The Olmec Culture was the precursor culture of the Mesoamerican civilizations, reaching it's height around 900 BC. During that time, several powerful city-states dotted the land, with some having populations of several thousand. However, as time went on, the states in the Olmec heartland became less and less prosperous. And yet, in a way, the decline of traditionally Olmec states was a boon for surrounding places, contributing to the rise of places like Teotihuacan (for the curious, tay-oh-tee-WAH-kan)which, at it's height, boasted a population of over 100,000 in the 600's AD.
Your challenge, if you choose to accept it, is to make these civilizations as powerful and advanced as possible. Bonus points if these technological innovations make their way into South and North America proper. My thought would be that the best step one would be to nix the Nahuatl invasion of Mesoamerica. The Nahuatl people seem to have sacked several of the old Olmec cities, and took the abhorrent-but-not-lethal bloodletting practices and turned them into full on sacrificial rituals. Another would be to standardize Olmec writing, even if it is into "Olmec Characters" a la Chinese.
Your challenge, if you choose to accept it, is to make these civilizations as powerful and advanced as possible. Bonus points if these technological innovations make their way into South and North America proper. My thought would be that the best step one would be to nix the Nahuatl invasion of Mesoamerica. The Nahuatl people seem to have sacked several of the old Olmec cities, and took the abhorrent-but-not-lethal bloodletting practices and turned them into full on sacrificial rituals. Another would be to standardize Olmec writing, even if it is into "Olmec Characters" a la Chinese.