April 13 (UPI) -- The sweet potato made its way to Polynesia without human assistance, new research suggests, colonizing the islands prior to the arrival of the first humans.
When European explorers first visited Polynesia, they found an abundance of sweet potatoes, a root vegetable native to the Americas. Researchers led by a team at Britain's University of Oxford have interpreted their discovery as proof of early contact between Polynesians and Americans prior to the arrival of European explorers and colonists.