There are 4 major crops in the world today. Two are from the 'Old World' (rice and wheat). Two are from the 'New World' (maize/corn and potatoes). Before about 1500 nobody in Europe or Asia or Africa knew anything about corn or potatoes. They also didn't know anything about chocolate or tobacco either. And, they didn't know anything about tomatoes. These all came from the 'New World'. What would Italian food be like before they embraced tomato-based sauces? They were cheese-based before they got tomatoes from the America's. So, what we think about as so typically Italian, is a more recent concoction. Think about the Potatoes in Ireland. They got them from the America's. How about the other way around? Think of all the thousands of miles of wheat grown in the midwest and west. These came from Europe. What else did Europe contribute? How about disease? When Christopher Columbus arrived in the Bahamas and discovered America, there were at least 35 m