Maize: Did you mean...?

The Maya sites of San Gervasio (on the island of Cozumel) and Tulum (on the mainland of Mexico in Quintana Roo) are often overlooked for the better-known Chichen Itza or other spectacular ruins further inland but both these locations have...

The Hymn to Nisaba (c. 3rd millennium BCE) is a poem praising Nisaba, the Sumerian goddess of writing and accounts who also served as scribe of the gods. The poem is officially dedicated to Enki, the god of wisdom (sometimes given as her...

The Bay of Islands is a subtropical region in New Zealand's far north and is a popular destination for big-game fishing, sailing, and dolphin watching. It is an area rich in the history of Maori (Māori in their own language) and European...

Join World History Encyclopedia as they chat with Tim Pauketat all about his new book Gods of Thunder: How Climate Change, Travel, and Spirituality Reshaped Precolonial America, published by Oxford University Press. Kelly: Thank you so much...

Yum Caax, a Maya god of maize. Modern relief inspired by a Maya hieroglyph. (Teplice Botanical Gardens, Czech Republic)

New World native plants. Clockwise, from top left: 1. Maize (Zea mays); 2. Tomato (Solanum lycopersicum); 3. Potato (Solanum tuberosum); 4. Vanilla (Vanilla); 5. Pará rubber tree (Hevea brasiliensis); 6. Cacao (Theobroma cacao); 7...

A polished jade celt or ceremonial axehead from the Olmec civilization of Mesoamerica. The Olmec ritually buried celts to appease the gods and guarantee future harvests, particularly of maize which jade was associated with. (Metropolitan...

A ceramic figure-vessel representing a priest of the Zapotec civilization. Oaxaca, Mexico, 250-600 CE. The figure wears a mask, feathered headdress, and a medallion which represents a maize field. (St. Louis Art Museum, Missouri)

Indian Corn – also known as Flint Corn and Calico Corn – one of the three types of maize cultivated by the Native Peoples of North America.

In which John Green teaches you about the changes wrought by contact between the Old World and the New. John does this by exploring the totally awesome history book "The Columbian Exchange" by Alfred Cosby, Jr. After Columbus "discovered"...