III.

History

Corn is native to the Americas and was the staple grain of the region for many centuries before Europeans reached the New World. The origin of corn remains a mystery. Conclusive evidence exists, from archaeological and paleobotanical discoveries, that cultivated corn has existed in the southwestern United States for at least 3,000 years. Wild corn was once thought to have existed in the Tehuacán Valley of southern Mexico 7,000 years ago. More recent evidence puts the appearance of corn in that region at a much later date, about 4,600 years ago. Early wild corn was not much different in fundamental botanical characteristics from the modern corn plant.