Visitors can still explore the Cahokia Mounds at the Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site The Koster Site in the lower Illinois River valley has evidence of human life from approximately 9,000 years ago The American Indians who lived there practiced many aspects of modern society They kept dogs as pets for example And they established cemeteries for burying their dead Cahokia was farther south near modern-day St Louis Missouri For a time Cahokia was one 6
of the largest civilizations in North America It was home to 10,000 people at its peak around the year 1000 CE The people of Cahokia built huge mounds out of the earth Cahokia had 120 of these mounds But over time Cahokia began to decline due to struggles for power among leaders poor crops and disease By 1250 just a few thousand people were left The descendants of these people spread out around the region When French explorers arrived in the 1600s they called these people the Illinois which was a French version of the word Illiniwek That word came from a native word meaning to speak the regular way However the Illinois people didn't call themselves Illinois In their native language they referred to themselves as Inoka But the name Illinois stuck 7
In 1680 explorers built the first European fort in Illinois Fort Crevecoeur was built on the Illinois River where Peoria is today In 1691 another fort was built in Peoria It became the first permanent European settlement in Illinois Illinois at this time was a French colony called Illinois Country After the French and Indian War 1754 1763 ended France was forced to hand over Illinois Country to Great Britain During the American Revolutionary War 1775 1783 Illinois was captured by American troops In 1818 Illinois became a state As settlements expanded the native peoples were forced off their homeland In 1831 the Sauk warrior Black Hawk refused to leave his village of Saukenuk The US Army came to Illinois in 1832 to make the Sauk move and war began The Black Hawk War lasted 15 weeks By the time the Sauk 8
Black Hawk tried to prevent white settlers from taking over the Sauk people’s homeland surrendered the war had claimed the lives of more than 440 American Indians along with 70 settlers and US soldiers No battles were fought in Illinois during the US Civil War 1861 1865 but the state played an important role President Abraham Lincoln began his political career in the state And General Ulysses S Grant served in the Illinois military 9
