Mesoamerica is the story of corn. Corn and the milpa are sacred in Mexico and Central America, including El Salvador.
The Sacred Book
The sacred book, Popol Vuh, speaks of the flesh of the first father and the first mother made from milpa corn. For decades, historians and scientists have debated the origin of corn.
There are two big surprises in the news announced in March 2009: first, it was not just any teosinte, but Balsas teosinte, or Zea mays parviglumis.
It was surprisingly found in southwest Mexico at mid-elevation levels, along the Balsas River that borders Guerrero, Michoacán, and Jalisco. Teosinte is a wild grass with edible grains — a small, hard kernel that must be opened with a stone.
The Guatemalan teosinte, or Zea luxurians, thrives in the highlands of Guatemala, northern El Salvador, and southern Honduras. But the Balsas teosinte has optimal growing conditions in western Mexico.
Another Surprise
The second surprise was the date: the site indicates that corn was domesticated at least around 6700 BC, alongside squash. The practice of cultivating corn quickly spread southward, reaching Panama by around 5500 BC, and shortly thereafter Colombia and Ecuador.
It moved north, beyond the subtropics, much more slowly, arriving in the southwestern United States around 0 BC and the Mississippi Valley around 1000 AD. By at least 3000 BC, beans were also domesticated, creating a complete diet along with corn.
While squash and corn, and later beans, moved south, at least three plants domesticated in South America moved north: cassava, manioc, and cacao.
