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What about the potato - the potato made life as it is today possible in northern europe by allowing for massively higher agricultural production - what if the potato didn't exist - had never existed?
That would likely mean that northern europe would be a good bit weaker, but what else? It goes beyond "no potato famine" - what if the explorers in the Americas hadn't found something like the potato - how do you think history would have changed - northern european cuisine would certainly differ greatly from their present forms, but what about european power concentrations and so on - would europe have achieved such great successes in colonialism, or would they have been unable to support them without the extra people and food back home? Would Italy and Spain be greater powers?
What do you think?
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