Peppers and the Connected World

From tobacco in China to potatoes in Ireland, much of what we think of as traditional culture around the world actually derives from the global convergence that began with Columbus' 1492 voyage. One item that has remained puzzling has been chili peppers, so crucial to Asian and African cuisine. Now a new genetic and archaeological study confirms what most eco-historians have long suspected, that all the world's hot peppers derive from Latin America, probably the eastern coast of Mexico.