Final answer:
Sub-Saharan Africa, particularly in regions near modern Sudan, is where sorghum and brush millet were likely first domesticated around 9000 BCE during a period conducive to agriculture due to a wet phase starting at 11,000 BCE.
Step-by-step explanation:
Sorghum and brush millet were likely first domesticated in Sub-Saharan Africa, in regions that would correspond to modern-day countries like Sudan. Around 9000 BCE, agricultural techniques were adopted by the Nilo-Saharan people, who began cultivating sorghum and pearl millet using the grain collecting and grinding techniques of their northern neighbors and applied them to the local tropical grasses. The region experienced a wet phase around 11,000 BCE, which led to lush landscapes, fostering the domestication of these grains. Interestingly, by about 6000 BCE, deliberate domestication of these grasses was underway. Evidence of domestication in sub-Saharan Africa also includes the cultivation of other crops such as watermelons, cotton, and gourds over the millennia. Farming in this region was not isolated, as agriculture emerged independently in various parts of the world, but the domestication of sorghum and pearl millet is significant to the history of agriculture in sub-Saharan Africa.