Literature
• Warman, Arturo
1988: La historia de
un bastardo. Maíz y
capitalismo. FCE:
México, D.F.
Literature
• Kaller-Dietrich, Martina:
Mais – Ernährung und
Kolonialismus. In: Mais Geschichte und Nutzung
einer Kulturpflanze
(=Historische
Sozialkunde/
Internationale
Entwicklung 18).
Ingruber, Daniela/ KallerDietrich, Martina (edas):
Wien/ Frankfurt a.M.
2001: 13-42
Corn
Botanical: zea mays
Zea (Cereal grain)
mahiz (caribbean,
preserving life)
Mesoamerican Corn cultivation
Planting with
–
digging hooks (hoe)
Separating and piling
of plants
Pictures from the Codex Florentino, 1570
(Codices served as reports to the Crown)
–
Harvest
Combined cultivation of
corn in the
mesoamerican milpa
EFFECTS
• positive waterbalance
• limits soil and eolian ersosion
• soil renutriment assured
Multiple uses of corn in Mexico:
The corn silk (espigas) are prepared as tea which is attributed
healing effects (in case of urinary infections and ailments of the
kidney)
The de-grained corncobs (olote) serve as fuel material, as
animal fodder, for the production of tools, as replacement for
toilet paper and as basis for the production of explosive oil.
The green corn leaves serve as animal fodder and fertilizers.
The corn stalks are used as construction material, fertilizers and
for the production of diverse tools.
The corn husk, the tightly-wrapped leaves that cover the cob,
called totomoxtle, serve for wrapping up meals.
The strong roots of the corn stalks either are left for the
improvement of the soil or are used as fuel material.
Also the pitch-black corn smut, the so-called huitlacoche (=
botan. ustilago maydis), is eaten and because of culinary
reasons its infestation is also intentionally induced.
Corn smut
The corn smut is a parasitic
mushroom which infects the
corn plants
Corn people
Fresco from
Bonampak
Chiapas
GENESIS AND CORN
Codex Chimalpocoa - Nahuatl
4 failed attempts to create humans from different food;
Quetzalcóatl, in the shape of an ant, penetrated into the “mountain
of preservation” and found there corn – from that moment
onwards the Gods nourished themselves from corn and from it
they created humans
Pop-Wuj - Mayas
3 attempts to create humans:
1st. attempt, out of loam – but they could not stand the weather
conditions
2nd. attempt, out of wood – but they were clumsy
3rd. attempt, out of corn – humans could think, speak and admire
the Gods
Preparation of
corn dough
for making
corn
TORTILLAS
soaking and
cooking with
slaked lime
washing out of lime
and peeling of
the grain
grinding/ squeezing
on the METATE (=
Mesoamerican grinder
made from basalt)
Pre-Columbian
Kitchen utensils
Dissemination of Corn in Europe
15th century: Ornamental plants
16th century: Portuguese bring corn to West Africa
Food rations for slaves
Since the 17th century: moderate cultivation especially in
Southern Italy and in the Balcans (Ottoman
Empire)
Epidemic spread of Pellagra
CORN  FOOD FOR POOR PEOPLE
Pellagra
In the 18th century identified as a deficiency disease
Evidence is available since the 17th century in Southern Spain
Symptoms:
Epidemics:
Inflamation of the skin (dermatitis)
Diarreah
Debility (dementia)
Death
Southern France, Northern Italy (Pianura Padana),
Balcans
Mal de Rojas
• 1937:
Cause was
found to be deficiency
of niacin
• Interaction between
Nicotinic acids and
Vitamin B 
• Administration of
products containing
niacin: beer yeasts,
pork fat
CORN IN THE USA
Part of the succes story
Settlers learned from the Indigenous peoples
1. Corn cultivation with digging hooks (hoes)
2. Preparation of corn (for example hominy: corn
kernels cooked with ashes)
Corn is Food
for the plantation workers slaves
in the Southern States
Corn = (besides raising pigs  Fat) the
backbone of the production of tobacco / sugar
and cotton
After 1865 (abolishment of the slavery) there
was more corn produced than cotton
SLAVE BREEDING
• … on the cotton
plantations
• Different forms of
production:
•
Plantations or in the
back gardens of the
workers
• Preparation: Mash, dough
or couscous
– Source:
http://www.afropop.org/mul
ti/interview/ID/76/Gwendol
yn+Midlo+Hall-2005
Corn Belt
in the Midwest
Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Missouri, Kansas and Nebraska
Basis for livestock production
20th century: 40% of the world production in the USA
Corn for livestock in the USA
Practiced in the USA since 1830
Experimental laboratory: Valley of
Ohio
Herds of cattle from Indiana were
herded to be fattened in the Ohio
valley and afterwards were taken
to the slaughterhouses of
Cincinnati
Corn for livestock in the USA
• 6 kg corn  1 kg beef
• 1910: < 80% of the corn
production in the corn belt
were used for animal
fattening
• 20th century: 70% of the
total production of corn is
used for livestock
Corn and Biotechnology
In the decade of the 1920s research and application of the
Heterosis effects:
1. Increased yield in comparison to parental
generation
2. high uniformity of the plants
Hybrid breeding:
Following generation = sterile
Henry A. Wallace (Secretary of Agriculture under Franklin D.
Roosevelt) began the first campaign for hybrid corn
in 1926
Roosevelt: New Deal – intensification of agriculture
through modern techniques
1941: hybrid corn on 40% of the cultivated areas
1950: only hybrid corn in the USA
Original corn crops regions = red
Corn corps regions today = green