developed pottery and agriculture (gourds and maize), though hunted deer remained important. Copper mining in the region began as early as 3000 BCE. Most copperworking involved manually bending the metal until it became warm enough to be pliable, and then riveting it to other sheets. Copper and brass were mostly used for ornamentation, although some tools and weapons were fashioned out of copper.
Around 800 CE, increasing sedentarism consolidated into permanent cities, the largest of which was Cahokia. Prior interpretations of Cahokia placed it at the center of trade routes directly controlled by rulers. But later evidence points to its role as the center of a more indirect empire, what archaeologists call a “paramount chiefdom,” in which rulers lead via influence and networks, rather than direct administration. A paramount chiefdom consists of a series of noble families; a chief comes from the upper levels of those families. This system of rule could be complicated by succession laws or election – it’s impossible to tell. Further, it seems that Mississippian systems were cyclical; nobles from different cities rose to power at different times. In short, this was a region with a high degree of political instability and social fluidity. Cahokian society revolved around class divisions and the appropriation of surplus production, though people who lived lower on the social scale probably lived communally.
One key feature of Mississippian society was the construction of elaborate mounds. These were built in different ways across the region, as pyramids and platform mounds that housed various structures. In larger, centralized areas they were built annually, but on the outskirts, they would be constructed irregularly (likely according to life cycles or in moments interregnum – at the death or ascension of a chief). Even at the smaller level, cities were fortified with palisades and featured elaborate systems of festivals during which lesser cities sent tribute (deer forelimbs, maize, or prestige goods like copper plates) to their paramount chieftain. Additionally, Mississippians operated extensive trade networks, ranging from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico, the Atlantic to the Rockies. They also adopted an artistic system called the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex, which included lacrosse and other versions of the ball game (called “chunkey” in 17th century Cahokia).
After white explorers found mounds in the Midwest, several rumors flourished. Some highly religious 19th-century Americans believed the Lost Tribes of Israel must have been behind the mounds' formations because they couldn’t get their heads around the idea that they'd been built by ancestors of the people they despised (who also seemed weak in the wake of war and disease). This led to a belief in lost civilizations in the American interior and became linked to popular notions of Atlantis. Needless to say, such speculation is unfounded, not to mention harmful in that it led to the disparagement and dispossession of present-day descendants of the Mississippians. The truth is that the Mississippians were the ancestors of many tribes in the area, namely: the Alabama, Apalachee, Caddo, Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Muscogee Creek, Guale, Hitchiti, Houma, Kansa, Missouria, Mobilian, Natchez, Osage, Quapaw, Seminole, Tunica-Biloxi, Yamasee, and Yuchi.
Remnants of mound-builders lasted until the first few European explorations (into the 1600s), indicating that the devastation of smallpox and the resultant social collapse was the Mississippians’ final blow.
Cities[]
Trivia[]
- The Mississippian civilization's symbol is the Caddo sun cross (also known in some Native American cultures as the Sacred Hoop or Medicine Wheel), a Native American pattern associated with the movements of the Sun and the seasons.
- The Mississippian civilization ability refers to organizations of women in Mississippian society who had a prominent role in agriculture and religious practices.
- The Mississippian background art depicts people building wigwams along a river.
Soundtrack[]
| Original Track | Track | Based on | Credits | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| "The Mississippians (Antiquity Age)" | 14 | Composed by Geoff Knorr Performed by Southern Pine Drum Group, with Sandro Friedrich |
5:28 |
The Mississippians' soundtrack consists of three so far unidentified Native American folk songs performed by the Southern Pine Drum Group of the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians. As such, the songs are, most likely, of Choctaw origin which is appropriate since the Choctaw are one of the cultures descendant from the Mississippians.
Gallery[]
.jpg "Mississippian city in-game (Civ7).jpg (5.38 MB)")
.png "Monks Mound in-game (Civ7).png (3.77 MB)")
.png "Mississippian Background (Civ7).png (1.78 MB)")
Videos[]
See also[]
- Mississippian in other games
External links[]
| Civilization VII Civilizations [edit] | |
|---|---|
| Antiquity | |
| Exploration | |
| Modern | |
| 1 Requires DLC | |