View source for 1340s

==Americas==
[[File:Chromesun kincaid site 01.jpg|thumb|left|The decline of the [[Mississippian culture]] accelerated from the 1340s on.]]
Very little is known of the Americas in this period, save what can be determined from [[archaeology]]. In North America, the [[Mississippian culture]] was in a continued state of decline. The city of [[Cahokia]] had experienced gradual decline since the [[13th century|1200s]], possibly due to contributory factors such as depletion of resources, [[Climate change (general concept)|climatic change]], war, disease, social unrest and declining political and economic power.<ref>{{cite web |title=Welcome to Cahokia Mounds |url=http://www.cahokiamounds.org/learn |publisher=Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site |year=2008 |access-date=2009-06-18}}</ref> The final abandonment of the city may have taken place some time between this decade and 1400. Radiocarbon dating of wash material from [[Platform mound|Mound 55]] give a date of around 1350, which can be taken as the time the mound was last used.<ref>{{cite web |title=Mound 55 |url=http://www.cahokiamounds.com/explore/cahokia-mounds/name/murdock/ |publisher=Cahokia Mounds State Historic Site |year=2008 |access-date=2009-06-18 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130615063139/http://www.cahokiamounds.com/explore/cahokia-mounds/name/murdock/ |archive-date=2013-06-15 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Other Mississippian sites which went into decline after this decade, from about 1350 on, include the [[Kincaid Mounds]]<ref>{{cite web |title=Kincaid Mounds – A Prehistoric Cultural and Religious Center In Southern Illinois |url=http://www.kincaidmounds.com/history.htm |publisher=Kincaid Mounds Organization |author=Schwegman, John E |access-date=2009-06-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090517082519/http://www.kincaidmounds.com/history.htm |archive-date=2009-05-17 |url-status=dead }}</ref> and the [[Moundville Archaeological Site|Moundville site]].<ref name="Moundville">{{cite web |title=An Archaeological Sketch of Moundville |url=http://www.ua.edu/academic/museums/moundville/sketch.html |publisher=[[University of Alabama]] |year=2009 |access-date=2009-06-18 |archive-date=2007-11-18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071118141709/http://www.ua.edu/academic/museums/moundville/sketch.html |url-status=dead }}</ref> In the case of the latter, the decline was marked by a loss of the appearance of a town and a decrease in the importation of goods.<ref name="Moundville"/> Although the site retained its ceremonial and political functions, some of the mounds were abandoned while others lost their religious importance altogether.<ref name="Moundville"/>

In Central America, the [[Mayan civilization|Mayans]], who centuries earlier had suffered a serious decline, were ruled from a capital in the [[Yucatan Peninsula]] called [[Mayapan]]. Other [[pre-Columbian]] civilisations, however, were on the rise. The precursors to the [[Aztec]]s, the [[Mexicas]], had recently founded their capital city of [[Tenochtitlan]]. They also had occasional skirmishes with the nearby [[Mixtec]] civilization.