Plant Domestication

Dates and Locations of Human Farming Advances

Is the Fig Tree the Earliest Domesticated Plant?. David Cayless / Getty Images

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Updated on November 13, 2019

The domestication of plants is one of the first and most crucial steps in the development of a full-fledged, reliable agricultural (Neolithic) economy. To successfully feed a society using plants, the first humans had to continually work to improve their yield in quality and quantity. Plant domestication arose as an approach to growing and harvesting more effectively.

What Is a Domesticated Plant?

The traditional definition of a domesticated plant is one that has been changed from its natural state until it is no longer able to grow and reproduce without human intervention. The purpose of plant domestication is to adapt plants to make them optimal for human use/consumption.

Just as the earliest domesticated crops were groomed to meet human needs, farmers had to learn to meet the needs of their tamed plants so that they would produce high-quality, bountiful, and reliable crops. In a way, they were groomed too.

Plant domestication is a slow and tiresome process that is only successful when both parties—humans and plants—benefit from each other through a mutualistic relationship. The result of thousands of years of this symbiosis came to be known as coevolution.

Coevolution

Coevolution describes the process of two species evolving to suit each other's needs. Plant domestication through artificial selection is one of the best examples of this. When a human tends a plant with favorable attributes, perhaps because it has the largest and sweetest fruits or most resilient husk, and saves the seeds to replant, they are essentially guaranteeing the continuation of that particular organism.

In this way, a farmer can select for the properties they desire by giving special treatment only to the best and most successful plants. Their crop, in turn, starts to take on the desirable properties the farmer selected for and disadvantageous attributes are extinguished over time.

Though plant domestication via artificial selection is not foolproof—complications include long-distance trading and uncontrolled seed dispersal, accidental cross-breeding of wild and domesticated plants, and unexpected disease wiping out genetically similar plants—it demonstrates that human and plant behavior can become intertwined. When plants do what is expected of them by humans, humans work to preserve them.

Examples of Domesticated Plants

The domestication histories of various plants show advancements in plant-taming practices. Organized by the earliest to the most recent domesticated plants, this table provides an overview of plant domestication with the plant, location, and date of domestication. Click through to learn more about each plant.

Table of Domesticated Plants
Plant	Location	Date
Emmer wheat	Near East	9000 BCE
Fig trees	Near East	9000 BCE
Foxtail Millet	East Asia	9000 BCE
Flax	Near East	9000 BCE
Peas	Near East	9000 BCE
Einkorn wheat	Near East	8500 BCE
Barley	Near East	8500 BCE
Chickpea	Anatolia	8500 BCE
Bottle gourd	Asia	8000 BCE
Bottle gourd	Central America	8000 BCE
Rice	Asia	8000 BCE
Potatoes	Andes Mountains	8000 BCE
Beans	South America	8000 BCE
Squash	Central America	8000 BCE
Maize	Central America	7000 BCE
Water Chestnut	Asia	7000 BCE
Perilla	Asia	7000 BCE
Burdock	Asia	7000 BCE
Rye	Southwest Asia	6600 BCE
Broomcorn millet	East Asia	6000 BCE
Bread wheat	Near East	6000 BCE
Manioc/Cassava	South America	6000 BCE
Chenopodium	South America	5500 BCE
Date Palm	Southwest Asia	5000 BCE
Avocado	Central America	5000 BCE
Grapevine	Southwest Asia	5000 BCE
Cotton	Southwest Asia	5000 BCE
Bananas	Island Southeast Asia	5000 BCE
Beans	Central America	5000 BCE
Opium Poppy	Europe	5000 BCE
Chili peppers	South America	4000 BCE
Amaranth	Central America	4000 BCE
Watermelon	Near East	4000 BCE
Olives	Near East	4000 BCE
Cotton	Peru	4000 BCE
Apples	Central Asia	3500 BCE
Pomegranate	Iran	3500 BCE
Garlic	Central Asia	3500 BCE
Hemp	East Asia	3500 BCE
Cotton	Mesoamerica	3000 BCE
Soybean	East Asia	3000 BCE
Azuki Bean	East Asia	3000 BCE
Coca	South America	3000 BCE
Sago Palm	Southeast Asia	3000 BCE
Squash	North America	3000 BCE
Sunflower	Central America	2600 BCE
Rice	India	2500 BCE
Sweet Potato	Peru	2500 BCE
Pearl millet	Africa	2500 BCE
Sesame	Indian subcontinent	2500 BCE
Marsh elder (Iva annua)	North America	2400 BCE
Sorghum	Africa	2000 BCE
Sunflower	North America	2000 BCE
Bottle gourd	Africa	2000 BCE
Saffron	Mediterranean	1900 BCE
Chenopodium	China	1900 BCE
Chenopodium	North America	1800 BCE
Chocolate	Mesoamerica	1600 BCE
Coconut	Southeast Asia	1500 BCE
Rice	Africa	1500 BCE
Tobacco	South America	1000 BCE
Eggplant	Asia	1st century BCE
Maguey	Mesoamerica	600 CE
Edamame	China	13th century CE
Vanilla	Central America	14th century CE

Dates and locations of plant domestication

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Hirst, K. Kris. "Plant Domestication." ThoughtCo, Sep. 1, 2021, thoughtco.com/plant-domestication-table-dates-places-170638. Hirst, K. Kris. (2021, September 1). Plant Domestication. Retrieved from https://www.thoughtco.com/plant-domestication-table-dates-places-170638 Hirst, K. Kris. "Plant Domestication." ThoughtCo. https://www.thoughtco.com/plant-domestication-table-dates-places-170638 (accessed March 25, 2025).