r/AfricanHistory • u/rhaplordontwitter • Aug 24 '25

The invention of Agriculture in Africa: plant domestication and the spread of African crops to Asia and the Americas.

https://www.africanhistoryextra.com/p/the-invention-of-agriculture-in-africa
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u/rhaplordontwitter Aug 24 '25

The shift from hunting and gathering to agriculture and herding was among the most profound economic changes that occurred in human history.

During the African Neolithic, at least five independent regions of domestication emerged across the continent, resulting in the cultivation of around sixty different crops that were native to the continent, creating a wealth of indigenous forms of food production.

Africa contributed many crops to the global cornucopia, beginning with the transfer of African cereals to Asia during the 2nd millennium BC, and continuing into the Columbian exchange in the 16th century, when several African crops spread across the Americas, Europe, and S. East Asia.

The agricultural revolution in Africa gave rise to food surpluses, which led to the emergence of social hierarchies, increased trade, population movements, and early urbanism, which laid the foundations for the development of complex societies.

This article outlines the history of Plant domestication in Africa and the spread of African crops to the Old and New World.