The chronology prevents an account in which Indigenous agriculture in eastern North America begins with maize. Later research should be checked before fixing the exact arrival date.
This evidence was selected to repair the Indigenous agriculture, land, and dispossession gap in the American whiskey history narrative.
Eastern North American societies domesticated at least four local seed-bearing plants between roughly 5000 and 3700 years before present; maize, a Mesoamerican domesticate, arrived later—around 200 BCE in this 2011 synthesis.
The Temporal and Spatial Context
The Temporal and Spatial Context of Plant Domestication in Eastern North America
Checked against the cited online source on 2026-09-05; wording is an original paraphrase.
Whiskey Excerpts Database (USWA)
Evidence
The source’s chronology shows that Indigenous agriculture in eastern North America did not begin with maize. It records an independently developed crop complex of local plants before maize arrived from Mesoamerica.
Context and use
Because the source was not yet reviewed in full, this verified excerpt supports only the stated chronology and interpretation.