maize

(noun)

A grain, domesticated by indigenous peoples in Mesoamerica in prehistoric times, known in many English-speaking countries as corn.

Related Terms

Examples of maize in the following topics:

  • Agricultural Settlements and Chiefdoms

    • Maize was first grown in the eastern United States around 200 BCE, and highly productive adapted strains became widely used around 900 CE.
    • It seems that maize was adopted first as a supplement to existing agricultural plants, but gradually came to dominate as its yields increased.
    • Ultimately, the Eastern Agricultural Complex was thoroughly replaced by maize-based agriculture .
    • The earliest maize known to have been grown in the Southwest was a popcorn variety with a cob only about one or two inches long.
    • Maize was a major crop for most all of the early agricultural societies in North America.

  • Native Americans in the 1490's

    • Socially and economically, the development of Mississippian culture coincided with the adoption of comparatively large-scale, intensive maize agriculture, which supported larger populations and craft specialization.
    • Scholars have theorized that drought and the collapse of maize agriculture, together with possible deforestation and overhunting by the concentrated populations, forced them to move away from major sites.

  • Innovation and Limitation

    • They grew maize and other crops intensively, participated in an extensive trade network, and had a complex stratified society.
    • Early inhabitants of the Americas developed agriculture, developing and breeding maize (corn) from ears 2–5 cm in length to the current size we are familiar with today.

  • Southwestern Culture

    • The earliest maize known to have been grown in the Southwest was a popcorn varietal measuring one to two inches long.

  • Conclusion: Pre-Colonial Development of North America

    • The establishment of the first complex societies in the Maya region, including cultivation of the staple crops of the Maya diet—maize, beans, squashes, and chili peppers—occurred in the Preclassic period, c. 2000 BCE to 250 CE.

  • Meso-American Culture

    • The establishment of the first complex societies in the Maya region, including cultivation of the staple crops of the Maya diet—maize, beans, squashes, and chili peppers—occurred in the Preclassic period c. 2000 BCE to 250 CE.

  • Eastern Woodland Culture

    • Bow and arrow technology gradually overtook the use of the spear and atlatl, and agricultural production of the "three sisters" (maize, beans, and squash) was introduced.