When Christopher Columbus discovers America we have the so called Colombian exchange. Following this discovery crops and not just crops also disease and other animals move from Europe, Asia and Africa. So could that explain the rise of countries? Well maybe I shouldn't say it cannot it doesn’t. The increase in the advantage of cereals over roots and tubers This does explain.
Since at least Adam Smith, the common wisdom has been that the transition from hunter-gathering to farming allowed the creation of the State. Farming, so went the theory, led to agricultural surplus, and that surplus is the prerequisite for taxation and a State. But economist Omer Moav of the University of Warwick and Reichman University argues that it wasn't farming but the farming of a particular kind of crop (but not others) that led to hierarchy and the State. Moav explains to EconTalk host Russ Roberts storability is the key dimension that allows for taxation and a State. The conversation includes a discussion of why it's important to understand the past and the challenges of confirming or refuting theories about history.