ABSTRACT
Cowpeas are native to humid and semiarid tropics of West Africa. The genetic diversity of cowpea species is maximum in West Africa and parts of Central Africa. Archeological evidences suggest that cowpea was domesticated around Neolithic settlements situated on the banks of river Niger in West Africa, sometime during 3rd millennium B.C. [1, 2]. These events led to a much enlarged cowpea agroecosystem that spreads into different continents. Earliest evidence for cultivation of cowpea in West Africa is derived from Kintampo culture [3]. Cowpeas, later spread to southern and eastern Africa and later found its way into Indian subcontinent. The spread of cowpea to North and South America was mediated through slave trade and seafarers. It reached the North American shores, mainly Florida, North Carolina and Texas during 1700s.
