If plants could talk, not many would be able to say they changed the world, yet the potato could easily brag “Been there, done that. Twice.” The domestication of the potato allowed many different civilizations, especially in Europe, to grow and flourish by providing a stable source of nutrients and vitamins. People all around the world today enjoy potatoes in hundreds of different forms, but the tuber everyone knows and loves was not always so easily accepted. The domestication of the potato started nearly 13,000 years ago in The Andes by the native Incan people; since then, one single plant has shaped the course of history, partly because of its adaptability and nutritional benefits.
Evidence of the first potatoes places them on the Chilean coast and throughout the Andes mountains in Peru and Bolivia almost 13,000 years ago, and names the Incas as the first to cultivate them in approximately 8,000 B.C., officially beginning the process of domestication. At first glance, the original potato was seemingly unfit for …show more content…
Potatoes high nutritional value helped those who ate them avoid diseases such as scurvy, tuberculosis, measles, and dysentery. Since farmers spent less time growing crops and produced more food, birth rates skyrocketed and mortality rates plummeted, causing a huge population boom. From 1590 to 1845, the population of Ireland, where the climate was perfect for growing potatoes, increased from one million to eight million people. During the Industrial Revolution, workers worked long, hard days, normally for twelve to sixteen hours, and potatoes took little time and effort to prepare after coming home from work. With their large new populations, the British, German, and Dutch empires began to expand vastly, due to the large amounts of farmers, laborers, and
Evidence of the first potatoes places them on the Chilean coast and throughout the Andes mountains in Peru and Bolivia almost 13,000 years ago, and names the Incas as the first to cultivate them in approximately 8,000 B.C., officially beginning the process of domestication. At first glance, the original potato was seemingly unfit for …show more content…
Potatoes high nutritional value helped those who ate them avoid diseases such as scurvy, tuberculosis, measles, and dysentery. Since farmers spent less time growing crops and produced more food, birth rates skyrocketed and mortality rates plummeted, causing a huge population boom. From 1590 to 1845, the population of Ireland, where the climate was perfect for growing potatoes, increased from one million to eight million people. During the Industrial Revolution, workers worked long, hard days, normally for twelve to sixteen hours, and potatoes took little time and effort to prepare after coming home from work. With their large new populations, the British, German, and Dutch empires began to expand vastly, due to the large amounts of farmers, laborers, and