|
60 million
BC |
Germany |
Rubber-producing
plants in existence (see 1924). |
|
1st Millenium BC
|
Mexico
|
Ball
courts/figurines holding balls. |
Mokaya |
1800 BC |
Mexico |
Beginnings
of the Mokaya culture, The Mokaya are believed to be
the forerunners of the Olmec and Maya cultures. Mokoya
means ‘Corn People’. |
Mokaya/Olmec |
|
Mexico |
Oldest
known ball court of the Mokaya/Olmecs at Paso de la
Amada, Mexico. The word ‘Olmec’ means ‘Rubber
People’. |
Herodotus |
4thCentury BC
|
Zanzibar
|
Claimed
to have seen natives playing
with balls which bounced high in the air. They came
from Lydia. Is this the only reference to ‘rubber’
in the old world? |
Aztecs
& Mayas (& earlier?) |
6thCentury |
Mexico
& Central America |
Balls,
dipped feet to make shoes, coated fabrics etc. Gulf
of Mexico.( Pictures copied in National Museum, Mexico). |
Toltec-Maya
|
10th Century |
Yucatan |
Ball
courts and rubber objects at Chichen Itza – now
in Peabody Museum, Harvard University. |
Columbus |
1493 |
Haiti
|
1st
European recorded to have seen rubber balls but second
hand observation. – not recorded by Columbus himself. |