# African food crops in a global context  
In popular discourse, the term 'Old World' is synonymous with Europe, while 'Old World tropics' typically evokes the jungles of South-East Asia. Oddly, these mental constructs recall geographical areas that exclude Africa, despite its interposition between both continents and its relevance as a mostly tropical landmass. The marginalization of Africa is also evident when one of humanity's signal achievements is discussed: plant and animal domestication. As in China, the Near East and the Americas, Africans actively participated in this revolutionary process, which simultaneously took place in different regions of the world some 10,000 years ago. Yet recognition of this accomplishment is not broadly acknowledged. Several factors contribute to the lack of awareness. Africa's domesticates are tropical staples and not widely known to Western consumers. Media images presenting Africa as a 'hungry continent' - one unable to feed itself - certainly do not convey its rich botanical legacy. Archaeobotanical research on the continent has lagged behind that on other world regions, and some African contributions to global food supplies (notably African rice) were not confirmed until the mid-twentieth century. The casual association of the Old World tropics with Asia means that several domesticates which are in fact African are instinctively thought of as being Asian. For example, we now know that a separate species of rice (Oryza glaberrima) was independently domesticated in West Africa (Wang et al. 2014, pp. 982-988). Other Old World tropical foods whose African heritage has now been recognized include: okra, tamarind, muskmelon, black sesame, bitter gourd (Momordica charantia), the African eggplant (Solanum macrocarpon), amaranth greens and the purportedly Asian long (or yard-long) bean (Vigna unguiculata), a subspecies of the African cowpea (also known as blackeye pea) (National Research Council, 1996-2008, vols. 1-3).