Where does this come from, and can I check it?

Andean farmers domesticated the tuber thousands of years ago at high altitude. The figure is taken from Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.

Is this really a food fact?

Yes. It sits on the Food shelf, one of 2,600 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.

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The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.

Mondo Knows Facts

Potatoes were first farmed in the Andes

Andean farmers domesticated the tuber thousands of years ago at high altitude The potato comes from the high Andes, where farmers around Lake Titicaca domesticated wild species several thousand years ago. Hundreds of cultivars were developed, tolerant of frost, hail and thin air, and surplus tubers were preserved by freeze drying in the cold nights. Spanish ships carried the plant to Europe in the late sixteenth century, and it spread as a reliable field crop. It sits in Mondo's food collection, one of 200 facts that each trace back to the reference below.

Where this comes from

Royal Botanic Gardens Kew

Facts that can change over time are reviewed and updated. If something here looks wrong, Mondo would rather know than be confidently incorrect.

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More facts like this

The Andes form the longest continental mountain chain on EarthThey stretch roughly seven thousand kilometres along South America Lake Titicaca is the highest commercially navigable lake on EarthPassenger and freight vessels cross this Andean lake at 3,812 metres altitude Dogs were the first domesticated animalBones and burials from over 15,000 years ago show the partnership had begun Cats domesticated themselves around grain storesRodents in early farm stores drew wild cats into human settlements Silkworms have been farmed for thousands of yearsThe moth no longer survives well in the wild and depends on people The Andes form the longest continental mountain range on EarthStretching over 7,000 kilometres along South America west coast, the Andes pass through seven countries.

Tags: potato, andes, domestication

Potatoes were first farmed in the Andes: the short answers

Where does this come from, and can I check it?: Andean farmers domesticated the tuber thousands of years ago at high altitude. The figure is taken from Royal Botanic Gardens Kew, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
Is this really a food fact?: Yes. It sits on the Food shelf, one of 2,600 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.
What else can I read about it?: The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.