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1 1 Pre-­Colonial Period through Spanish Empire, 250 CE–1810 Rise of Maya and Indigenous Civilizations, 250 CE–900 CE Spencer Tyce Chronology 10,000 BCE North American tribal groups develop stone tools and weapons. 7500 BCE Drought eliminates big game animals such as mammoths, forcing Mesoamerican tribal groups to hunt smaller animals and adopt plants, seafood, nuts, and berries into their diets. 5000 BCE North American cultures domesticate plants and develop agricul- tural techniques. 1200 BCE The Olmec culture begins to thrive on the Mexican Gulf Coast. Po­liti­cal, cultural, and social advances evolve into systems that are shared by Mesoamerican cultures for the following two millennia. 500 BCE The Zapotecs, an Olmec-­influenced society based out of Monte Albán in modern-­day Oaxaca, begin to thrive. The Zapotecs are one of the first Mesoamerican groups to institute colonization policies in the region so as to spread their po­liti­cal and cultural power. 400 BCE The decline of the Olmec culture leads to the temporary end of wide- spread Mesoamerican trade and religious rituals. Other groups begin to adopt the cultural traits that the Olmecs had introduced to Meso- america, such as po­liti­cal structures, solar and religious calendar systems, advanced engineering, and the construction of buildings.