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The potato was the first domesticated root vegetable in the region of modern-day southern Peru and extreme northwestern Bolivia [1] between 8000 and 5000 BC. [2] Cultivation of potatoes in South America may go back 10,000 years, [ 3 ] but tubers do not preserve well in the archaeological record, making identification difficult.
The potato (/ p ə ˈ t eɪ t oʊ /) is a starchy tuberous vegetable native to the Americas that is consumed as a staple food in many parts of the world. Potatoes are underground tubers of the plant Solanum tuberosum, a perennial in the nightshade family Solanaceae. Wild potato species can be found from the southern United States to southern Chile.
Domestication (not to be confused with the taming of an individual animal [3] [4] [5]), is from the Latin domesticus, 'belonging to the house'. [6] The term remained loosely defined until the 21st century, when the American archaeologist Melinda A. Zeder defined it as a long-term relationship in which humans take over control and care of another organism to gain a predictable supply of a ...
Food historian Lois Ellen Frank calls potatoes, tomatoes, corn, beans, squash, chili, cacao, and vanilla the "magic eight" ingredients that were found and used only in the Americas before 1492 and were taken via the Columbian Exchange back to the Old World, dramatically transforming the cuisine there. [17] [18] [19] According to Frank, [20]
These are successively replaced by domesticated sheep, goats, and humped zebu cattle by the fifth millennium BC, indicating the gradual transition from hunting and gathering to agriculture. [73] Maize and squash were domesticated in Mesoamerica; potatoes in South America, and sunflowers in the Eastern Woodlands of North America. [74]
Agriculture encompasses crop and livestock production, aquaculture, and forestry for food and non-food products. [1] Agriculture was a key factor in the rise of sedentary human civilization, whereby farming of domesticated species created food surpluses that enabled people to live in the cities.
In addition to all these virtues, sweet potatoes are also higher in fiber than regular potatoes, boasting 3 grams per 100-gram serving (regular white potatoes only contain 1.5 grams).
This map shows the sites of domestication for a number of crop plants. Places, where crops were initially domesticated, are called centers of origin. This is a list of plants that have been domesticated by humans. The list includes individual plant species identified by their common names as well as larger formal and informal botanical ...