Ask the Chatbot Games & Quizzes History & Society Science & Tech Biographies Animals & Nature Geography & Travel Arts & Culture ProCon Money Videos
Britannica Sources used in this answer

Which crops supported early farming communities in Central America?

Created from Britannica articles using AI. AI can make mistakes, so verify using Britannica articles.
Map of Latin America showing countries, major cities, and key physical features such as mountain ranges, highlands, and rivers. The map includes Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean, and South America, with labeled regions like the Andes, Brazilian Highlands, and Gran Chaco, as well as an inset highlighting the West Indies. Surrounding bodies of water, including the Pacific Ocean, Atlantic Ocean, Gulf of Mexico, and Caribbean Sea, are also labeled.
history of Latin America

Early farming communities in Central America and the broader Mesoamerican region relied on a diverse array of crops that were domesticated over thousands of years. The most foundational of these were corn (maize), beans, and squash, which are famously known in many Indigenous traditions as the "Three Sisters".123

These crops were often grown together in a symbiotic system known as milpa, where the corn provided a stalk for beans to climb, the beans added nitrogen to the soil, and the squash leaves helped retain moisture and suppress weeds.3

In addition to these staples, early agriculturalists cultivated a variety of other plants, including:
* Chili peppers12
* Cotton12
* Avocados1
* Cacao1
* Manioc1
* Tomatoes1

Before full domestication, these early societies also relied on foraging wild resources such as acorns, piñon pine nuts, prickly pears, mesquite seeds, and various wild grasses.1