All of these plants are originally from North or South America. The exchange of plants, animals, and diseases between the "new" and "old" worlds that happened beginning in the late 1400s is known as the Columbian Exchange. None of these plants existed in Europe, Africa, Asia, or Australia prior to then.
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| Corn!! yes, that includes popcorn, which believe it or not, does grow on a cob |
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| Potatoes!! no Irish potato famine without these bad boys. also, imagine potato-less pierogi's!? |
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| Cranberries!!! what did they eat at thanksgiving in the middle ages? |
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| Blueberries!! no comment |
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| Pumpkins!!!!!!!!! jack-o-what? |
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| Tomatoes!!!! imagine Italian food without tomatoes!? WTF! Look up the recipe for italian wedding soup sometime. Really old dish...pasta, cheese, no tomatoes! |
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| Tobacco!!! woah |
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| Vanilla!!! Those poor people in 1491, what flavor was their ice cream?! |
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| Cacao!!!! 1 - well I guess their ice cream wasn't chocolate flavored either 2 - it looks like that!??? 3 - the cacao beans are inside the weird seed pods growing on the tree trunk |
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| Rubber!!! 4real folks, natural rubber comes from the trunk of a tree... this plant was a BIG deal |
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| Chili Peppers!!!!!!!! the most mind-melting of all. Imagine Indian food, Chinese food, Thai food, etc before this stuff cool article about this |
