Rice found its way from Asia to Europe via Persia, where the Arabs learned to grow and cook it. The Moors first grew large quantities in Spain in the 8th century, then somewhat later in Sicily. The valley of the Po River and the Lombardy plain in northern Italy, the home of risotto, first produced rice in the 15th century. The Spanish and Portuguese introduced rice throughout the Americas in the 16th and 17th centuries. South Carolina was the location of the first commercial American planting in 1685, where the rice-growing expertise of African slaves was important; today most U.S. rice comes from Arkansas and the lower Mississippi region, Texas, and California.