Chinese legends attribute the domestication of rice to Shennong, the legendary Emperor of China and inventor of Chinese agriculture.[3] Genetic evidence has shown that rice originates from a single domestication 8,200–13,500 years ago[4] in the Pearl River valley region of China.[5] Previously, archaeological evidence had suggested that rice was domesticated in the Yangtze River valley region in China.[4] From East Asia, rice was spread to Southeast and South Asia.[5] Rice was introduced to Europe through Western Asia, and to the Americas through European colonization.