Final answer:
The cultivation of maize significantly transformed native societies in Mexico by leading to sedentary agricultural communities, the development of complex societal structures, and technological advancements in agriculture.
Step-by-step explanation:
The cultivation of maize and other crops by native peoples in Mexico led to the transformation of Indian societies in the region through the establishment of sedentary agricultural communities, the rise of new social hierarchies due to specialization of work, and the expansion of populations necessitating more farmland. The dietary and agricultural benefits of maize, beans, and squash, known as the Mesoamerican triad, encouraged the development of complex societies, systems of trade, and monumental architecture within civilizations like the Olmec, Maya, and Ancestral Pueblo. Over time, these cultures gained distinct social structures, advanced technologies in agriculture, such as sophisticated irrigation systems, and complex urban centers supported by the surplus of food provided by maize agriculture.
By approximately 2500 BCE, the steady shift from hunting and gathering to exclusively agricultural lifestyles had propelled the formation of large urban centers like Teotihuacán in the Valley of Mexico. The complementary nutritional and agricultural relationship between maize and beans, along with the adoption of sophisticated methods of processing maize, such as soaking in an alkaline solution, further enhanced the food's nutritional value and the sustainability of the agriculture.The intensification of maize agriculture had a ripple effect across various regions, including the American Southwest, where permanent villages emerged, like those of the Ancestral Pueblo people, who developed large-scale storage and complex societal structures around their agricultural practices.