Livestock
Turkey
Also Known As Domestic turkey
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The large American poultry bird, domesticated by peoples of Mesoamerica well before European contact and carried back across the Atlantic after 1492, where it became a major farmed meat bird in Europe and, above all, the centerpiece of the North American Thanksgiving and Christmas table.
Facts
Scientific NameMeleagris gallopavo domesticus 1 Domestication RegionMesoamerica (central Mexico) 1 Primary UsesMeat; historically feathers, and ceremonial use in some Indigenous American traditions 1 Disputed
Domesticated When (Circa)circa 800 BC to 100 AD, debated 1 Estimates for pre-Columbian domestication in Mesoamerica range from roughly 800 BC to 100 AD depending on the site and method. Cross-Tradition Connections
Associated With
Carried from the Americas to Europe as part of the Columbian Exchange, then bred there and reintroduced to North America by colonists.
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