History of rice cultivation

The history of rice cultivation is an interdisciplinary subject that studies archaeological and documentary evidence to explain how rice was first domesticated and cultivated by humans, the spread of cultivation to different regions of the planet, and the technological changes that have impacted cultivation over time.

The current scientific consensus, based on archaeological and linguistic evidence, is that Oryza sativa rice was first domesticated in the Yangtze River basin in China 9,000 years ago.^[1][2][3][4] Cultivation, migration and trade spread rice around the world—first to much of east Asia, and then further abroad, and eventually to the Americas as part of the Columbian exchange.

The now less common Oryza glaberrima rice, also known as African Rice, was independently domesticated in Africa around 3,000 years ago.^[5] O. glaberrima spread to the Americas through the transatlantic slave trade. It is still commonly grown in West Africa and is grown in a number of countries in the Americas.^[6][7] There are also several crosses of O. glaberrima and O. sativa.^[8][9][10]

Four species of rice that form the genus Zizania, commonly known as wild rice are native to and cultivated in North America, where the grain is used, as well as in China, where the plant's stem is used as a vegetable. Wild rice and domesticated rice (Oryza sativa and Oryxa glaberrima) belong to the same botanical tribe, Oryzeae.^[11][12] Wild rice is also cultivated in Hungary and Australia.^[13]

Since its spread, rice has become a global staple crop important to food security and food cultures around the world. Local varieties of Oryza sativa have resulted in over 40,000 cultivars of various types. More recent changes in agricultural practices and breeding methods as part of the Green Revolution and other transfers of agricultural technologies has led to increased production in recent decades.^[14]