Corn in Romania?

I was just in Romania for the first time and surprised to see so many corn fields and corn generally everywhere. Does anyone know how long corn has been cultivated in Romania? Was it brought over from the Americas originally or did it develop independently? Wikipedia indicates the former but a Romanian I met insists the latter explanation is true.

Corn has been cultivated in Romania since the 17th century and of course it was brought from the Americas, that was the only continent where corn existed.

Corn, along with potatoes (both sweet and white), tomatoes, pumpkins, summer squash, peanuts, pecans, cashews, many beans, chocolate, several spices (allspice, vanilla), avocados, blueberries, blackberries, cranberries, raspberries, huckleberries, cherries, artichokes, tapioca, concord grapes, peppers (both sweet and chili), pineapple, turkey and a host of other things that you would normally associate with other parts of the world, ALL came from the Americas.

OTOH the word for corn in many languages is an old word usually referring to grain.

I often ponder the question of what did people eat in the Old World before Comlumbus returned from the New World. What was Italian cuisine like without tomatoes, or Asian cuisines without peppers or African cuisines without peanuts?

Er, Ruth, blackberries, raspberries and cherries grow wild in Romania - and in the rest of Europe.

About two hours into the train ride from Bucuresti to Iasi, I saw acres and acres of corn fields and alongside the road and tracks were very tall but narrow trees, with the branches reaching upwards. Those branches cradled dozens of nests for giant black birds. In my best "The Thinker" position, I thought how nice that those birds lived right close to their food source, cutting out a long commute. I did wonder just how much of the crop they ate. Then, with a few more miles behind, the scene out the window answered my question: The same trees in that stretch had been recently chopped down by angry farmers who were fighting to protect their crops and income. I could not blame them but I did picture in my head the trees falling and the nests tumbling to the ground, spilling eggs. With the draught this summer, the farmers more than likely lost their crops anyhow.

Apples grow wild in the US but they came from Kazakhstan years ago. Italian cuisine is based on tomato sauce. The Irish starved because of the potato famine.

Certain types of cherries are definitely from the Americas and I believe that berries also originally came from the Americas. Just because they grow wild now does not mean they were not introduced in the last 500 years.

Hello
I am Liliana and i am travel guide and interpreter in Romania ( www.guide-in-romania.joolo.com)
Corn is the main important thing in preparing the MAMALIGA which is a base food like potatoes or spaghete in romania
The rest of the corn plant is used as animal food for caws and horses.
And the most important thinck why I consider is cultivatet so often as wheat is because corn dosent needs too much care to grow it.
The farm here are small like less than 1 ha to 7 ha and the lands are managed individualy (in family) so thats why people wants to plat corn wheat or sun flover fields because they cant take too much care of the fields.
If you would like some sugestion about the things to visit in Romania or you have any other questions ablut my country please e-mail me .
Sincerely,
Liliana Lopatel
www.guide-in-romania.joolo.com
email liliana_lopatel@yahoo.co.uk