The History of Sweet Potatoes

Sweet potatoes originated in Central and South America. Fascinatingly, archeologists have found evidence that ancient Polynesians likely interacted with people in South America long before Europeans ever arrived. It’s thought that the Polynesians then brought sweet potatoes back home with them from the Andes as early as A.D. 1000 to A.D. 1100, based on radiocarbon dating. One Polynesian word for sweet potato, kuumala, even resembles the word for sweet potato in Quechua. It is thought that the Polynesians traveled to South America using massive and sophisticated double-hulled canoes. Scientists believe that Europeans later spread sweet potatoes around the world. While they likely encountered the vegetables in their native South America, there is evidence that Captain James Cook and his crew picked up samples in Polynesia in 1769. As sweet potatoes spread throughout the world, they were incorporated into many regional cuisines. Today, sweet potatoes are incredibly popular in the United States and many other parts of the world.