Maize

Maize (Zea mays mays), a coarse annual plant of the grass family (Gramineae). The staple crop of most Latin American countries, it is the most important native crop in the Western Hemisphere and is second only to wheat in commercial value. Maize is also the most photosyn-thetically efficient of the domesticated grains.

On 5 November 1492 two sailors returned from a reconnaissance mission into the interior of Cuba and reported to Columbus a grain called "maiz … a grain which was well tasted, bak'd, dry'd and made into flour." At that time maize was grown from southern Canada to southern Chile, from sea level to 10,000 feet. In the English-speaking world maize became known as Indian corn, "corn" being a common European term for cereal grain. In Latin America it continued to be called maíz.

There are six major types of maize, all developed by Native Americans in response to various environmental and cultural factors: (1) flint corn, with its hard kernels, is resistant to fungus and stores well in cooler and damper climates; (2) flour corn, with its soft, easily ground kernels, is best suited to warmer and drier climates; (3) dent corn, the most common "field corn," combines the hard features of flint with a flour "dent" over its soft center; (4) sweet corn, which accounts for only 3 percent of overall production because it cannot be dried and stored as easily as the preceding types; (5) popcorn, characterized by small and extremely hard kernels that must be parched or exploded before they can be further processed or eaten; and (6) pod corn, which is raised as a curiosity and represents a "primitive" race in that each kernel is surrounded by its own chaff (husk). Maize is unusual among the domesticated grains because it cannot effectively seed itself. Its seeds (kernels) are enclosed in a modified leaf (husk) and are so tightly attached to the spike (cob) that they cannot be easily dispersed.

ORIGIN

Considerable controversy has surrounded the origin of domesticated maize. Unlike other major cereals, wild races of maize have not been discovered. Two competing theories have been proposed to explain the origin of domesticated maize. Paul Mangelsdorf, Richard MacNeish, and others have argued that maize was domesticated from a wild form that subsequently became extinct. They base their arguments on excavated material from the Valley of Tehuacán, Puebla, Mexico, which they dated as early as 5000 b.c.e. (now redated to 3600 b.c.e.), and on maize pollen from Valley of Mexico lake sediments originally dated as early as 80,000 b.c.e. (now redated to as recent as the beginning of the common era). George Beadle, Hugh Iltis, and others have argued that maize was domesticated from one of the subspecies of teosinte (Zea mays mexicana, Zea mays parviglumis), a closely related wild grass. Current research on plant genetics utilizing molecular analysis supports the teosinte theory, and points to the Balsas River drainage of southwestern Mexico as the most probable region for first domestication.

Once domesticated, the cultivation of maize spread rapidly, first as a supplement to the diet of hunting and gathering populations. It may have reached the highlands of Peru as early as 4000 b.c.e., and southern South America soon after. As new races of maize were developed in South America they hybridized with the more ancient races from Mexico, which led to the rapid evolution of hundreds of varieties of domesticated maize.

Maize also spread north. By 2000 b.c.e. it was present at Bat Cave in west-central New Mexico. Within 600 years these first primitive ears found north of Mexico were followed by more productive varieties. Similar varieties, chapalote and naltel, are still grown in Mexico.

Unraveling the origin of maize has important consequences for the future of Latin American farmers. Current research on the recently discovered perennial teosinte species Zea diploperennis holds the promise of providing genetic material that can be used to increase the disease resistance of Zea mays. The incorporation of genetic material from ancient races of Mexican maize into modern hybrids can increase resistance to environmental stresses.

HISTORY

From its humble beginnings as a dietary supplement, maize was rapidly transformed into the essential crop that supported the growth of the first civilizations of the Americas. It was prepared with lime water or wood ash to release chemically bonded nutrients. When maize was combined with beans, squash, chiles, and small amounts of animal protein, it provided a diet far superior to any known in sixteenth-century Europe.

Throughout temperate Latin America maize was the staff of life. In the tropical lowlands of Mexico and Central America it became the dominant crop, and in Amazonia it became an important supplement to manioc-based diets. Maize was grown to its environmental limits in the Andes, but in the higher altitudes it was often replaced as a staple by potatoes and quinoa. It is not surprising that maize was incorporated into the religious life of all pre-Columbian civilizations.

When maize was first introduced to Europe, prominent herbalists referred to it as Turkish corn or wheat. Maize then had a brief vogue in the Mediterranean countries, but it was not prepared properly, nor nutritionally balanced with other crops. As a result, the dietary-deficiency disease pellagra became common in areas where maize was farmed, and it was abandoned as a food crop.

Since maize was associated with the conquered people of the Western Hemisphere, it remained unpopular among Europeans, and was thought by some to be, in the words of English herbalist John Gerard, "a more convenient food for swine than for man" (Charles B. Heiser, Jr., Seeds to Civilization, new ed., 1990, p. 92). This colonial attitude did not develop in sub-Saharan Africa, however, where maize was soon incorporated into indigenous subsistence systems and cuisines. Maize also became a staple crop in areas of India and China.

In Latin America maize remains the basis of most traditional meals and is prepared in over 300 ways; even the pollen and fungus (smut) is eaten; in Mexico, the latter, known as huitlacoche, is considered a delicacy. Maize also is fermented to produce the traditional maize beer (chicha) of the Andes.

TODAY

Almost 350 million acres of maize were planted worldwide in 1985–1986. In North America it is primarily grown for animal feed and industrial products, while in Latin America it is primarily grown for food. Latin America accounts for approximately 42 million acres of the world's maize production. Four countries, China, Brazil, India, and Mexico, account for more than 50 percent of the total area planted to maize in the Third World.

Today, most processed foods contain starch, oil, or sugar from maize. Biodegradable products from diapers to "paper" bags are being produced from processed corn starch, and ethanol, an alcohol distilled from corn starch, is being mixed with gasoline for fuel. A quality-protein maize nearly twice as nutritious as normal maize is currently under development.

Corn has been at the center of debates concerning globalization and free trade. In 1994 Mexico signed a free-trade pact with Canada and the United States, which created the North American Free Trade Association (NAFTA). This agreement removed many trade barriers immediately and called for the end of all trade barriers on agricultural products like corn and beans by 2007. This latter deadline, however, generated criticism from many Mexicans, because the U.S. promotion of corn-based ethanol caused a dramatic rise in maize prices. This increase in turn pushed up the price of tortillas, a staple in the Mexican diet, causing them to be too expensive for many consumers.

See alsoAgriculture; Globalization.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Paul Weatherwax, Indian Corn in Old America (1954).

Alexander Grobman, Races of Maize in Peru (1961).

Paul C. Mangelsdorf, Richard S. MacNeish, and W. C. Galinat, "Domestication of Corn," in Science 143 (1964): 538-545.

Howard Walden, Native Inheritance: The Story of Corn in America (1966).

George W. Beadle, "The Ancestry of Corn," in Scientific American 242 (1980): 112-119.

Hugh H. Iltis, "From Teosinte to Corn: The Catastrophic Sexual Transmutation," in Science 222 (1983): 886-894.

Stephen J. Gould, "The Short Way to Corn," in Natural History 93 (1984): 12-20.

Paul C. Mangelsdorf, Corn: Its Origin, Evolution, and Improvement (1984).

Ranulfo Cavero Carrasco, Maíz, chicha y religiosidad andina (1986).

Bruce F. Benz, "Racial Systematics and the Evolution of Mexican Maize," in Studies in the Neolithic and Urban Revolutions, edited by Linda Manzanilla (1987).

International Maize and Wheat Improvement Center, The 1986 CIMMYT World Maize Facts and Trends: The Economics of Commercial Maize Seed Production in Developing Countries (1987).

Museo Nacional De Culturas Populares, El maíz, fundamento de la cultura popular mexicana, 3d ed. (1987).

National Research Council, Quality-Protein Maize (1988).

Proceedings of the Global Maize Germplasm Workshop, Recent Advances in the Conservation and Utilization of Genetic Resources (1988).

Flavio Rojas Lima, La cultura del maíz en Guatemala (1988); Maydica 35 (1990), special issue devoted to Zea diploperennis; Charles B. Heiser, Jr., Seeds to Civilization: The Story of Food, new ed. (1990).

Simposium Nacional Del Maíz, El maíz en la década de los 90 (1990).

Robert E. Rhoades, "The Golden Grain," in National Geographic 183 (1993): 92-117.

Additional Bibliography

García, Martha; Sandra Luz; and Mauricio García Sandoval. El maíz: Sustento del pasado y presente en la cultura popular nacional. Toluca, Mexico: Universidad Autónoma del Estado de México, 1999.

McAfee, Kathleen. "Corn Culture and Dangerous DNA: Real and Imagined Consquences of Maize Transgene Flow in Oaxaca." Journal of Latin American Geography 2:1 (2003), 18-42.

Torres Torres, Felipe. La industria de la masa y la tortilla: Desarrollo y tecnología. Mexico City: Universidad Nacional Autónoma de Mexico, 1996.

                                      Donald E. McVicker