Corn originated in Mexico, evolving form the wild grass Teosinte (Zea mays sp. mexicana).
The domestication of several agricultural plants began before 6500 BC and was flourishing by 2000 BC in numerous areas within and beyond the Basin of Mexico.
The first people to grow corn were Native Americans living in Mexico’s valley of Tehuacan about 6,000 years ago before spread southward throughout Mesoamerica and the South American continent. The early wild corn found in the Tehuacan is chapalote.
They held elaborate ceremonies when planting and harvesting corn and used corn patterns to decorate pottery, sculpture, and other art.
When the first wild maize plants cross-pollinated with another wild grass, they had only small heads of grain. Over time, wild maize became cross pollinated with another kind of grass.
When the American Indians first began to cultivate corn, perhaps it was a already a hybrid. For the Maya, maize was the foundation of their existence and the maize god was the father of world creation. For them, life was not possible without maize. Maize was the nutritional foundation of their diet.
The Aztec nobility ate corn as round flat breads know as tlaxcalli, which varied in size, color and thickness. The tlaxcalli was steamed under cloth or on a hot surface and served open or folded.
Maize was unknown in Europe prior to the arrival of Columbus in 1492. By that time, Native Amerindians cultivated maize over much of the tropical and temperate portions of the western hemisphere from southern Canada to south central Chile.
Corn during ancient times
