page_title: History of Georgia (U.S. state)
section_title: Pre-Columbian
hierarchical_section_title: History of Georgia (U.S. state) / Pre-Columbian
caption_attribution_description: English: Artists conception of the Etowah site (9 BR 1), a Mississippian culture archaeological site located on the banks of the Etowah River in Bartow County, Georgia. Built and occupied in three phases, from 1000–1550 CE. All rights held by the artist, Herb Roe © 2016.
context_page_description: The history of Georgia in the United States of America spans pre-Columbian time to the present-day U.S. state of Georgia. The area was inhabited by Native American tribes for thousands of years. A modest Spanish presence was established in the late 16th century, mostly centered on Catholic mission work. The Spanish were largely gone by the early 18th century, though they remained in nearby Florida, and their presence ultimately left little impact on what would become Georgia.
  English settlers arrived in the 1730s, led by James Oglethorpe. The name "Georgia", after George II of Great Britain, dates from the creation of this colony. Slavery was forbidden in the colony, but the ban was overturned in 1749. Slaves numbered 18,000 at the time of the American Revolution.
  The citizens of Georgia agreed with the other 12 colonies concerning trade rights and issues of taxation. On April 8, 1776, royal officials had been expelled and Georgia's Provincial Congress issued a constitutional document that served as an interim constitution until adoption of the state Constitution of 1777.
context_section_description: Before European contact, Native American cultures are divided into four lengthy archaeological time periods: Paleo, Archaic, Woodland and Mississippian.
  Human occupation of Georgia dates back at least 13,250 years, and coincides with  one of the most dramatic periods of climate change in recent earth history, toward the end of the Ice Age, in the Late Pleistocene epoch. Sea levels were more than 200 feet lower than present levels. The Atlantic Ocean shoreline was 100 or more miles seaward of the present location. A 2003 research project undertaken by University of Georgia researchers Ervan G, Garrison, Sherri L. Littman, and Megan Mitchell, looked at and reported on fossils and artifacts associated with Gray's Reef National Marine Sanctuary, which is located more than 19 miles (31 km) beyond today's shoreline, and 60 to 70 feet (18 to 21 m) below the Atlantic Ocean. As recently as 8,000 years ago, Gray's Reef was dry ground, attached to the mainland. The researchers uncovered artifacts from a period of occupation by Clovis culture and Paleoindian hunters dating back more than 10,000 years.
  The South Appalachian Mississippian culture, the last of many mound building Native American cultures, lasted from 800 to 1500 AD. This culture developed urban societies distinguished by their construction of truncated earthworks pyramids, or platform mounds; as well as their hierarchical chiefdoms; intensive village-based maize horticulture, which enabled the development of more dense populations; and creation of ornate copper, shell and mica paraphernalia adorned with a series of motifs known as the Southeastern Ceremonial Complex (SECC). The largest sites surviving in present-day Georgia are Kolomoki in Early County, Etowah in Bartow County, Nacoochee Mound in White County, and Ocmulgee National Monument in Macon.
caption: The South Appalachian Mississippian culture Etowah Indian Mounds in Bartow County
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