potatoes were available, but many europeans were slow to plant them...They became popular in france before they did in US or UK-- at the time of the american revolution, potatoes were still not a common food crop.
they originated in south america, and unlike corn, were not a crop that had wide distribution. Peanuts (a meso american cultivation) rapidly spread in use through out all of spanish america and other spanish colonies..(like corn, they started out with a wider distribution in americas)
many of the spanish colonies were tropical, and both corn and peanuts grow well in tropical countries. Corn was being cultivated over most of north america, but peanuts were introduce to US cultivation from Florida, originally a spanish colony, and spread through out southern US. The shell helped prevent the seed (the peanut) from germinating-- so they were excellent food for long sea voyages, fodder (animal)and were used with corn for the slave trade. (and are still a staple crop in africa)
Potatoes, first cultivated in the high andies, require cooler temperatures, and will mold and rot quickly if they get wet (ei, in a ship's hold)-- so they did not become as wide spread as fast. like tomatoes (an other tropical plant) they are members of the nightshade family, and were often thought to be poisonous.
The inca's of peru had a government/kingdom that stretched from coast to high mountains, and mountain products; llama and alpaka wool and meat, guinne pigs (for meat) and potatoes from the andies were traded with tropical products; peanuts, chilies, chocolate, tomatoes and the like. (corn had already become hybrid, and different varieties were grown in both places.)
There is a great deal of evidence that many cultures in the tropical americas practiced both human sacrafice and ritual canabalism. but canabalism was not as it has been suggested, needed as a sourse of protein. corn + beans are a complete food group, and peanuts, potatoes and chili's make up another so most of meso american could live on a largely vegetarian diet and do well. The coastal area's had more land to grow foods, and could grow a larger variety, the mountain had more domestic animals, and readily available animal protein.
and a central government help facilitate trade between the coast and the mountains.
peanut pods, along with squash blossoms and corn ears were frequent decorative elements in meso, south (and the souther part of norht) america.
potatoes, cabbage and dairy also work, (as a complete diet) and so does potatoes, chilis and dairy--one became the staple diet of the irish poor, the other, the hungarian poor.
