Indigenous Americans cultivated corn in Mexico ten thousand years ago

Evidence

Traces of cultivated corn have been identified in central Mexico dating back ten thousand years. Twelve to fourteen centuries later, corn production had spread throughout the temperate and tropical Americas from the southern tip of South America to the subarctic of North America, and from the Pacific to the Atlantic Ocean on both continents. — Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the…, 43

Categorization

• XREF: Connects to the reader’s interest in Indigenous origin stories on this land — corn as the oldest domesticated crop anchors the counter-narrative that America is ancient, not new. — connects to: Ancient agricultural practices improved maize’s digestibility over centuries. — Neil MacGregor, A History of the World in 100 Objects, 180; Teosinte is the ancestral plant from which maize is derived. — Neil MacGregor, A History of the World in 100 Objects, 179; Subsidized U.S. corn flowing into Mexico under NAFTA displaced millions of Mexican farmers — Rebecca A. Martusewicz, Jeff Edmundson, and John Lupinacci, EcoJustice Education: Toward Diverse,…, 1408
• corroborated: 2 independent passages support this claim — Roxanne Dunbar-Ortiz, An Indigenous Peoples’ History of the…, 43

Broader Connections

• Teosinte is the ancestral plant from which maize is derived. #expands (0.80) — Neil MacGregor, A History of the World in 100 Objects, 179
• Ancient agricultural practices improved maize’s digestibility over centuries. #expands (0.70) — Neil MacGregor, A History of the World in 100 Objects, 180