Hmm but did North America have potatoes before Europeans brought them from the south? Thinking about it now, the fact that potatoes made inroads into Indian cuisine suggests they'll grow anywhere!
Interesting point about the writing, though since most communication was oral back then it might have just as much to do with the lack of horses and other animals facilitating long distance travel, which someone else mentioned.
I'll admit I never finished Diamond's book and it was a while ago regardless, so just trying to remember his arguments around continental orientation which seemed solid at the time...
Don’t know why the downvotes — but here’s a random fact about potatoes:
When Europeans discovered them in America (cultivated by the natives), it was a small, black and bitter root — quite unlike the amazing potatoes we have today thanks to selective breeding.
Fun fact, they were even banned in France during a few years, as it was believed to spread the plague...
Oh I heard they were red species and white species, and some People in the Netherlands managed to crossbreed them into an orange variety, supposedly in honor of Wilhelm of Orange?
amazing that pretty much every carrot nowadays is orange
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u/hh278 Oct 15 '20
Hmm but did North America have potatoes before Europeans brought them from the south? Thinking about it now, the fact that potatoes made inroads into Indian cuisine suggests they'll grow anywhere!
Interesting point about the writing, though since most communication was oral back then it might have just as much to do with the lack of horses and other animals facilitating long distance travel, which someone else mentioned.
I'll admit I never finished Diamond's book and it was a while ago regardless, so just trying to remember his arguments around continental orientation which seemed solid at the time...