Turkeys were domesticated over 2,000 years ago by indigenous peoples in two separate regions: in Mesoamerica (what is now southern Mexico) and in the southwestern United States. The Mayans of southern Mexico are believed to have first domesticated turkeys around 2000 years ago, and another domestication event occurred in what is now the southwestern U.S. between 200 BC and 500 AD. These domesticated turkeys were raised for feathers, meat, and ceremonial purposes long before Europeans arrived in the Americas. Spanish explorers took domesticated turkeys back to Europe in the early 1500s, where the birds spread and were bred further.