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It really transformed Europe too. Europe's basically a story of famine after famine until they got access to the potato. I don't know if any other technology ha
by culi 3mo ago
It really transformed Europe too. Europe's basically a story of famine after famine until they got access to the potato. I don't know if any other technology has saved as many European lives as the potato
Pacific island cultures are a bit unique in their relationship to the New World though. Chickens which come from SE Asian jungles have been in South America since at least 1300 AD. And sweet potatoes were grown in Polynesia around 1000 AD.
- gwerbin 3mo ago1300 AD?! Did the Polynesians bring chickens with them? I knew about the sweet potatoes, but the chickens are a whole different manner.
- pfdietz 3mo agoChickens descend from jungle fowl, which were carried out into the Pacific from SE Asia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_junglefowl https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_junglefowl
- culi 3mo agoYes exactly. We have chicken remains in Chile that are dated between 1304 and 1424. And we even have DNA confirmation from those bones that link them to modern Polynesian chicken populations. The tailless, blue-egged Araucana breed is still around today and is thought to predate Columbus
- markdown 3mo agoAsk a 5yr old. They've watched Moana a dozen times and can name a chicken character.