How Did The Potato Affect Europe

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The Potato in Europe In this paper, I will talk about the commodity potato and its influence on Europe between the late 15th and the late 18th century. I decided to write about this commodity, because the potato had despite its simplicity a huge impact on Europe and is now the fourth most important world food crop. In the first part of this paper, I will talk about the origins of the potato and how this crop came to Europe. In the second part I will talk about the consumption and how it changed in Europe. Also, I will talk about the potato’s characteristics in the second part of my paper. In the last part of this paper, I will focus on the potato’s impact on Europe and how it changed people’s lives between the late 15th and the late 18th century. Where did the potato come from? In the first part of…show more content…
In the last part of my paper, I will illustrate the impact of potatoes on Europe. So how did the potato have an impact on Europe? As previously mentioned, despite the potato’s benefits, the crop was not really popular when it first arrived in Europe and for most of the 17th century, potatoes remained a curiosity in Europe. Europeans cared more about other commodities like gold and silver. This changed when the population increased in the Old World after 1600 and a food crisis developed. People needed a solution and soon realized that the potato could solve their problems. (Pomeranz and Topik, 143) So the potato enabled Europeans to increase their population and they wouldn’t have to suffer from starvation anymore. According to a research, potatoes accounts for up to 18% of the increase in Old World population growth after 1700, and 37% of the increase in the growth of urbanization. Furthermore, the potato was a war and disaster resistant food. It could feed people in cases of war and natural disasters. Other than maize or rice, tubers could be kept in the ground. This made them less vulnerable to looting and burning by
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