how come Native North Americans didn’t have vast empires of wealth and cities like Montezuma had down in Mexico?

Question

how come Native North Americans didn’t have vast empires of wealth and cities like Montezuma had down in Mexico?

In: 2227

Answer 1

They very much did, the [Mississippian Culture](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mississippian_culture?wprov=sfla1) for instance. Cahokia was ~~one of the great cities of the world~~ a major cultural and economic center, but has been largely forgotten in part because they had diminished hugely in numbers just before contact with Europeans and because the major structures they built, earthen mounds, were for a long time not readily noticeable as ruins.