I got curious about the civilizations that arose in that river valley, and I saw this.
The middle one seems surprisingly Mayan-like, so I was wondering how much contact was there between these peoples. I know they were aware of each other, but the romans were aware of the chinese, not that it made much difference, or they could have been like Mali and Egypt, aware of each other, had constant contact, but were simply too far apart for the contact to have much significance, or they could have been like the Persian and the Indians: a lot of trade, a lot of mutual influence, and even political conflicts, but not many wars
In addition to my post on Mesoamerican-Iroquoian contact (or, rather, the lack thereof) that's included on the FAQ page, you'll probably also be interested in this post on Natchez-Mesoamerican contact. This post discusses Natchez oral history recorded in the early 1700s by the French historian Antoine-Simon Le Page du Pratz. In this oral history, the Natchez describe what appears to be the fall of the Aztec empire - it includes an expansionist Native nation to the south / southwest and their indigenous rivals teaming up with the Spanish to defeat them. Taking the narrative at face-value (which I honestly don't recommend) would suggest that the Natchez were remote participants in events, close enough to get a call to arms from anti-"Aztec" coalition, but not close enough to know what happened in the immediately aftermath. The narrative makes it explicit that they found out that the Spanish ultimately took over from others, not direct knowledge. It's possible that they found out about all these events from the Spanish themselves, either from survivors of de Soto's entrada or later expeditions into the Southeast.
Hi OP! While there's always more to be said on this topic, you may be interested in reading this section of our FAQ on pre-Columbian trade and contact in the Americas.
