City of St. Louis City Map Poster

About City of St. Louis

The area that would become St. Louis was a center of the Native American Mississippian culture, which built numerous temple and residential earthwork mounds on both sides of the Mississippi River, their largest complex being Cahokia Mounds. Their major regional center was at Cahokia Mounds, active from 900 to 1500 AD. Due to numerous major earthworks within St. Louis boundaries, the city was nicknamed as "Mound City". These mounds were mostly demolished during the city's development. Historic Native American tribes in the area included: Osage (whose chief Black Hawk gave his name to nearby Rock Island), Missouri Indians (a Siouan people), Omaha (a Dhegian-Siouan tribe related to Sioux), Ponca (a Dhegian-Siouan people) and Kaw or Kansa ("Kaw" is an alternative spelling of "Omaha").