Cultivation Millet at www.japanese-home-gardens.com

Those who chose to remain Christians received a subordinate status and were governed under the millet system, in which people were divided on the basis of their church. The Greeks in the empire thus became part of the Orthodox millet, the largest of these groups. They fell under the jurisdiction of the patriarch of Constantinople, who was regarded as an official in the Ottoman government.

Another long-cultivated cereal, again native to China, is millet [ 10]. It grows to a height of about 1m (39in). Millet tolerates prolonged drought and is grown mainly in the rain-deficient tropical areas of Africa and Asia. Sorghum [10] is also vital to tropical Africa, where it is the main bread plant.

The history of cultivated plants has received the attention of specialists who have searched historical records of the earliest writers of Egypt and China. Evidence has been adduced to trace places of origin and routes by which many trees, flowers, and vegetables were dispersed by human agency. In some instances information is precise, for example with regard to the cultivation millet of millet, lentils, onions, beans, peas and other vegetables in early Egypt, but the task of tracing the absolute origin and line of migration is almost impossible.