History
Potatoes, tomatoes and chocolate didn't exist in Europe until 1492
After Columbus's voyages, crops, animals, diseases and people began flowing between the Americas and the rest of the world for the first time. The Columbian Exchange brought potatoes and maize to Europe and Asia, reshaping diets and populations, and horses to the Americas — while also carrying smallpox and other diseases that devastated Indigenous populations.
— Alfred W. Crosby, The Columbian Exchange: Biological and Cultural Consequences of 1492 — 1972
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