Editing Cactus (section)

===Early history===

{{As of|2012|March}}, there is still controversy as to the precise dates when humans first entered those areas of the New World where cacti are commonly found, and hence when they might first have used them. An archaeological site in [[Chile]] has been dated to around 15,000 years ago,<ref name=GoebWateORou08/> suggesting cacti would have been encountered before then. Early evidence of the use of cacti includes cave paintings in the [[Serra da Capivara National Park|Serra da Capivara]] in [[Brazil]], and seeds found in ancient [[midden]]s (waste dumps) in [[Mexico]] and [[Peru]], with dates estimated at 12,000–9,000 years ago. Hunter-gatherers likely collected cactus fruits in the wild and brought them back to their camps.{{sfnp|ps=none|Anderson|2001|pp=43}}

{{multiple image
| total_width       = 480
| image1            = Codex Osuna Triple Alliance.JPG
| caption1          = The central image in this extract from the [[Aztec codices#Codex Osuna|Codex Osuna]] of 1565 shows an [[opuntia]] used as a symbol for [[Tenochtitlan]] (now in Mexico City)
| image2            = Coat of arms of Mexico.svg
| caption2          = The [[coat of arms of Mexico]] depicts a [[Mexican golden eagle]] perched on an opuntia, devouring a snake.
}}

It is not known when cacti were first cultivated. Opuntias (prickly pears) were used for a variety of purposes by the [[Aztecs]], whose empire, lasting from the 14th to the 16th century, had a complex system of horticulture. Their capital from the 15th century was [[Tenochtitlan]] (now [[Mexico City]]); one explanation for the origin of the name is that it includes the [[Nahuatl]] word ''nōchtli'', referring to the fruit of an opuntia.<ref name=Andr03/> The [[coat of arms of Mexico]] shows an eagle perched on a cactus while holding a snake, an image at the center of the myth of the founding of Tenochtitlan.<ref name=AvenCalnHart88/> The Aztecs symbolically linked the ripe red fruits of an opuntia to human hearts; just as the fruit quenches thirst, so offering human hearts to the sun god ensured the sun would keep moving.<ref name=Barroqueiro/>

Europeans first encountered cacti when they arrived in the New World late in the 15th century. Their first landfalls were in the [[West Indies]], where relatively few cactus genera are found; one of the most common is the genus ''[[Melocactus]]''.{{sfnp|ps=none|Innes|1995|p=17}} Thus, melocacti were possibly among the first cacti seen by Europeans. ''Melocactus'' species were present in English collections of cacti before the end of the 16th century (by 1570 according to one source,<ref name=Rowl97/>) where they were called ''Echinomelocactus'', later shortened to ''Melocactus'' by Joseph Pitton de Tourneville in the early 18th century.{{sfnp|ps=none|Anderson|2001|pp=456–459}} Cacti, both purely ornamental species and those with edible fruit, continued to arrive in Europe, so [[Carl Linnaeus]] was able to name 22 species by 1753. One of these, his ''Cactus opuntia'' (now part of ''Opuntia ficus-indica''), was described as "{{lang|la|fructu majore ... nunc in Hispania et Lusitania}}" (with larger fruit ... now in Spain and Portugal), indicative of its early use in Europe.<ref name=Linn53I466/><ref name=Grif04/>