Cassava was domesticated from a wild relative in the southwestern Amazon Basin of Brazil, likely between 8,000 and 10,000 years ago, making it one of the earliest domesticated crops of South America alongside crops from the Andes further west. Its starchy, calorie-dense root tubers tolerate poor soils and drought better than most staple crops, and following the Columbian Exchange the crop spread from South America to Africa and Southeast Asia, where it became a critical staple, particularly across sub-Saharan Africa, valued for producing a reliable harvest even in marginal growing conditions.
Facts
Classification
Type/ClassificationAgricultural Revolution or Transformation 1 WhenNo more than 10,000 years ago 1 Connections
Associated With
Cassava, Crops This milestone records the domestication event of the cassava crop it is directly named for.
Sources
1. Cassava (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationHistory section, first paragraph
Wild populations of M. esculenta subspecies flabellifolia, shown to be the progenitor of domesticated cassava, are centered in west-central Brazil, where it was likely first domesticated no more than 10,000 years ago.
lead description (milestone-kind)
Cassava was domesticated from a wild relative in the southwestern Amazon Basin of Brazil, likely between 8,000 and 10,000 years ago, making it one of the earliest domesticated crops of South America alongside crops from the Andes further west.
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