While these ancient plants were probably weeds, cultivated oats were discovered in Switzerland during the Bronze Age period (2000 to 700 BC).
The oat plant was introduced into the North American colonies soon after the Europeans had settled there.
European colonists sewed oats in North America for the first time in 1602 on Elizabeth Island, off the Massachusetts coast. One of the explorers who planted oats on Elizabeth Island was Bartholomew Gosnold. Oats have been sown by Gosnold, as early as 1602, and cultivated to greater or less extent from that time to the present.
The westward movement of oat culture into Mississippi valley became rapid during 1870s. The Dutch grew oats in New Netherland by 1828 and oats were cultivated in Virginia prior to 1648.
First oats in United States
