- New World crops
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The phrase "New World Crops" is usually used to describe crops that were native to North and South America before 1492 and not found anywhere else in the world at that time. Many of these crops have since come to be grown around the world and have often become an integral part of various cultures' cuisines.
Contents
Examples
Table of Ancient New World Crops[1] Cereals Maize (corn), maygrass, little barley, wild rice Pseudocereals amaranth, goosefoot (quinoa), knotweed, sunflower Pulses Common bean, tepary bean, scarlet runner bean, lima bean, and peanut Fiber yucca and agave Roots and Tubers Jicama, manioc (cassava), potato, sweet potato, oca, mashua, ulluco, arrowroot, yacon, Camas root, leren, and peanuts Fruits Tomato, pepper, avocado, blueberries, cranberries, huckleberries, cherimoya, papaya, pawpaw, passionfruit, tomatillo, pineapple Melons Squashes Meat and poultry turkey, bison, coypu, muscovy duck, guinea pig, llama Nuts hickory, black walnuts, pecans, shagbark hickory Other Chocolate, canna, tobacco, chicle (key ingredient in chewing gum), rubber, maple syrup, vanilla Agriculture
The new world developed agriculture much later than the fertile crescent. The following tables illustrate the crops that were grown and the chronology of domestication.
Timeline of New World Crop Cultivation[2] Date Crops Location 7000BC Maize Central America 5000BC Cotton Mexico 4800BC Squash
Peppers
Avocados
AmaranthMexico 4000BC Maize
Common BeanCentral America 4000BC Peanut South America 3000BC Potato Peru 2000BC Sunflowers
BeansSee also
- Columbian Exchange
- Agriculture
- First agricultural revolution
- Fertile Crescent
- Neolithic founder crops
- Timeline of agriculture and food technology
References
- ^ Diamond, Jared. Guns, Germs and Steel, W. W. Norton & Company, 1999, p. 126.
- ^ Gardening History Timeline: From Ancient Times to the 20th Century
Categories:- History of agriculture
- Crops originating from the Americas
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