Background for History of Horticulture

General Background

Here are a couple of truisms...

Plants are fundamental to all of life.
Because plants are generally so abundant, we take them for granted. We do not value the familiar. Yet plants contribute to all our food, to fuel, to shelter, to various useful chemicals, including medicinal drugs.
Janick et al. make the following statements:

The story of our species is largely a chronicle of struggle for dominion over the environment... To a great extent, controlling the environment means controlling plant life.
[I would add that 'controlled', 'managed', or 'dominated' plants = crop plants. These include food crops, spices, as well as the hundreds of ornamental plants.]
Crop production, the management of useful plants, is the very basis of our civilization.
It is beyond question that one of the salient characteristics of American wealth is the abundance and low-cost of food. All of the industrialized countries have a strong foundation in efficient agricultural production.

Crop Plants

These are plants specifically cultivated or managed for a purpose. The term is commonly associated with major food (grains, legumes, forages) and fiber (timber, cotton) crops, but conceptually, it also encompases plants managed for ornamental purposes.

Up to 350,000 species of plants may exist.
Of these, maybe 25,000 species have been 'managed' in some way and can be considered crop plants.
Only 100-200 species have major importance in worldwide commerce.
15 species account for the vast majority of food crops: rice, wheat, corn, sorghum, barley, sugarcane, sugar beet, potato, sweetpotato, cassava, bean, soybean, peanut, coconut, and banana.

Therefore...

The history of Horticulture must begin with an awareness and understanding of how humans developed crop plants.

Go on to the Chronology of Horticulture from a Western perspective.
or...
Return to The Origin of Horticulture section.