The origin and diversity of maize in the american continent

Maize is the cereal of the peoples and cultures in the American continent. The most ancient civilizations in America –from the Olmecs and Teotihuacans in Mesoamerica to the Incas and Quechuans in the Andean region of South America- flourished accompanied with this plant.
This link between culture and agriculture had motivated the humanists and scientists to ask: which is the origin of this cereal? How was the evolution of maize once the different human groups adopted and cultivated it for their own profit? These questions had led them to explore the past, and nowadays -thanks to the technological and scientific development- led them to unravel several enigmas which surround the domestication of this crop.