By: Daniel Nardini
Long before there was the State of Illinois and the sovereign country of Mexico, there were relations between the people of what is now Cahokia in Illinois and Mesoamerica (Mexico). Archaeological excavations have not shown any direct trade between Illinois and Mexico. However, archaeological evidence shows that there were wide, interlocking trade networks within North America that did do trade with Mesoamerica. One of the products found at Cahokia was cacao—a product known only to Mexico. One other thing of major importance was maize. Maize originated in Mesoamerica, and there is evidence that maize went from what is now Mexico to the the current U.S. Southwest and eventually to Cahokia. From there, the people of Cahokia eventually learned to grow maize. One other thing found at Cahokia were abalone shells that originated from the Gulf Coast. Cahokia, through its extensive trade networks with the U.S. Southwest imported products from what is now Mexico (Mesoamerica).
There is no doubt that Cahokia’s civilization developed on its own, but it had extensive trade networks with many parts of North America which had extensive trade networks with the southern part of what is now the United States which had extensive trade networks with Mesoamerica like Mexico and well into Central America that even had contacts with the Mayans. Developing a civilization in one part of the Americas was one thing, but these Native American civilizations were never isolated from their neighbors who were never isolated from any other parts of the Americas. To look at how no part of this world was totally isolated from each other for the most part, ancient Roman coins were found as far away as Japan. Japanese archaeologists were surprised to have found Roman coins from the 4th and 5th centuries CE (Current Era) in archaeological excavations in Japan. These finds proved that the extensive Silk Road trade network reached as far as Korea and then Japan.
To further drive this point home, the Native Americans may have indeed traded with the Vikings albeit indirectly. The best example of this was the discovery of a Viking coin in 1957 in Maine. The Viking coin was believed to have been minted in the 11th Century CE. We are not sure how far away the Viking coin may have come from. It could have come from the Viking colonies in Greenland or as far away as Iceland. We do know that the Native Americans did have trade with the Vikings both directly and indirectly. If this is the case, then is it a far stretch that the peoples of Illinois did some trade in one form or another with the peoples of Mesoamerica (Mexico)?
