could anyone pls. tell me the legend of the rice?

Answer 1

History of cultivation

Rice cultivation is considered to have begun simultaneously in many countries over 6500 years ago. Two species of rice were domesticated, Asian rice (Oryza sativa) and African rice (Oryza glaberrima).

Genetic studies suggest that common wild rice, Oryza rufipogon, was the wild ancestor of Asian rice [3]. O. sativa appears to have originated around the foothills of the Himalayas, with O. sativa var. indica on the Indian side and O. sativa var. japonica on the Chinese side.

African rice has been cultivated for 3500 years. Between 1500 and 800 BC, O. glaberrima propagated from its original center, the Niger River delta, and extended to Senegal. However, it never developed far from its original region. Its cultivation even declined in favor of the Asian species, possibly brought to the African continent by Arabs coming from the east coast between the 7th and 11th centuries. On China's side, China has a complete history of cultivating rice for about 7000 years. China entered the dry-land rice period during 5000~4500 BC in the nearby area of Yangtze Delta (Hemudu culture, discovered in 1970s), and the wet-land rice period in about 2500 BC in the same area (Liangzhu culture). Now it's commonly considered that some areas such as plains now in Shaoxing and Ningbo in Zhejiang procince are the cradlelands of east Asian rice.

Dry-land rice was introduced to Japan and Korea circa 1000 BC. Later wet-paddy intensive rice agriculture was introduced into Korea during the Middle Mumun pottery period (c. 850-550 BC) and reached Japan by the Yayoi circa 300 BC.
sativa was adapted to farming in the Middle East and Mediterranean Europe around 800 BC. The Moors brought it to the Iberian Peninsula when they conquered it in 711 AD. After the middle of the 15th century, rice spread throughout Italy and then France, later propagating to all the continents during the great age of European exploration. In 1694, rice arrived in South Carolina, probably originating from Madagascar. The Spanish brought rice to South America at the beginning of the 18th century.

In the United States, colonial South Carolina and Georgia grew and amassed great wealth from the slave labour obtained from the Senegambia area of West Africa. At the port of Charleston, through which 40% of all American slave imports passed, slaves from this region of Africa brought the highest prices, in recognition of their prior knowledge of rice culture, which was put to use on the many rice plantations around Georgetown, Charleston, and Savannah. From the slaves, plantation owners learned how to dike the marshes and periodically flood the fields. At first the rice was milled by hand with wooden paddles, then winnowed in sweetgrass baskets (the making of which was another skill brought by the slaves). The invention of the rice mill increased profitability of the crop, and the addition of water power for the mills in 1787 by millwright Jonathan Lucas was another step forward. Rice culture in the southeastern U.S. became less profitable with the loss of slave labour after the American Civil War, and it finally died out just after the turn of the 20th century. The predominant strain of rice in the Carolinas was from Africa and was known as "Carolina Gold." The cultivar has been preserved and there are current attempts to reintroduce it as a commercially grown crop

Answer 2

Try this link and good luck.
www.usarice.com/industry/pdf/The Many Legends of Rice 2006.pdf