[CobaltBlue]

I was thinking about this last night.

If people were going back and forth between the Americas and other continents, why weren't any food plants being taken between the continents? Native American plants include maize, beans, pumpkins, squash, tomatoes, peppers, tobacco, potatoes.

As soon as the Europeans showed up after Columbus, they started taking all of these plants all over the world.

But before that, no.

Also, no animals. After Columbus, the following animals were introduced to the Americas: chickens, horses, cows, pigs, goats, sheep. None existed in the Americas before Columbus.

[elli1]

If people were going back and forth between the Americas and other continents, why weren't any food plants being taken between the continents? Native American plants include maize, beans, pumpkins, squash, tomatoes, peppers, tobacco, potatoes

Wouldn't that indicate there wasn't much, if any, traffic going 'back'?

[blam]

"If people were going back and forth between the Americas and other continents, why weren't any food plants being taken between the continents? Native American plants include maize, beans, pumpkins, squash, tomatoes, peppers, tobacco, potatoes."

It may be because they would have had to travel for an extended length of time through some seriously cold regions.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

Animals would have been hard to transport over long distances.

[djf]

Rumor has it that the scourge of lawnowners everywhere was first brought by the Europeans as a food crop.

The Dandelion.