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To be more precise all sugar melons are indigenous to various locations of Africa with the watermelon coming from South Africa. Conversely, the distantly relate
by austincheney 6y ago
To be more precise all sugar melons are indigenous to various locations of Africa with the watermelon coming from South Africa. Conversely, the distantly related squashes, gourds, and pumpkins are indigenous to the area between southern Texas and northern Columbia.
- jacksonpollock 6y agosugar melon is a great name
- samatman 6y agoNot entirely accurate, the calabash or bottle gourd is an Old World crop as well. Some archaeologists think it may have even been carried across the Bering Strait! It was in any case endemic in the New World at the time of contact.
- AlotOfReading 6y agoI would use "think" in the loosest possible sense, as we're pretty much certain it wasn't. Calabash can't be grown across much of that journey, and there's no archaeological or ethnographic evidence to support it. Additionally, the historic varieties are most closely related to African crops, not Asian varieties (with no evidence of founder effect). Furthermore, the seeds remain viable for years even in salt water, so oceanic transport is completely realistic. Fun fact though, it's found in the earliest domestication deposits in the Americas, alongside squash.