8 foods that remapped the world.

One ingredient at a time — from wheat's first governments to tea's revolution.

Wheat — the ingredient that started civilization, feeding the world's first governments

Sugar — the ingredient that financed the transatlantic slave trade

Potato — grown by the Inca for 7,000 years; its 1845 Irish famine starved a million and displaced a million more

Spice — pepper, nutmeg, and cloves funded Columbus, Vasco da Gama, and Magellan's voyages

Coffee — coffee houses birthed newspapers, stock markets, insurance, and the Scientific Revolution

Maize — the Maya and Aztec 'backbone of heaven', later fueling population booms from Portugal to Nigeria

Salt — paid Roman soldiers, giving us the word 'salary'

Tea — taxed by Britain, dumped in Boston Harbor, the fuel behind British factory workers

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Wheat built the world's first governments. Sugar financed the transatlantic slave trade and modern banking. A failed potato crop starved a million Irish and sent a million more fleeing to America. Salt paid Roman soldiers — the origin of the word "salary".