WORLD HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -Corn cobs more than 6, 000 years old found in the Oaxaca region of Mexico suggest that farmers domesticated corn from a grass called teosinte. Over the centuries farmers bred larger and more productive varieties.

Detailed explanation-2: -Why did maize become an important crop in Oaxaca? It was relied on for the annual food supply.

Detailed explanation-3: -In the more temperate areas crops such as corn, beans, sorghum, peanuts, alfalfa and wheat are grown. In more tropical areas, crops also include coffee, sesame seed, rice, sugar cane and pineapple.

Detailed explanation-4: -Maize has long been one of the most important crops produced in Mexico. The importance of maize stems not only from its role in national economic output, but also because of its strong connections to Mexican culture and, especially, the key role it plays in supporting rural livelihoods.

Detailed explanation-5: -The maize, known as olotón, was almost ready for harvest and its aerial roots glistened with gel. Ronald Ferrera-Cerrato, a microbiologist, took samples back to his lab outside Mexico City to test the bacteria in the gel.

Detailed explanation-6: -Today, Oaxaca remains one of Mexico’s last strongholds of native corn. Santiago numbers among a cadre of Oaxacans who consider their ancestors’ practices of cultivating maize to be not just central to their diet and way of life, but also a matter of supreme cultural, and even spiritual, significance.