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Sweet potatoes were among the many new and wonderful horticultural wonders that Columbus found when he arrived in the New World in 1492. The sweet potato, however, dates back many years before Columbus ever went to sea. In fact, the sweet potato was being cultivated by Indians in central and northwest South America before the birth of Christ. By the time Columbus arrived in the Western Hemisphere, the cultivation of sweet potatoes had spread throughout what is now Mexico, West Indies and other parts of South America.
Sweet potatoes, known by the Indians of Hispaniola as “batatas,” were not cultivated in North America until after 1600. Apparently the plant was introduced in what is now the United States by explorers or travelers as they moved from Central America into the areas of southern North America. The earliest records show the sweet potato was grown in Virginia as early as 1648, approximately 40 years after tlte establishment of Jamestown. However, by the latter part of the 18th century the sweet potato was being widely grown throughout Virginia and the Carolinas and most likely in other southeastern states as well. By then it
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