Its most important contribution was a wild grass. Early Native Americans ate its seeds, then domesticated it. As this domestic grass evolved, it came to be called maize. Today, it is commonly called corn in the United States. Other food plants that originated in the Americas include beans, squash, pumpkins, tomatoes, vanilla, chili peppers, pineapples, avocados, gourds, sunflowers and amaranths.
Tobacco is another Native American contribution to agriculture, though it isn t a food source.
When the first European colonists settled in eastern North America, they exchanged domestic plants and animals with Native Americans. Today, beans and squash are staple crops in much of Africa and Asia, while vast wheat fields and herds of cattle are scattered across North and South America. To celebrate this bounty, Americans like to feast on turkey for Thanksgiving. Yet agriculture was more important to the national economy two centuries ago than it is today. There weren t many industries 200 years ago.