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The GP simply made a mistake. Potatoes can't grow in hot equatorial climates and never made the jump to the north. Two more American crops are essentially as pr
by AlotOfReading 6y ago
The GP simply made a mistake. Potatoes can't grow in hot equatorial climates and never made the jump to the north. Two more American crops are essentially as productive as potatoes and did spread widely before Europeans. Sweet potatoes were grown as far north as Mexico / the Gulf and Maize was growing from Canada down all the way through Argentina.
- 29athrowaway 6y agoPotatoes were not a panamerican crop, but they were grown in Spain and the British Isles as soon as they were introduced. The Inca had a population of 10,000,000, and warehouses with surplus food that could sustain the empire for over 10 years.
- throwaway894345 6y agoI think this is consistent with Diamond’s thesis—the New World didn’t have “guns, germs, and steel” because important developments (like potato agriculture) remained localized. But again, it’s not clear to me if your goal is to criticize Diamond’s thesis or not.