post-Colombian exchange, adoption of potato also helped Europe as a whole. "By feeding rapidly growing populations, [it] permitted a handful of European nation

post-Colombian exchange, adoption of potato also helped Europe as a whole. "By feeding rapidly growing populations, [it] permitted a handful of European nations to assert dominion over most of the world between 1750 and 1950." "Because potatoes were so productive, the effective result, in terms of calories, was to double Europe’s food supply." "Routine famine almost disappeared in potato country, a 2,000-mile band that stretched from Ireland in the west to Russia’s Ural Mountains in the east." https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/how-the-potato-changed-the-world-108470605/ https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/how-the-potato-change...