page_title: Cowpea
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Cowpea / History
context_page_description: The cowpea is an annual herbaceous legume from the genus Vigna. Due to its tolerance for sandy soil and low rainfall, it is an important crop in the semiarid regions across Africa and Asia. It requires very few inputs, as the plant's root nodules are able to fix atmospheric nitrogen, making it a valuable crop for resource-poor farmers and well-suited to intercropping with other crops. The whole plant is used as forage for animals, with its use as cattle feed likely responsible for its name.
  Four subspecies of cowpeas are recognised, of which three are cultivated. A high level of morphological diversity is found within the species with large variations in the size, shape, and structure of the plant. Cowpeas can be erect, semierect, or climbing. The crop is mainly grown for its seeds, which are high in protein, although the leaves and immature seed pods can also be consumed.
  Cowpeas were domesticated in Africa and are one of the oldest crops to be farmed. A second domestication event probably occurred in Asia, before they spread into Europe and the Americas. The seeds are usually cooked and made into stews and curries, or ground into flour or paste.
context_section_description: Compared to most other important crops, little is known about the domestication, dispersal, and cultivation history of the cowpea. Although there is no archaeological evidence for early cowpea cultivation, the centre of diversity of the cultivated cowpea is West Africa, leading an early consensus that this is the likely centre of origin and place of early domestication. New research using molecular markers has suggested that domestication may have instead occurred in East Africa and currently both theories carry equal weight.
  While the date of cultivation began may be uncertain, it is still considered one of the oldest domesticated crops. Remains of charred cowpeas from rock shelters in Central Ghana have been dated to the second millennium BCE. In 2300 BC, the cowpea is believed to have made its way into Southeast Asia, where secondary domestication events may have occurred. From there they traveled north to the Mediterranean, where they were used by the Greeks and Romans. The first written references to the cowpea were in 300 BC and they probably reached Central and North America during the slave trade through the 17th to early 19th centuries.
caption: The cowpea was believed to have originated in West Africa.
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