Domestication of Capsicum

The process by which people selected and cultivated wild Capsicum plants into crops, changing their fruit traits and growth habits. It began in the Americas and produced the domesticated peppers grown worldwide.

Capsicum annuum: A Capsicum species that includes domesticated bell peppers, jalapeños, and many other cultivated peppers. Its domestication in Mexico gave rise to the most widely cultivated pepper species.
Domestication syndrome: A recurring set of inherited changes that distinguish domesticated organisms from their wild ancestors. Capsicum shows crop traits shaped by repeated human selection.
Capsicum: A genus of flowering plants that includes chili peppers and sweet peppers. Domestication drew on variation among wild plants within this genus.
Columbian Exchange: The transfer of plants, animals, people, and diseases between the Americas and the wider world after 1492. The exchange carried domesticated Capsicum peppers from the Americas to other continents.
Archaeobotany: The study of human relationships with plants through archaeological remains. Pepper seeds and residues help establish when Capsicum entered human food systems.
Capsicum chinense: A domesticated Capsicum species that includes habanero and Scotch bonnet peppers. Its domestication in Amazonia represents a distinct origin from Mexican C. annuum.
Artificial selection: Evolutionary change caused when humans preferentially breed organisms with chosen traits. Saving seed from preferred fruits directs changes in cultivated pepper populations.
Capsicum annuum var. glabriusculum: A wild or semi-wild form of Capsicum annuum, often called chiltepin, native to the Americas. It is a major wild relative associated with the ancestry of cultivated C. annuum.
Chili pepper: The pungent fruit of cultivated Capsicum plants, used as a food and seasoning. Domestication created the diverse chili fruits that became staples in cuisines worldwide.
Archaeogenetics: The use of ancient DNA to investigate the history of past populations and organisms. Ancient plant DNA could clarify relationships between early crops and wild Capsicum relatives.

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