Sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench] is known under a great many names: milo, guinea corn in West Africa, kafir corn in South Africa, dura in Sudan, mtama in eastern Africa, jowar in Hindi, jola in Kannada, and kaoliang in China.
Sorghum is an ancient cereal grain and was collected 8000 years ago in Southern Egypt, in a place called Nabta Playa. Sorghum was domesticated in Ethiopia and Sudan and from there moved throughout all of Africa, where it remains an important cereal grain.
Sorghum also has a rich tradition in India, as evidence suggests that it has been cultivated there since the 3rd or 4th millennia BCE. It then continued to be disbursed along the silk trade routes, and most probably arrived in the Americas with slave traders from Africa in the 19th century.
Today different varieties of sorghum are grown in Asia, including India and Micronesia, and in both North America and Latin America. Sorghum kernels vary in color from white and pale yellow to deep reds, purples and browns; white, bronze, and brown kernels are most common.