Maize Goddess In 1493, Columbus told Spaniards about an amazingly productive New World plant he called maize, his version of the Taino word mahiz, which means “life-giver.” This maize, or corn, goddess was crafted in Peru about a thousand years before Columbus arrived in the New World. bpk, Berlin/Ethnologisches Museum/Waltraud Schneider-Schuetz/Art Resource, NY