At the initial stage of human history, people ate only what nature gave them. Their main occupations were hunting and gathering. The transition from collecting to the cultivation of plants took a long period of time.
How wild plants became cultivated
Wild plants have become cultivated in a variety of ways. The wind brought seeds of fruit trees and berry bushes to human dwellings, and they grew nearby. People often spilled the grains of cereals themselves, and they also began to grow. All this led to the idea that, rather than looking for plants with edible fruits far in the forest, it is better to grow them near the house.
Primitive people collected the plants that surrounded them. Of course, they were different on different continents, and therefore many different species were cultivated. Most of the cultivated plants originated in Europe, Asia and Africa. 400 species were presented to the world by South Asia, about 50 appeared in Africa, more than 100 - in North and South America. But in Australia, before the arrival of Europeans, there were no cultivated plants at all.
Countries and continents that have become the birthplace of modern cultivated plants
The oldest modern cereals are barley, wheat, millet, rice and corn. Wheat was grown already in the Neolithic (New Stone Age). During excavations of settlements of this period in European territory, wheat grains, as well as seeds of peas, beans and lentils were found. Rice is native to India and Indochina. Its wild species still grow there.
Rye appeared quite late, around the first century A. D., a little earlier, people began to grow oats. The homeland of potatoes and corn is South and Central America. Tomatoes, pumpkin, beans and paprika appeared in Peru and Mexico. Central America gave the world tobacco culture, and North America - sunflower. Common vegetable crops such as turnips, radishes, beets, cabbages, onions and carrots originate in the Mediterranean.
In the South American tropics, pineapple and peanuts were cultivated, in Indochina - a variety of citrus plants. The homeland of coffee is Ethiopia, where you can still meet its wild ancestor. Tea became a cultivated plant in Burma, cocoa in Mexico. It is curious that the cocoa beans acted there as a monetary equivalent. In ancient times, people began to grow spinning plants. So, in Europe flax was cultivated, in China - hemp, in Asia and America - cotton.
In the era of the great geographical discoveries, cultivated plants began to spread across different countries and continents. Gradually, farmers improved the plants, selecting seeds for sowing the most productive or having other advantages of the species. Thanks to the emergence and further spread of cultivated plants, the living conditions of people have significantly improved.
