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Prehistoric agriculture on the Great Plains
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Agriculture on the precontact Great Plains describes the agriculture of the Indigenous peoples of the Great Plains of the United States and southern Canada in the Pre-Columbian era and before extensive contact with European explorers, which in most areas occurred by 1750. The most important crop was maize, usually planted along with beans and squash, including pumpkins. Minor crops such as sunflowers, goosefoot, tobacco,[1] gourds, and plums, little barley (Hordeum pusillum) and marsh elder (Iva annua) were also grown. Maize agriculture began on the Great Plains about 900 AD.
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Evidence of agriculture is found in all Central Plains complexes. Tribes periodically switched from emphasis on farming to hunting throughout their history during the Plains Village period (950-1850 AD), probably based on climatic fluctuations and the periodic abundance of bison.[2]/ The northernmost area of intensive maize cultivation was along the Missouri River in North Dakota and the southernmost was in northern Texas among the Caddoan peoples, although there is evidence of maize cultivation in neighboring Manitoba. The faming Indians traded their surplus production to non-agricultural nomads.