Corn: Its Vital Role in the World

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Corn, or maize, plays a vital role in many areas of the world today, and each location views and handles corn in a different way. How they manage corn can show small details about the area and culture as a whole. Not only is corn a staple today, it also had a huge presence in the ancient Native American’s lives; corn is sometimes revered as a deity and other times as a gift to the people from the Creator or a hero of the culture. After a brief history of corn, comparing the United States with China, and Hungary will give a wide range of countries and cultures to display how each view corn. Then, ancient legends of how corn came to be, how it is revered, and how it was planted according to the Native Americans will be examined. Evidence has shown that the corn we know today is quite different from the first time it was domesticated in Mexico. Although researchers and the academic world acknowledge that corn began its world journey in Mexico, they are unsure as to the time and location of the earliest domestication (American Society of Plant Biologist). Through genetics, teosinte is found to be corn’s wild ancestor. Although the two do not look much alike, at a DNA level they are surprisingly alike, such as having the same number of chromosomes and a remarkably similar arrangement of genes (The University of Utah). Currently, the United States is the largest producer of corn in the world. In 2010, it produced 32% of the world’s corn crop. Corn is grown on approximately 400,000 U.S. farms, showing the importance of corn in the United States’ diets. Twenty percent of the corn produced is exported and corn grown for grain accounts for almost one quarter of the harvested crop acres in this country (National Corn Grower's Associatio... ... middle of paper ... ...ther. The Native Americans held corn up to a high standard – higher than any country does today. To the Natives, corn was a gift of life in essence. They learned ways to grow the corn the best way possible while not harming the environment around them as they were one with nature. In conclusion, corn has come a long way since its first domestication. It began as a prized possession to the Natives as they worshipped corn goddesses and had steady rituals allowing them to receive the corn and give thanks for the corn. The views for the United States seem to be produce as much as possible – and profit from it. China and Hungary aim to produce corn as well but limit themselves to unmodified corn. Although all the groups previously mentioned have/had their own way of viewing corn, one thing is for certain: corn is a popular plant and is presently essential to our lives.

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