The potato was the first domesticated root vegetable in the region of modern-day southern Peru and extreme northwestern Bolivia between 8000 and 5000 BC.Office of International Affairs, Lost Crops of the Incas: Little-Known Plants of the Andes with Promise for Worldwide Cultivation (1989) online Cultivation of potatoes in South America may go back 10,000 years,David R. Harris, Gordon C. Hillman, Foraging and Farming: The Evolution of Plant Exploitation. Routledge, 2014 p496 but tubers do not preserve well in the archaeological record, making identification difficult. The earliest archaeologically verified potato tuber remains have been found at the coastal site of Ancón (central Peru), dating to 2500 BC.Martins-Farias 1976; Moseley 1975 Aside from actual remains, the potato is also found in the Peruvian archaeological record as a design influence of ceramic pottery, often in the shape of vessels. The potato has since spread around the world and has become a staple crop in most countries.
Early history: Western South America
Genetic origins
Potatoes and tomatoes are genetically related, as both belong to the Solanum genus. Scientists have long noted that modern potatoes closely resemble the subgroup Etuberosum, originating in western South America. Members of the Etuberosum lineage produce small underground stems that can sprout, but they do not swell to form tubers. This has led scientists to hypothesize a hybrid origin for the potato.
According to a 2025 Cell study examining Solanum genomes in small pieces, the potato (Petota) lineage may have arisen by a hybridization event between a member of the tomato lineage and a member of the Etuberosum lineage, with the two lineages diverging about 12 million years ago and the hybridization occurring about 8.6 million years ago. In this scenario, a gene from the tomato lineage would have enabled the development of larger tubers, allowing the newly formed lineage to carry out efficient asexual reproduction and become widespread in mountainous areas.
Archaeology The earliest archaeologically verified potato tuber remains were found at the coastal site of Ancón (central Peru), dating to 2500 BC. There is also recent evidence from stone tools of potatoes suggesting evidence of potatoes existing as far back as 3400 BC. However, it is difficult to be certain as potatoes do not preserve well compared to other crops. Potatoes dating to about 2000 BC were also found at Huaynuma, in the Casma Valley of Peru,Ugent D., S. Pozorski and T. Pozorski. 1982. Archaeological potato tuber remains from the Casma Valley of Peru. Econ. Bot. 36:182-192 and early potatoes dating to 800-500 BC were also uncovered at the Altiplano site of Chiripa on the east side of Lake Titicaca.Erickson 1977: 6David R. Harris, Gordon C. Hillman, Foraging and Farming: The Evolution of Plant Exploitation. Routledge, 2014 p495
Archeological evidence also shows that throughout the formative period from 1500 BC to 500 BC and Tiwanaku period in the Andes, potatoes and tubers became increasingly popular as a crop and food. Boiled and steamed potatoes and tubers replaced soups throughout the formative period. From isotopic analysis of human skeletons and archeological reference materials, tubers and potatoes were an integral part of the Andean diet throughout the formative and Tiwanaku periods, alongside the grain quinoa and animals such as llamas. In the Incan period, potato and legume consumption decreased (although still commonly consumed) in favor of crops like maize.
Aside from these remains, in the Peruvian archaeological record, the potato was uncovered as a design influence of ceramic pottery in the Altiplanos, often in the shape of vessels. These vessels represented potatoes in three ways: as clear depictions of the vegetable, as embodying a human form (either mutilated or not), or as a transition between the two. The fact that the Altiplanos chose to represent the potato in their vessels shows they had great social significance to the people there. Moreover, in Moche culture, potatoes did not have much religious or cultural significance compared to more prominent crops like maize. The protuberant and malformed nature of the potato fascinated the Moche and commonly appeared in their art as malformed animals and humans provoking an emotion known as . The potato-symbolized art touched on themes such as physical deformities and hallucinations.
Uses in South American societies In the Altiplano, potatoes provided the principal energy source for the Inca Empire, its predecessors, and its Spanish successor. Andean people prepared their potatoes in a variety of ways, such as boiled, mashed, baked, and stewed in ways similar to modern methods . The Andean people also prepared a dish called , which was a process that involved boiling, peeling, and chopping. These potatoes were then fermented in order to create tocosh, and ground to a pulp, soaked, and filtered into a starch referred to as . However, the cash crop of the Andean people was chuño, created by letting potatoes freeze overnight allowing them to thaw in the morning which they repeated to soften the potatoes. Then, farmers extracted the potatoes' water, leaving them much lighter and smaller. This new creation was later prepared into a stew (usually an addition). The primary benefit of chuño was that it could be stored for years without refrigeration, which came into use, especially during years of famine or bad harvests. Moreover, this long shelf life allowed it to be the staple food for the Inca armies due to how well it maintained its flavor and longevity. The Spanish fed to the silver miners who produced vast wealth in the 16th century for the Spanish government.
Potato was the staple food of most PreColumbian Mapuches, "specially in the southern and coastal Mapuche territories where maize did not reach maturity".
Potato was cultivated by the Chono tribe in Guaitecas Archipelago in Patagonia, being the southern limit of Pre-Hispanic agriculture as noted by the mention of the cultivation of Chiloé potatoes by a Spanish expedition in 1557.
First European encounter In 1537, a group of Spanish conquistadors became the first Europeans to encounter the potato. Don Juan Castellanos mentioned the plant in 1537 "as part of a military report on raiding an Inca village in Peru during a search for gold and silver to steal."Barry Walker and Huw Lloyd, with Gerald Cheshire, Peruvian Wildlife: A Visitor's Guide to the Central Andes (Bradt Travel Guides, 2007) p.34
Mentions of the potato to European readers were made in Historia de las Indias in 1552 by Gonzalo Jiménez de Quesada, who wrote that in 1537, when he was in what is now the South American nation of Colombia, his party came across "una especie de trufas" ("a type of truffle") when entering homes of Chibcha people who had fled from the Bogotá region.Carolyn A. Nadeau, Food Matters: Alonso Quijano's Diet and the Discourse of Food in Early Modern Spain (University of Toronto Press, 2015) p.95 Paraphrasing the Jimenez report, an author notes that members of the Jimenez expedition found the food in "the native village of Sorocota, about latitude 7 degrees north" not far from the Spanish settlement of Velez.Redcliffe N. Salaman, The History and Social Influence of the Potato (Cambridge University Press, 1949, reprinted 1985) p.36
In 1553, in Cronica de Peru Pedro Cieza de León referred to the plant as a "battata"."Potato", Encyclopedia Britannica (11th ed.), Volume XXII (The Encyclopedia Britannica Company, 1911) p.202 Cieza de Leon, a private soldier accompanying the Spaniards on an expedition in Popayán, found that potatoes and maize were the staple food. The potato later arrived in Europe sometime before the end of the 16th century by two different ports of entry: the first in Spain around 1570, and the second via the British Isles between 1588 and 1593. The first written mention of the potato is a receipt for delivery dated 28 November 1567 between Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and Antwerp. In France, at the end of the 16th century, the potato had been introduced to the Franche-Comté, the Vosges of Lorraine and Alsace. By the end of the 18th century, it was written in the 1785 edition of : "There is no vegetable about which so much has been written and so much enthusiasm has been shown ... The poor should be quite content with this foodstuff." It had widely replaced the turnip and rutabaga by the 19th century. Throughout Europe, the most important new food in the 19th century was the potato, which had three major advantages over other foods for the consumer: its lower rate of spoilage, its bulk (which easily satisfied hunger) and its cheapness. The crop slowly spread across Europe, becoming a major staple by mid-century.
Spread across the world Europe
Sailors returning from the Andes to Spain with silver presumably brought maize and potatoes for their own food on the trip. Historians speculate that leftover tubers (and maize) were carried ashore and planted: "We think that the potato arrived some years before the end of the 16th century, by two different ports of entry: the first, logically, in Spain around 1570, and the second via the British Isles between 1588 and 1593 ... we find traces of the transport of potatoes travelling from the Canaries to Antwerp in 1567 ... we can say that the potato was introduced there [the Canary islands] from South America around 1562 ... the first written mention of the potato [is] ... a receipt for delivery dated 28 November 1567 between Las Palmas in the Grand Canaries and Antwerp."Histoires de légumes by M. Pitrat and C. Foury, Institut National de la recherche agronomique, 2003, p. 164
Europeans in South America were aware of the potato by the mid-16th century but refused to eat the plant. For the Spaniards the potato was regarded as a food for the natives: the Spanish conquerors speak most favourably of the potato, but they recommend it especially for the natives who have to do the heaviest jobs. A similar pattern occurred in England where the potato became the food of the working class. In 1553, in the book , Pedro Cieza de León mentions he saw it in Quito, Popayán and Pasto in 1538. Basque fishermen from Spain used potatoes as ships' stores for their voyages across the Atlantic in the 16th century and introduced the tuber to western Ireland, where they landed to dry their cod. The English privateer Sir Francis Drake, returning from his circumnavigation, or Sir Walter Raleigh's employee Thomas Harriot, are commonly credited with introducing potatoes into England. In 1588, botanist Carolus Clusius made a painting of what he called "Papas Peruanorum" from a specimen in the Low Countries; in 1601 he reported that potatoes were in common use in northern Italy for animal fodder and for human consumption.John Reader, John. Propitious Esculent: The Potato in World History (2008)
The potato first spread in Europe for non-food purposes. It was regarded with suspicion and fear due to it being a member of the nightshade family. Europeans assumed its resemblance to nightshade meant that it was the creation of witches or devils. At first it was mostly used as fodder for livestock or to feed the starving. In Northern Europe it was grown as an exotic novelty in botanical gardens.