Who discovered potatoes?

It's impossible to say definitively who "discovered" the potato. Here's why:

* Potatoes were domesticated long ago: The potato, *Solanum tuberosum*, was domesticated in the Andes Mountains of South America by the indigenous people of that region. This process likely happened gradually over thousands of years, making it impossible to pinpoint a single individual.

* Different cultures had their own uses: The Incas, for example, were skilled potato cultivators and used them as a staple food source. But other Andean cultures also grew potatoes, and it's likely they were cultivated even before the Incas.

* The concept of "discovery" is problematic: The term "discovery" often implies that something was unknown before a specific person found it. In the case of potatoes, they were already a vital part of Andean life for centuries before Europeans became aware of them.

So, while we can credit the people of the Andes with the domestication and cultivation of the potato, it's impossible to identify a single person as the "discoverer."