Maize is one of the world’s most important crops – responsible for roughly six percent of human calorie intake. Beyond human consumption it has a variety of uses, including for use as livestock feed, for fermentation for the American alcohol industry, and for production of plastics and ethanol. Globally, about a billion tons of maize is produced per year.
The history of maize is controversial, with scientists, historians and archaeologists proposing competing origin theories. One thing that is widely accepted is where maize comes from.
Latin origins
Most scientists agree that maize originated in central Mexico and was domesticated 7-9,000 years ago from a wild grass called teosinte. Teosinte looked nothing like modern maize, in particular due to its having smaller, fewer and more spaced out kernels, each surrounded by a tough casing. While it is descended from Teosinte, modern day corn, with its closely-packed kernels, does not exist in the wild and could not survive without human agricultural intervention.
Early farmers in Mexico domesticated Teosinte by selecting the biggest and best kernels until the crop we recognise today as maize was arrived at. Maize spread fast because it was nutritious, easy to grow, easy to store and easy to carry. Domesticated maize initially spread south down the coast to Peru and beyond, as well as across the North Americas, until eventually Native Americans continent-wide had adopted it as a vital part of their diet. Before long, it was a staple food across most cultures in North and South America and the Caribbean.
The Columbian Exchange
The Columbian Exchange is the colloquial name for the wide-ranging exchange of disease, food, ideas and people that happened between the ‘New World’ – the Americas – and the ‘Old World’ – Europe, Africa and Asia. It is so-named because it occurred in the 15th and 16th centuries, during the flurry of trade and colonization in the region that came in the aftermath of Christopher Columbus’s 1492 voyage. It was during this period that maize, along with three other crops that were subsequently to become vital staples in the Old World – potatoes, sweet potatoes and cassava – were brought to Europe. As well as these staples, a range of other foods came too, such as peanuts and pineapples and cocoa beans chilli peppers.
When Europeans arrived in the Americas, maize was already being grown from Canada to Chile, although interestingly, very little was grown in the plains and savannahs of the central US and northern Argentina, areas which today are amongst the most productive agricultural areas in the world. This was because Native Americans practised slash and burn agriculture – which was not suitable for grassy areas.
While it is possible that previous pre-Columbian contacts between the Old and New Worlds did occur, and that maize was first transported to the Old World at an earlier date, there is little doubt amongst archaeologists and historians that the first effective introduction of maize to the Old World – after which the crop became widespread – didn’t happen until after Columbus. Maize seeds and the plants that had grown from them were described in 1493 by one Peter Martyr, and one of the first European illustrations of corn was published in Venice in 1534 in Oviedeo’s Sumario de la naturale historia (the Italian version).
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Lmao my landlord tried to hike my rent 150 dollars last year. I was making magic circles in my kitchen trying to bring mao back lol
I watched a bald eagle atop a telephone pole take an incredible shit this morning
it was like its asshole straight overhand threw a ropy fistful of shit
The horse in Elden Ring is named Torrent, so if you search for "elden ring torrent" all the results are the horse :thinking-about-it:
brb making a game with characters/mechanics named Torrent, Magnet, Zip, Rip, Cracked, Keygen, and Repack
If that was an intentional anti piracy thing that would actually be pretty funny
I bounce back and forth between here and the 2 discord servers we got lmao
There's the original from when we knew we were getting banned from :reddit-logo: then a news server, cnn, split off and rebranded as the scarlet, and I think theres a gaming server or two or three lol
I think this "support" for Ukraine shit is making me go :sus-torment: because of how the West™ is framed as the good, moral empire and how evil Russia is bombing democratic Ukraine as if this ENTIRE shitshow wasn't caused by NATO in the fucking first place
GOD fuck after listening to Citations Needed the media just drives me crazy because of how chipper it is, just disconnected from reality
focus on Authoritarian Russia invading Ukraine, don't pay attention to rising cost of living, COVID, police violence, environmental destruction AAAAA
FUCK
Most people in the US know that the US is the big evil empire, so they will instantly grasp for any opportunity where the US can show itself as "the good guys", no matter how insane and hypocritical that will make them look.
BEING A COMMUNIST DOESNT MEAN YOU HAVE SOME INHERENT LOYALTY TO RUSSIA AND MY CRITICISMS OF UKRAINE ARENT BECAUSE I THINK RHE CURRENT RUSSIAN FEDERATION IS THE USSR BECAUSE I'M NOT IN ELEMENTSRY SCHOOL. I'm so fucking sick of arguing with libs but it can actually save lives if I do this time. Don't let up. Educate people, get called a tankie or whatever but fighting consent for NATO intervention is crazy important rn. If you live in a NATO country it is of absolute importance that you demistify the situation and do as much as you possibly can to stop people from thinking they should involve themselves or their military. We're a small leftist movement but widespread, don't let a single person you know be unaware of the true situation and the consequences of NATO interference.
I lift for women (and so I don't KMS) but
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despite being physically stronger than literally almost 95% of men I don't look like I lift at all
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Women care far more about confidence and personality and money than they do anything else
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Talking to women is honestly way harder than working out
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just learned a close relative who is a stinking rich businessman saw There Will Be Blood a while back and was surprised by how much they related to Daniel Day Lewis's character. I didn't know they were that shitty of a person but now I do.
I was trying to name 20 pronouns when I saw this thread so my headspace immediately went to thinking corn/maize was someone's bizarre choice of neopronouns.