Transportation of Food: Overview

The transportation of food marked the beginning of the colonization of North America. Legend has it that cattle and hogs were transported to Florida by a Spaniard in 1521. A century later, the first groups of English settlers brought seeds with them to Massachusetts and Virginia to plant parsnips, cabbages, wheat, and apples. Potatoes arrived in the 1620s, taking a long and winding route from Peru through Europe. In the middle to late 1700s, new foods—vines, broccoli, chives, and strawberries—arrived with Thomas Jefferson, who planted them in his garden at Monticello.