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While maize was a very important crop to Native Americans, there were actually three staple crops that dominated their culture, often labeled as the Three Sisters: maize, beans, and squash. The reason all three crops were important is because each of them provided their own essential nutrients, maize providing starch, beans providing protein, and squash providing carotene. If Native Americans were to put all of their nutritional value into maize alone, they take the risk of their bones softening and legs bending inwards, a disease commonly referred to as pellagra. Often times Native Americans would grow these three crops together, with the cornstalk providing support for the climbing beans and shade for the squash. The squash vines also provided ground cover to limit weeds growing in the area and provided nitrogen fixing for all three crops. Hope this helps!

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15y ago
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15y ago

I don't know! Please have it answered, though!

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9y ago

There were three key foods that the Native Americans grew. They were called the Three Sisters. The crops were corn, squash, and beans.

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14y ago

this a ancestor of corn madre

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Q: Which crop was the most important part of a Native American diet?
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