Vavilov's Centers of Origin of Domesticated Plant & Crop Species
Modern agriculture
developed at the end of the Neolithic Period >10,000
years BP, from a number of civilizations corresponding
approximately to Nikolai Vavilov's eight numbered
"Centers of Origin." These
include the oldest centers in (4) the Fertile
Crescent (11,000 BP) and (8) the Yangtze and Yellow
River basins (9,000 BP) together with the New Guinea
Highlands (9,000–6,000 BP). The more recent centers follow
expansions into the New World in (1) Central Mexico
(5,000–4,000 BP) & eastern North America
(4,000–3,000 BP) and (2)
Northern South America (5,000–4,000 BP). The exact location
of expansion into (5) sub-Saharan Africa
(5,000–4,000 BP) is unknown.