Corn was unknown in Europe until the discovery of America. Archeologists have found evidence that a form of wild corn grew in Mexico 80,000 years ago. The origin of modern corn is uncertain; it may be a mutant of teosinte (a grass) or a hybrid involving wild corn, teosinte, and a third grass, Tripsacum.

Corn was cultivated in Mexico by 6000 B.C. The Maya, Inca, and Aztec civilizations of Central and South America used corn as a staple food. Corn was prominent in their art and in religious rites. Sculptures representing a corn god have been found among the ruins of their cities, and corn kernels have been discovered in their graves. The Aztec understood fertilization, and produced exceptionally high yields.

The Indians of North America grew corn in the southwestern part of the continent as early as 700 A.D. The use of corn spread slowly northward and eastward among the Indians, and the grain was a staple in what is now New England by 1000.

Early European explorers brought the New World grain to Spain, France, and Italy. Columbus was the first to introduce it into Europe. Later, the lives of the first European colonists in America were saved when friendly Indians brought corn to the starving settlers at Jamestown in 1607.

The Indians taught the colonists how to plant corn in small hills, using dead fish as fertilizer. The rapid growth of the American colonies was due in large part to the cultivation of corn.

Corn was distributed around the world by mariners and other travelers, and was known throughout most of the civilized world by the end of the 16th century. It seems to have been introduced into Central Europe through Turkey, and the grain is still called "Turkish wheat" in many parts of the continent.

Breeding to produce better corn had been done to some extent since Aztec days. However, the development of the modern hybrids is comparatively recent. The first experiments were carried out in the later 19th century, and the first proposal for producing hybrids was made in 1901 by George H. Schull of the Carnegie Institution. Henry A. Wallace, later secretary of agriculture and Vice President of the United States, did much to perfect modern hybrid techniques during the 1920's.

By 1930, hybrid corn was being used on a large scale, and it now accounts for virtually all of the corn raised in the United States. The development of hybrids, together with increased use of machinery, resulted in higher corn production even though the total acreage planted in corn has been reduced. During the 1920's the average yield ranged from a little more than 20 to nearly 30 bushels per acre (1.6 to 2.4 metric tons per hectare); today the average ranges from 90 to 110 bushels per acre (7.1 to 8.6 metric tons per hectare) or more.

Using the techniques of genetic engineering, scientists produced a genetically modified type of corn in the 1990's that makes a toxin that kills certain insect pests when they feed on the plant. It was introduced for commercial planting in 1996 and, despite the public's concerns about its potentially harmful effects on the environment, acreage planted with this type of corn increased in the years following.

Cultivated corn is Zea mays of the grass family, Gramineae.