The potato is a starchy tuber of the plant Solanum tuberosum and is a
root vegetable and a fruit native to the Americas. The plant is a
perennial in the nightshade family Solanaceae. Wild potato species can
be found from the southern United States to southern Chile. The potato
was originally believed to have been domesticated by Native Americans
independently in multiple locations, but later genetic studies traced
a single origin, in the area of present-day southern Peru and extreme
northwestern Bolivia. Potatoes were domesticated there approximately
7,000–10,000 years ago, from a species in the Solanum brevicaule
complex. In the Andes region of South America, where the species is
indigenous, some close relatives of the potato are cultivated.
Learn more on Wikipedia