0:00:06.538,0:00:08.128
Baked or fried,

0:00:08.128,0:00:09.601
boiled or roasted,

0:00:09.601,0:00:11.581
as chips or fries.

0:00:11.581,0:00:15.198
At some point in your life,[br]you've probably eaten a potato.

0:00:15.198,0:00:16.660
Delicious, for sure,

0:00:16.660,0:00:20.967
but the fact is potatoes have played a[br]much more significant role in our history

0:00:20.967,0:00:26.365
than just that of the dietary staple[br]we have come to know and love today.

0:00:26.365,0:00:27.806
Without the potato,

0:00:27.806,0:00:31.379
our modern civilization [br]might not exist at all.

0:00:31.379,0:00:35.141
8,000 years ago in South America,[br]high atop the Andes,

0:00:35.141,0:00:38.755
ancient Peruvians were the first[br]to cultivate the potato.

0:00:38.755,0:00:41.464
Containing high levels of proteins[br]and carbohydrates,

0:00:41.464,0:00:44.640
as well as essential fats, vitamins[br]and minerals,

0:00:44.640,0:00:49.363
potatoes were the perfect food source[br]to fuel a large Incan working class

0:00:49.363,0:00:52.060
as they built and farmed [br]their terraced fields,

0:00:52.060,0:00:53.698
mined the Rocky Mountains,

0:00:53.698,0:00:58.492
and created the sophisticated civilization[br]of the great Incan Empire.

0:00:58.492,0:01:01.211
But considering how vital they were[br]to the Incan people,

0:01:01.211,0:01:03.623
when Spanish sailors [br]returning from the Andes

0:01:03.623,0:01:05.940
first brought potatoes to Europe,

0:01:05.940,0:01:08.096
the spuds were duds.

0:01:08.096,0:01:09.860
Europeans simply didn't want to eat

0:01:09.860,0:01:14.229
what they considered dull and tasteless[br]oddities from a strange new land,

0:01:14.229,0:01:19.279
too closely related to the deadly[br]nightshade plant belladonna for comfort.

0:01:19.279,0:01:20.853
So instead of consuming them,

0:01:20.853,0:01:24.901
they used potatoes [br]as decorative garden plants.

0:01:24.901,0:01:28.234
More than 200 years would pass[br]before the potato caught on

0:01:28.234,0:01:30.910
as a major food source throughout Europe,

0:01:30.910,0:01:31.829
though even then,

0:01:31.829,0:01:34.855
it was predominantly eaten [br]by the lower classes.

0:01:34.855,0:01:37.192
However, beginning around 1750,

0:01:37.192,0:01:38.896
and thanks at least in part

0:01:38.896,0:01:42.913
to the wide availability[br]of inexpensive and nutritious potatoes,

0:01:42.913,0:01:45.675
European peasants [br]with greater food security

0:01:45.675,0:01:47.218
no longer found themselves

0:01:47.218,0:01:51.712
at the mercy of the regularly [br]occurring grain famines of the time,

0:01:51.712,0:01:54.255
and so their populations steadily grew.

0:01:54.255,0:01:57.366
As a result, the British, Dutch[br]and German Empires

0:01:57.366,0:02:02.340
rose on the backs of the growing groups[br]of farmers, laborers, and soldiers,

0:02:02.340,0:02:06.422
thus lifting the West to its place[br]of world dominion.

0:02:06.422,0:02:10.282
However, not all European countries[br]sprouted empires.

0:02:10.282,0:02:12.423
After the Irish adopted the potato,

0:02:12.423,0:02:14.807
their population dramatically increased,

0:02:14.807,0:02:19.174
as did their dependence on the tuber[br]as a major food staple.

0:02:19.174,0:02:21.268
But then disaster struck.

0:02:21.268,0:02:23.797
From 1845 to 1852,

0:02:23.797,0:02:28.782
potato blight disease ravaged [br]the majority of Ireland's potato crop,

0:02:28.782,0:02:31.225
leading to the Irish Potato Famine,

0:02:31.225,0:02:34.308
one of the deadliest famines[br]in world history.

0:02:34.308,0:02:37.422
Over a million Irish citizens [br]starved to death,

0:02:37.422,0:02:41.273
and 2 million more [br]left their homes behind.

0:02:41.273,0:02:44.035
But of course, this wasn't the end[br]for the potato.

0:02:44.035,0:02:45.801
The crop eventually recovered,

0:02:45.801,0:02:49.106
and Europe's population,[br]especially the working classes,

0:02:49.106,0:02:51.314
continued to increase.

0:02:51.314,0:02:53.601
Aided by the influx of Irish migrants,

0:02:53.601,0:02:58.223
Europe now had a large, sustainable,[br]and well-fed population

0:02:58.223,0:03:01.242
who were capable of manning[br]the emerging factories

0:03:01.242,0:03:06.185
that would bring about our modern world[br]via the Industrial Revolution.

0:03:06.185,0:03:09.819
So it's almost impossible to imagine[br]a world without the potato.

0:03:09.819,0:03:12.388
Would the Industrial Revolution [br]ever have happened?

0:03:12.388,0:03:15.121
Would World War II have been lost[br]by the Allies

0:03:15.121,0:03:19.004
without this easy-to-grow crop[br]that fed the Allied troops?

0:03:19.004,0:03:20.709
Would it even have started?

0:03:20.709,0:03:22.371
When you think about it like this,

0:03:22.371,0:03:27.387
many major milestones in world history[br]can all be at least partially attributed

0:03:27.387,0:03:31.042
to the simple spud [br]from the Peruvian hilltops.