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The Columbian exchange of crop plants, livestock, and diseases in both directions between the Old World and the New World. In 1972, Alfred W. Crosby, an American historian at the University of Texas at Austin, published the book The Columbian Exchange, [2] thus coining the term. [1]
New World crops are those crops, food and otherwise, that are native to the New World (mostly the Americas) and were not found in the Old World before 1492 AD. Many of these crops are now grown around the world and have often become an integral part of the cuisine of various cultures in the Old World .
For a list of food plants and other crops which were only introduced to Old World cultures as a result of the Columbian Exchange touched off by the arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1492, see New World crops. [1]
Maize, potatoes, sweet potatoes and manioc were the key crops that spread from the New World to the Old, while varieties of wheat, barley, rice and turnips traveled from the Old World to the New. There had been few livestock species in the New World, with horses, cattle, sheep and goats being completely unknown before their arrival with Old ...
Helmeted guinea fowl in tall grass. Many foods were originally domesticated in West Africa, including grains like African rice, Pearl Millet, Sorghum, and Fonio; tree crops like Kola nut, used in Coca-Cola, and Oil Palm; and other globally important plant foods such as Watermelon, Tamarind, Okra, Black-eye peas, and Yams. [2]
The most important crop was maize, usually planted along with beans and squash, including pumpkins. Minor crops such as sunflowers, goosefoot, tobacco, [1] gourds, and plums, little barley (Hordeum pusillum) and marsh elder were also grown. Maize agriculture began on the Great Plains about 900 AD.
Countless other New World crops were spread among other countries thanks to Christopher Columbus. The peanut became widely used in Africa. Capsicum peppers are a significant part of Asian cuisine. Tomatoes are essential to Italian cuisine and are very common worldwide. The potato is among the most important vegetables.
In 1988, the Israeli botanist Daniel Zohary and the German botanist Maria Hopf formulated their founder crops hypothesis. They proposed that eight plant species were domesticated by early Neolithic farming communities in Southwest Asia (Fertile Crescent) and went on to form the basis of agricultural economies across much of Eurasia, including Southwest Asia, South Asia, Europe, and North ...