"Seeds of Change"—potatoes as cross-cultural exchange

In the early 1990s, the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC sponsored an exhibit chronicling some of the most far-reaching cultural influences of the contact between the Eastern and Western Hemispheres following Columbus' initial expedition. The exhibit focused on five areas—horses, sugar, disease (all transported from the Old World to the New) and corn and potatoes (transported from the New World to the Old). Now, archaeologists working in South America have new evidence of some of the earliest cultivation of potatoes in the world.

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Who First Farmed Potatoes? Archaeologists in Andes Find New Evidence

By Steph Yin

The New York Times

November 18, 2016