potato, potato's history

potato, potato's history

Potato or white potato, common name for a perennial plant (Solanum tuberosum) of the family Solanaceae and for its swollen underground stem, a tuber, which is one of the most widely used vegetables in Western temperate climates.

Potato plant is probably native to the Andes, where it was cultivated by the Incas. In pre-Columbian times potato culture spread widely among Native Americans, for whom potato was a staple food.

Potato's history is difficult to trace, partly because the name potato was also used by early writers for the sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) and for other unrelated plants. Spanish explorers are believed to have brought it in the 16th cent. from Peru to Spain, whence it spread N and W throughout Europe.

Potato was brought to North America by European settlers probably c.1600; thus, like the closely related tomato, it is a reintroduced food plant in the New World.

Potato was first accepted as a large-scale crop in the British Isles. It became the major food in Ireland during the 18th cent. and is hence often called Irish potato to distinguish it from the sweet potato. Ireland was so dependent on the potato that the failure (resulting from blight) of the 1845-46 crop caused a famine resulting in widespread disease, death, and emigration.

Potato was also important to the course of history in the 20th cent. in Europe, especially in Germany, where it kept the country alive during two world wars. With its high carbohydrate content, the potato is today a primary food of Western peoples, as well as a source of starch, flour, alcohol, dextrin, and fodder (chiefly in Europe, where more is used for this purpose than for human consumption).