Glenmark mansion in the late 1880s, built for George Henry Moore, which served to demonstrate its owner's extreme wealth
Sheep were introduced into New Zealand between 1773 and 1777 with credit to James Cook, the British explorer. Samuel Marsden, a missionary, introduced some flocks of sheep to the Bay of Islands, and then also farmed in Mana Island close to Wellington.Agriculture began independently in different parts of the globe, and included a diverse range of taxa. At least eleven separate regions of the Old and New World were involved as independent centers of origin. The development of agriculture about 12,000 years ago changed the way humans lived. They switched from nomadic hunter-gatherer lifestyles to permanent settlements and farming.[1]
Wild grains were collected and eaten from at least 104,000 years ago.[2] However, domestication did not occur until much later. The earliest evidence of small-scale cultivation of edible grasses is from around 21,000 BC with the Ohalo II people on the shores of the Sea of Galilee.[3] By around 9500 BC, the eight Neolithic founder crops – emmer wheat, einkorn wheat, hulled barley, peas, lentils, bitter vetch, chickpeas, and flax – were cultivated in the Levant.[4] Rye may have been cultivated earlier, but this claim remains controversial.[5] Regardless, rye's spread from Southwest Asia to the Atlantic was independent of the Neolithic founder crop package.[6] Rice was domesticated in China by 6200 BC[7] with earliest known cultivation from 5700 BC, followed by mung, soy and azuki beans. Rice was also independently domesticated in West Africa and cultivated by 1000 BC.[8][9] Pigs were domesticated in Mesopotamia around 11,000 years ago, followed by sheep. Cattle were domesticated from the wild aurochs in the areas of modern Turkey and India around 8500 BC. Camels were domesticated late, perhaps around 3000 BC.
In subsaharan Africa, sorghum was domesticated in the Sahel region of Africa by 3000 BC, along with pearl millet by 2000 BC.[10][11] Yams were domesticated in several distinct locations, including West Africa (unknown date), and cowpeas by 2500 BC.[12][13] Rice (African rice) was also independently domesticated in West Africa and cultivated by 1000 BC.[8][9] Teff and likely finger millet were domesticated in Ethiopia by 3000 BC, along with noog, ensete, and coffee.[14][15] Other plant foods domesticated in Africa include watermelon, okra, tamarind and black eyed peas, along with tree crops such as the kola nut and oil palm.[16] Plantains were cultivated in Africa by 3000 BC and bananas by 1500 BC.[17][18] The helmeted guineafowl was domesticated in West Africa.[19] Sanga cattle was likely also domesticated in North-East Africa, around 7000 BC, and later crossbred with other species.[20][21]
In South America, agriculture began as early as 9000 BC, starting with the cultivation of several species of plants that later became only minor crops. In the Andes of South America, the potato was domesticated between 8000 BC and 5000 BC, along with beans, squash, tomatoes, peanuts, coca, llamas, alpacas, and guinea pigs. Cassava was domesticated in the Amazon Basin no later than 7000 BC. Maize (Zea mays) found its way to South America from Mesoamerica, where wild teosinte was domesticated about 7000 BC and selectively bred to become domestic maize. Cotton was domesticated in Peru by 4200 BC; another species of cotton was domesticated in Mesoamerica and became by far the most important species of cotton in the textile industry in modern times.[22] Evidence of agriculture in the Eastern United States dates to about 3000 BCE. Several plants were cultivated, later to be replaced by the Three Sisters cultivation of maize, squash, and beans.