Plant histories
The history behind a number of crop plants.
Looking at where they originated, their domestication, the introduction of these crops to Europe, how European attitudes to them changed over the centuries and ultimately how our changing demands have influenced the plants themselves.
Domestication of capsicums
People across the Americas have been eating and cultivating capsicums for 6000 years. Chillies and peppers were first domesticated in the Americas and they are one of the earliest farmed crops in South America however, it is difficult to work out exactly when people started to farm capsicums. The main reason this is so difficult is because edible varieties grew successfully in the wild, meaning it is hard to know when people stopped gathering them from the wild and started to plant and cultivate them.
Recently, fossilised grains of domesticated Capsicum species were found on grinding stones and cooking pots used in the Americas 4000 years ago indicating people were routinely farming them around 2000 BC.
Domestication of capsicum probably occurred in a similar way to the domestication of the tomato. Ancient people of South America grew wild plants, and then selected seeds from preferred plants to sow the next season. Over many years, this gave rise to plants with bigger fruit and all kinds of different colours and tastes. Today’s plant breeders are using similar techniques to create new varieties.
To find out more about plant breeding, click here.
