Age of DiscoveryFood & Farming Maize and cassava reach Africa c. 1550Major Portuguese traders bring American maize and later cassava to West and Central Africa. Both become staple foods across much of the continent. ▲ MattersSaveShareTrace roots Longest chain: The Big Bang → First stars ignite → Supernovae seed heavy elements → The Sun forms → Earth forms → First oceans → First life → Photosynthesis evolves → Great Oxidation Event → Complex cells (eukaryotes) → Multicellular life → First animals → Cambrian Explosion → First vertebrates → Jawed fish → Fish walk onto land → The amniotic egg → The Great Dying → Dinosaurs appear → Asteroid ends the dinosaurs → Early primates → Apes split from monkeys → Human line splits from chimpanzees → Walking upright → First stone tools → Genus Homo appears → Homo erectus → Control of fire → Habitual fire and cooking → Homo sapiens appears → Complex language → Natufian villages → Oldest known bread → Agriculture begins → Irrigation → Uruk and the first cities → Cylinder seals → Writing (cuneiform) → Akkadian Empire → Neo-Assyrian Empire → Persian Empire founded → Persian Royal Road → Silk Road opens → Marco Polo's journey → Columbus reaches the Americas → Columbian Exchange → Maize and cassava reach Africa Community notesLoading notes… Learn more ranked by votesBookJames C. McCannMaize and Grace: Africa's Encounter with a New World Crop, 1500-2000 ↗Editor's pickVideoSearch on YouTubemaize cassava arrive in Africa history ↗Editor's pick