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Previous | Next Home > Timeline > 6 million BC - 1493 AD
  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.

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