The Mississippians were members of a vast Native American culture that extended from the Great Lakes to the Gulf of Mexico, from Oklahoma to today's southeastern states. Of all the first peoples in North America, the people who would develop the Mississippian way of life made particularly a good use of the river's rich, fertile soils for plant cultivation about 1200 years ago. This enabled them to dramatically increase their population, build large towns, and expand and attract others to their c