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This article is a world-wide overview of plant domestication and the origins of agriculture. It focuses on the archaeological record: the what, where, and when of these processes, with a brief consideration of why humans domesticated plants and turned to agriculture. After a discussion of how domestication and agriculture are understood through archaeology, the article presents up-to-date reviews of plant domestication and the early spread of agriculture by region. Covered are the Near East (West Asia); Cyprus and Crete; Anatolia, Greece, and the Balkans; Europe; Egypt and North Africa; sub-Saharan Africa; China, Korea, and Japan; Pakistan and India; Southeast Asia, New Guinea, and the Pacific; Mesoamerica; Eastern Woodlands, Northeast, Plains, and Southwest of North America; Central America; the Andes and eastern South America; and the Caribbean. The article includes a map that locates the areas of origin of important food plants, tables of domesticates listed by common and scientific name, and site names and dates for key archaeological data.