It has significant amounts of phytic acid, dietary minerals and B vitamins. And, used in animal feed, its high protein content also leads to humans too (1)

The plants domestication refers to the historical process through which humans selectively bred wild soybean (Glycine soja) into a stable, high-yielding crop used for food, oil, and other purposes
Boiled or fermented soybeans, lead to soy paste which are precursors to modern soy sauce and miso.

It is a vine-like plant native to northeastern China, Korea, Japan, and parts of Russia
The word for sweet, glykós, was Latinized. (2)

The origin of soy bean cultivation remains scientifically debated
It was a crucial crop in east Asia long before written records began. (3)

There is evidence for domestication in China between 7000 and 6600 BC; between 5000 and 3000 BC in Japan; and, 1000 BC in Korea (4)

The earliest documented evidence comes from charred plant remains from Jiahu in Henan province China (4)
An abundance of archaeological charred specimens have been found centered around this region.(5)

Over centuries, humans selected soybean plants for beneficial traits, including seed size, pod shattering tendency, growth habit, yield, and seed coat
Glycine soja to Glycine max.

Did you know? Soybeans naturally enrich soil by fixing nitrogen, making them important in crop rotations. And, soybeans are still used in traditional Chinese medicine and rituals.

The domestication of soybeans is one of the most important developments in ancient agriculture, especially in Asia. During the neolithic, 10,000 year era, they transformed a wild, low-yielding legume into one of the world’s most valuable.

Cite:
1) Rotundo JL, Marshall R, McCormick R, et al. (March 2024). “European soybean to benefit people and the environment” (https://ww
w.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10982307). Scientific Reports. 14 (1): 7612. Bibcode:2024NatSR..14.7612R (https://ui.adsabs.h
arvard.edu/abs/2024NatSR..14.7612R). doi:10.1038/s41598-024-57522-z (https://doi.org/10.1038%2Fs41598-024-57522-z).
PMC 10982307 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10982307). PMID 38556523 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38556
523)

2) Hymowitz T, Newell C (July 1, 1981). “Taxonomy of the genus Glycine, domestication and uses of soybeans”. Economic Botany. 35
(3): 272–88. Bibcode:1981EcBot..35..272H (https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/abs/1981EcBot..35..272H). doi:10.1007/BF02859119 (http
s://doi.org/10.1007%2FBF02859119). S2CID 21509807 (https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:21509807)

3) Shurtleff, William; Aoyagi, Akiko. 2013. History of Whole Dry Soybeans, Used as Beans, or Ground, Mashed or Flaked (240 BCE to
2013). Lafayette, California. 950 pp

4) Lee GA, Crawford GW, Liu L, et al. (November 4, 2011). “Archaeological Soybean (Glycine max) in East Asia: Does Size Matter?” (ht
tps://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3208558). PLOS ONE. 6 (11): e26720. Bibcode:2011PLoSO…626720L (https://ui.adsab
s.harvard.edu/abs/2011PLoSO…626720L). doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0026720 (https://doi.org/10.1371%2Fjournal.pone.0026720).
PMC 3208558 (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3208558). PMID 22073186 (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/2207318
6).

5) Zhao Z. 2004. “Floatation: a paleobotanic method in field archaeology”. Archaeology 3: 80–87

Bibliography:
Stark MT (April 15, 2008). Archaeology of Asia (https://books.google.com/books?id=z4_bT2SJ-HUC&pg=PA81). John Wiley & Sons. pg. 81. ISBN 978-1-4051-5303-4

“soy” (https://doi.org/10.1093/OED/6140796016). Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/OED/6140796016 (https://doi.org/10.1093%2FOED%2F6140796016). (Subscription or participating institution membership (https://ww
w.oed.com/public/login/loggingin#withyourlibrary) required.)

Murphy DJ (2007). People, Plants and Genes: The Story of Crops and Humanity (https://archive.org/details/peopleplantsgene00murp_652). New York: Oxford University Press. pg. 122 (https://archive.org/d