Maize

Timeline

1. c. -9000–1492Teotihuacan–Valley of Mexico · MexicoMaize developed diverse varieties through millennia of selective breeding on the Mexican highlands, forming the Three Sisters intercropping system with beans and squash, sustaining the populations and tribute economies of Maya, Aztec, and other civilizations.
2. 1493–1580Canary Islands · Canary IslandsAfter 1493 maize spread with Spanish fleets to the Canary Islands and southern Iberia; by 1580 it had become an important fodder and food crop on the islands and served as a seed source base for transfer to Africa and the Mediterranean.
3. 1580–1590Senegal River mouth and North African coast · SenegalIn the 1580s Portuguese merchant ships brought maize to the West African coast, where local farmers quickly incorporated it into crop rotations; meanwhile maize also spread in southern Italy and the Balkans, as Old World agricultural geography began to be restructured.