Plant
Trivia TimeLine
J.
Folsom, ed.
WORKING
DRAFT
The TimeLine gives world history from the
viewpoint of a botanist. It is the
story of plant discovery and use, and addresses the roles of plants in human
civilization. The TimeLine also
provides you as an individual the opportunity to reflect on how the history of
human interaction with the plant world has shaped and impacted your own life
and heritage.
Information included comes from secondary
sources and compilations, which are cited.
We continue to chart events for the TimeLine and appreciate your critique
of the many entries as well as suggestions for additions and improvements to
the topics covered. Please send
comments to: PlantEd, Huntington Botanical Gardens, 1151 Oxford Road, San
Marino, CA 91108-1299
Telephone
626.405.2160/FAX 626.405.2260
e-mail
planted@huntington.org.
BP
5-15
Billion+: 6 December. Carbon (the basis
of organic life), oxygen, and other elements were created from hydrogen and
helium in the fury of burning supernovae.
Having arisen when the stars were formed, the elements of which life is
built, and thus we ourselves, might be thought of as stardust. (Dauber & Muller, 1996)
3.75
Billion: Mixed deposits of ferrous and
ferric oxide suggest the presence of free atmospheric oxygen. This could be construed as evidence for
photosynthetic activity. (de Duve,
1995)
3.5
Billion: Origination of the oldest dated stromatolites. These layered geological formations are
built by successive generations of blue green algae (cyanobacteria.) (de Duve,
1995) Lower Precambrian rocks in South
Africa contain what is possibly the earliest known evidence of cellular
organisms, resembling blue green algae.
(Bold, Alexopoulos, & Delevoryas, 1980)
2
Billion: Data suggest that by this
time in the history of the Earth molecular oxygen began to make a significant
difference in the nature of the atmosphere.
(de Duve, 1995)
1.6
Billion: Strong evidence indicates that filamentous and unicellular blue green
algae existed by this period in the history of the Earth. (Bold, Alexopoulos, & Delevoryas, 1980)
900
Million: Late Precambrian deposits at Bitter Springs, Australia, hold numerous
kinds of blue-green and green algae.
(Bold, Alexopoulos, & Delevoryas, 1980)
570
Million: Dawning of the Paleozoic era
395
Million: The lower Devonian period. The
Scottish Rhynie chert deposit from this period is famous for its excellent
representation of Rhynia, one of the earliest vascular plants in the
fossil record. By 350 million years BP
land plants at last became significant.
By the upper Devonian, Calamites (the giant horsetail) achieved
abundance (as represented in strata of that age.) We know now that seed bearing plants (Archaeosperma and Spermolithus)
are represented in upper Devonian deposits. (Bold, Alexopoulos, &
Delevoryas, 1980)
345
Million: Now termed the Mississippian, this period together with the
Pennsylvanian (through to 225 million years BP) constitutes the age of coal -
the Carboniferous.
136
Million: With deposits from the Cretaceous period we see the first evidence of
flowering plants. (Bold, Alexopoulos,
& Delevoryas, 1980)
BC
50,000 Wild date seed were left in the Shanidar
Cave of Northern Iraq. Also found at
that site was evidence that cave dwellers consumed chestnuts, walnuts, pine
nuts, and acorns. (Root, 1980)
17,000+ Excavations at Wadi Kubbaniya, Nile Valley
(Egypt) reveal charred remains of 25 different plants, including wild nut sedge
tubers, acacia seed, cattail rhizomes, and palm fruit. (Levetin & McMahon, 1996)
8000+ Wheat and barley were Near Eastern food
crops. In ancient cultures barley was
the everyday food of the poor.
Archeologists have learned that by this time people used flint sickles
and grinding stones. The cultivation of
grains had an essential role in the development of civilization.
7000 Flax was known in Syria and Turkey, and
is apparently the earliest plant source for fiber (linen) as well as an
important source of oil (pressed from the seed). By 5000 B.C. we know that various flax species were involved. Evidence shows that seed size increased over
time, suggesting that humans were selecting for larger seed.
6800 A “large hoard of carbonized lentils,”
over 1,000,000 seed, was present in B Yiftah’el, north Israel. The size of this hoard indicates the lentils
were under cultivation. (Zohary &
Hops, 1994)
6500 Faba bean was known in Israel. Lentil, pea, chickpea, and faba bean
constituted the principal pulses for ancient Old World agriculture.
6000 Chili pepper and beans of this date
have been discovered in a Peruvian highland valley. Lima beans (Phaseolus lunatus) and regular beans (Phaseolus
vulgaris) are known archaeologically from Peru. (Heiser, 1981)
5500 In midden levels dating from 5500 to
7000 B.C. in Tamaulipas, Mexico, researchers have discovered evidence of
gourds, squashes, beans, and chili peppers.
5000 Corn (Zea mays) was cultivated
in Meso-America. This important grain
would be introduced to Europe by Columbus. [See 1550, China]
5000 Domesticated rice (Oryza sativa)
is reported from the Ho-mu-tu site in Chekiang Prov., China. Cabbage seed from this period were
discovered in earthen jars in Shensi Province (today cabbages make up 1/4 of
all expenditures for vegetables among Chinese families).
4000 Cotton seed dating from this time period
have been found in Pakistan.
4000 Grape (Vitis vinifera) is
thought to have been cultivated in the area from Afghanistan to the Black Sea.
3000 Sorghum was known in sub-Saharan
Africa. [See 1100 B.C., China].
2800 The Fah Shên-Chih Shu details five sacred
crops of China: soybeans, rice, wheat, barley, and millet. (Root, 1980)
2750 A coffin from the Egyptian Saqqara
Pyramid was made of six layers of wood veneers, sandwiched and glued together
like plywood. Cypress, juniper, and
cedar of Lebanon were used. (Connor,
1994)
2737 The brewing of tea was discovered by
Chinese Emperor Shen Nung. (Levetin
& McMahon, 1996)
2000 Pearl millet was cultivated in
sub-Saharan Africa.
2000 Since the Bronze Age, olive has figured
into the wealth of many Mediterranean populations.
2000 Peach (Prunus persica) and
apricot (Prunus armeniaca) were mentioned in Chinese literature before
2000 B.C. It is supposed that apricots were transported to Greece by Alexander
the Great. Certainly the Greeks knew
peaches by 332 B.C. Virgil noted the
Persian fruit in Rome, circa 50 B.C. By
1571 the Spanish had introduced three types to Mexico. [See 1663; 1977]
1550 A 65ft long medical scroll from Egypt
(discovered in 1884 by Georg Ebers and named the Ebers Papyrus) lists about 800
medicinal drugs, including many herbs and spices, among them anise, caraway,
cassia, coriander, fennel, cardamon, onions, garlic, thyme, mustard, sesame,
fenugreek, saffron, and poppy seed.
(Rosengarten, 1969)
1485 Hapshepsut, Queen of Egypt, had 31
myrrh trees imported to Egypt for planting at Thebes as homage to the god
Amon. (Rosengarten, 1969)
1370 Chemical tests of red fabrics from Tell
el ‘Amara, Egypt show the presence of alizarin, a pigment extracted from madder (Rubia tinctorum.)
(Zohary & Hopf, 1994)
1325 Many seed and other plant products were
stored in the Tutankhamen tomb, including watermelon, safflower, emmer wheat,
barley, lentils, chickpeas, flax, fenugreek, olive (leaves and oil), almond,
date palm, garlic, cumin, and coriander.
(Zohary & Hopf, 1994)
1100 Soybean (Glycine max) long had
been domesticated in China. By 300 B.C. it is thought to have become one of two
major food crops for northern China, by A.D.100 it was common throughout China
and Korea. Lotus was known as a crop by
this time.
1000 Researchers find evidence of peanut
cultivation in Peru.
1000 By this time it is certain that oats
were cultivated, most probably originating as weeds in wheat and barley
fields. (Zohary & Hopf, 1994)
c694 Trees bearing wool (cotton) were
introduced to Assyria by Sennacherib.
c500 The Susruta-Samhita, an Indian herbal,
described 700 different plants of value.
This time period in India also provides the earliest known record of
banana.
c500 The oldest known Chinese herbal, the
Classical Pharmacopeia of Tzu-I was written.
Although no version of this book has survived since AD 500, a copy was
available to Shen Nung, the writer of the Classical Herbal (which was produced
as early as 100 BC.)
c500 It is supposed that the radish was
introduced to China from Europe.
c400 Hippocrates wrote numerous treatises on
medicinal plants, such as saffron, cinnamon, thyme, coriander, mint, and
marjoram. (Rosengarten, 1969)
c399 Condemned to death, Socrates was
allowed to administer his own sentence by drinking a potion of poison hemlock, Conium
maculatum. (Levetin & McMahon,
1996.)
c300 Theophrastus (ca. 372-287 B.C.), the
Father of Greek Botany, taught about plants from his own working knowledge of
them, experience reflected in the “Inquiry” (Historia Plantarum) and
“Causes” (De Causis Plantarum).
Text covers 550 kinds of plants, including strawberry tree (Arbutus
unedo), date palm, figs, and water lilies.
His avoidance of more preposterous notions about plants made a seemingly
auspicious beginning for botanical study.
During the middle ages, however, the Theophrastan works were generally
unavailable, and second-hand versions were corrupted with misinformation - thus
the level of botanical knowledge available in writing actually declined. The rediscovery and printing of his works
beginning in 1483 replaced muddled interpretations of plants and helped
rekindle an interest in botany. (HNT)
c300 Plants known to the ancient Chinese
were discussed by Erh Ya. Other
treatments from the period mention cultivated crops such as yam (Dioscorea
esculenta) and taro (Colocasia).
250 By this time the Maya are known to
have cultivated cacao intensively in Belize.
241 Annual tribute demanded after the
conquest of Sicily allowed Rome to provide wheat cheaply to its citizens. War in general brought benefits through the
capture of productive acreage, the opening of markets for Roman
plantation-produced wine, and the taking of slaves. (Gras, 1946)
216 The south China province of Kweilin
(a word that means Cassia Forest) was founded.
The Kwei River could be translated as the Cassia River. (Rosengarten, 1969) Cassia refers to the
Chinese form of cinnamon, the more pungent Cinnamomum cassia.
203 Tribute to Rome from Carthage
included 500,000 bushels of wheat and 300,000 bushels of barley. (Root, 1980)
c50 Varro described Roman agriculture,
including cultivation of grain (wheat, spelt, & barley - but not rye or
oats), legumes, olive, and grapes. By
this time Romans had well-developed systems of legume rotation (the use of
legumes as a fertilizer crop to return nitrogen to the soil.) (Gras, 1946)
c50 Columnella wrote a treatise on Roman
Agriculture, covering many subjects, including the various benefits and
difficulties of managing slaves versus tenants on large properties. (Gras, 1946)
c50 Virgil, though not a botanist, gave
descriptions and information concerning 164 different plants known to the
Greeks in his Georgica. (HNT, 1492 edition) Advice included laying
fields fallow and allowing a crop of vetch and lupine (legumes) to mature
before sowing wheat. Virgil recommends
the scattering of manure as well as ashes.
(Gras, 1946)
24 Aelius Gallus, the Egyptian prefect
for Augustus’ Roman Empire, led an ill-fated campaign to conquer the South
Arabian spice kingdoms. (Rosengarten,
1969)
AD
c32 The extreme value of spikenard, a
fragrant emollient made from Nardostachys jatamansi, is highlighted in a
Biblical episode in Mark 14:3-6. A
believer is chastised by other supporters for anointing Christ with the
expensive spikenard, which could have been sold for charity. By the time of Pliny [See c70] the increase
in direct Roman trade with India [See c40] lowered the cost of spikenard to
one-third of the value it held before Roman fleets began to sail with the monsoons. (Rosengarten, 1969)
c32 Biblical account of Palm Sunday. The date palm has long been considered the
tree of life in deserts of the Old World.
With 70% sugar content the fruit serve humans and other animals. Moreover, the date palm is associated with
fertility and fecundity.
C40 The Greek merchant Hippalus is said to
have realized that seasonal monsoons could be used to take sailors back and
forth across the ocean from Egypt to the pepper-producing Malabar coast of
India. This led to extensive
development of Roman fleets that captured the Indian spice trade from overland
routes controlled by Arab traders. An
account of this trade is recorded in The Periplus..., a treatise known
from about 90 A.D. (Rosengarten, 1969)
c50 Dioscorides, the Father of Medical
Botany, was author of an ancient compilation of descriptions and medicinal uses
for plants, which was the most widely known western botanical text during the
middle ages (HNT). The earliest herbals
were recapitulations of Dioscorides.
With an expanding awareness of the natural world in the 16th-century,
herbalists began to make their own descriptions of plants, and at last
Dioscorides’s influence waned. Plants
known to Dioscorides included about 650 different species.
c70 Pliny (Caius Plinius Secundus, A.D.
23-79), in his Natural History, discussed about 1000 different
plants. Well known throughout the
middle ages, this book constituted a major source of information on
botany. Primarily an historian and storyteller,
Pliny edited uncritically, even fancifully.
Once the original, rarer source documents were discovered and printed,
the errors in Pliny’s account became obvious.
(HNT) It is through Pliny that we know the exact costs of many products,
and that farmers alternated crops of beans with spelt. He comments on the growing trend of farm
land consolidation to create slave-maintained plantations. (Gras, 1946) His comments on teaching:
“Yes indeed, those who have gained a little knowledge keep it in a
grudging spirit secret to themselves, and to teach nobody else increase the
prestige of their learning.” (transl. Eamon, 1994)
79 24 August - Pompeii was buried by
the volcanic eruption of Mt. Vesuvius.
Walnuts were left at a table, uneaten by priests whose meal was
terminally interrupted. (Root, 1980)
c90 John predicted the fall of Rome
(disguised as Babylon,) describing how the merchants of that city would mourn
the loss of their cinnamon and frankincense.
(Rosengarten, 1969)
105 In this year, according to tradition,
the first paper was made. Paper maker,
Ts’ai Lun, used the inner bark of paper mulberry (Broussonetia papyrifera). (Levetin & McMahon, 1996) A stand of
paper mulberry is quite evident along the eastern edge of the Huntington
parking lot.
280 Roman Emperor Probus rescinded the
edict of Domitian, which had prohibited planting grape vineyards in the
provinces. (Johnson, 1989)
290 The Peruvian tomb of a Moche warrior
priest contained gold and silver jewelry shaped like peanuts. (Levetin & McMahon, 1996)
332 Constantine enacted a measure that
bound tenants to country parcels, ensuring continued cultivation of land that
might otherwise be abandoned. (Gras,
1946)
335 Cloves were delivered to Constantine
- the first record of this spice in the West.
The source, flower buds of Syzygium aromaticum, had been known in
China for centuries, where in the Han Court etiquette demanded that a person
received by the emperor hold a clove in his mouth to sweeten the breath. (Root, 1980)
c350 During the middle ages popular herbals
of very little scientific content appeared.
They contained no observations beyond those taken from Dioscorides. The various versions of Apuleius’ herbals
were unfortunate simplifications both in text and in accuracy of plant
illustrations. The Huntington has a
printed edition of Apuleius (1483), considered to be the first printed
herbal. (HNT)
400 Haric
(Alaric) the Goth demanded 3000 lbs of black pepper as part of the ransom for
the city of Rome. His assaults on the
city continued, and Rome fell on 24 August 410 after the third siege.
(Rosengarten, 1969)
500 Coffee,
apparently native to the mountains of Ethiopia, was known as a beverage in
Arabia. It was first thought to have
been roasted in the 1450's, with drinking of brewed coffee spreading to Egypt
by 1510, to Constantinople in 1550, to Venice in 1616, to England in 1650, and
to Holland in 1690. By 1600, coffee was
grown in India, Ceylon, and the East Indies. Cultivation moved to the West
Indies and Brasil via propagation from a single tree that was grown in
Amsterdam. [See 1706]
548 Cosmas Indicopleustes wrote his Topographia
Christiana, describing the importance of the harvesting and processing of
black pepper (Piper nigrum.)
(Rosengarten, 1969)
593 Tea was taken to Japan, where it
assumed a major role in Buddhist ritual.
(Simpson, 1989)
c600 Mohammed was partial owner of a shop in
Mecca, trading in plant products such as myrrh, frankincense, and spices. (Rosengarten, 1969)
610 Papermaking was introduced from China
to Japan. (Levetin & McMahon, 1996)
632 Mohammed’s death. His injunction against consumption of
alcohol had immediate impact, such that within ten years drinking was already
banned in Arabia and much of the new Islamic empire (Egypt, Libya, Palestine,
Syria, Mesopotamia, and Armenia.)
(Johnson, 1989)
746 The Dutch and Germans began adding
hops to beer. The British would not
begin using hops until after 1524.
(Simpson, 1989)
775 Charlemagne gave the upper slopes of
the hill of Corton to the Abbey of Saulieu.
Wine from this zone is still called Corton-Charlemagne. (Johnson, 1989)
812 Charlemagne ordered imperial farms in
Germany to grow anise, fennel, fenugreek, and flax. (Rosengarten, 1969)
857 Several thousand people perished in
the Rhine Valley, victims of St. Anthony’s fire. Today we know this condition to be a type of poisoning resulting
from a toxic fungal infection (ergot) of rye.
The fungal pathogen discolors the grain but gives limited hints
otherwise as to spoilage. Epidemics
were most serious during times of famine when people consumed grain that might
otherwise have been discarded.
Outbreaks occurred from time to time until 1816. The active ingredient is ergotamine. One study suggests that the Salem, MA witch
trials resulted from hallucinations of important community members who were
exposed to contaminated rye. (Root,
1980)
867 King Charles the Bald granted land on
the Loire at Chablis to the Chapter of St. Martin at Tours for a vineyard. Because the Loire connects to the Seine, this
wine became well known in Paris.
(Johnson, 1989)
900 People in Flanders and Zeeland began
systems of dikes to exclude the sea from lowland areas to create land for
agriculture. In response to rising
population, the same treatment would begin in Holland some 300 years
later. (Ponting, 1991)
903 Ibn al-Faqih published Mukhtasar
Kitab al-Buldan, which is interpreted to describe sorghum and cowpeas as
food staples for Ghana. (R. L. Hall in
Viola & Margolis, 1991)
1000 Many plants, including spinach and olive,
arrived in Spain with the Moors.
1150 Paper was first produced in Europe -
introduced to Spain by the Moors.
(Levetin & McMahon, 1996)
1057 Chinese Emperor Jen Tsung ordered a new
national pharmacopeia be written. More
than 1000 drawings were received in Hangchow and the treatment covered over
1000 plants.
1070 Both mythical as well as impossible to
specify chronologically, in this year of the Shire-reckoning, Tobold Hornblower
of Longbottom first cultivated the real pipe-weed (or “leaf”, probably a Nicotiana)
in his gardens in the Southfarthing.
(Tolkien, J.R.R. The Lord of
the Rings Part One: The Fellowship of the Ring, 1st ed.
1954, 18th Ballantine Books ed, 1991)
1180 A guild of pepper wholesale merchants,
a pepperers’ guild, was founded in London.
Later this organization merged with a spicers’ guild. In 1429 the spicers’ guild became The
Grocers’ Company (the word “grocer” from vendre en gros, French for
wholesale.) The charter of this
organization was to manage trade in spices, drugs, and dyestuffs; these guild
members held exclusive right to “garble” - which meant to select and process
spices and medicinal products.
(Rosengarten, 1969)
c1200 Opium poppy, Papaver somniferum,
was introduced to China.
1236 The Statute of Merton gave English
manor lords the right to enclose parts of the common woods, waste, and
pasture. By 1485 the Tudor move toward
increased enclosure further exacerbated problems with tenants, leading to Ket’s
rebellion in 1549. (Gras, 1946)
1300 Villanova detailed Poems for Health,
recommending nut oils for cooking.
(Root, 1980)
1315 Through the year 1317, medieval Europe
had its worst famine. Following less
than half normal crop production in 1315, people began consuming the seed
supply for the next year. Wheat prices
soared. Over 50% of livestock died, the
poor starved. By 1318 bodies in Ireland
were disinterred for food. (Ponting,
1991)
1324 William of Ockham established a
philosophical viewpoint that avoids complicated explanations: “What can be accounted
for by fewer assumptions is explained in vain by more.” Called Ockham’s Razor, this approach is
important in botanical investigations, whereby scientists search for the most
“parsimonious” solutions to evolutionary questions. (HNT, first publication in 1495)
1358 The Jacquerie, the first notable
European peasant revolt, endured for 2 months.
Brigands had so plundered the region (destroying unprotected villages
and isolated homesteads, taking loot and food and leaving in their wake death,
carnage, ruined homes, destroyed stores, trampled fields, and uprooted vines)
that peasant farmers failed to replant for fear of further loss. In desperation peasant countrymen came
together, at first in rebellion against deplorable conditions, eventually in
retaliation. Though this and other
movements were quelled, similar revolts, all stemming from brigandry,
manorialism, and feudalism, occurred throughout Europe (most notably in England
in 1381 and Germany in 1525) for centuries.
These revolts would continue to expand in scope and shift in epicenter,
leading to the French Revolution of 1779 and the 1918 Russian Revolution. (Gras, 1946)
1455 Gutenburg printed the first Bible with
moveable type. Ancient botanical
treatments, available previously only in hand scribed versions, could now be
printed. Publication of new herbals and
simples advanced quickly. [See Theophrastus, c300 BC]
1471 The Opus Ruralium Commodorum was
published, based on a manuscript written a century earlier by Peitro Creszenzi
of Bologna. Compiled from works of
Varro, Columnella, and Cato, with an admixture of Creszenzi’s own thoughts,
this book was translated into various languages and read extensively. It could be considered the foundation of
modern western gardening. (Camp,
Boswell, & Magness, 1957)
1480 The dry garden at the monastery of
Ryoan, in Kyoto, was built during this decade, apparently reaching completion
by 1490.
1487 Diaz worked his way around Africa in
search of spice & trade for the Portuguese.
1492 Columbus left Spain, sailing west to
search for new routes and sources for importing spices from the East. He
returned with corn (Zea mays) and other crop plants.
1493 During Columbus’ second voyage he
apparently introduced sugar cane to Santo Domingo; a settler named Aguilón was
reported to have harvested cane juice by 1505 (Thomas, 1999). By 1516 the first processed sugar was
shipped from Santo Domingo to Spain.
Soon afterward, Portugal began importing sugar from Brasil. (Sugar cane would become a driving force for the slave trade.) Columbus also carried seed of lemon, lime,
and the sweet orange to Hispaniola. He
returned to Europe with pineapple.
(Viola & Margolis, 1991)
1493-94 Peter Martyr wrote that Columbus brought
“pepper more pungent than that from the Caucasus.” These capsicum peppers were introduced into Spain in 1493, known
in England by 1548, and grown in Central Europe as early as 1585.
1494 Columbus introduced cucumbers and other
vegetables from Europe to Haiti.
1497 In reference to citrus, Camoes, in
recording his voyages to India wrote:
A thousand
trees are seen towards heaven rising,
With
beautiful and sweetly-scented apples;
The
orange, wearing on its lovely fruit
The colour
Daphne carried in her hair;
Bent low,
nay almost fallen to the ground,
The
citron, heavy with is yellow load;
And, last,
the graceful lemon with its fruit
Of
pleasant smell and shaped like virgins’ breasts. (Tolkowsky, 1938)
1497 Vasco de Gama opened Portuguese trade
around the Cape of Good Hope. On 20 May
1498 he arrived at Calicut, on the west coast of India. Having left Lisbon on 8 July 1497, under
orders from the King of Portugal, he followed the route (discovered by Diaz 11
years before) around the Cape of Good Hope.
His arrival in India marked the first voyage from Europe. This trip and the subsequent voyage of
Cabral broke the Venetian monopoly on the sugar and the spice trade. (Rosengarten, 1969; Root, 1980)
1499 In his Hypnerotomachia Poliphili,
Francesco Colonna described dream-like scenes (some illustrated) of mansion,
forest, and garden, that influenced writers, artists, architects, and designers
well into the 17th century. (Thacker,
1979)
c1500 Bean and lima bean, crops native to
America, became known to Europeans. By
the late 1700's the lima bean was grown in Africa, Europe, India, and the
Philippines. By 1500 the sweet potato
(native to South America) had been taken to Spain, where it was in cultivation
at mid-century. This root was soon
cultivated in China, India, and Malaya. [See 1526; 1648]
1500 The Indian population of Brasil
numbered about 2.5 million before European settlement. That population today is less than 200,000.
(Ponting, 1991)
1502 The island of St. Helena was discovered
by J. de Nova, and would soon become a garden site for fresh provisions to
break the several month voyage between Portugal and Mozambique. At the end of the century, James Lancaster
would take with him bottled lemon juice and “by this means the Generall cured
many of his men, and preserved the rest.”
(Tolkowsky, 1938)
1505 Enslaved Africans were first brought to
the New World. Trade in slaves would
steadily rise, driven at first by gold mining, the harvest of natural
resources, and increasing agricultural demand.
In the end, at least 9.5 million African slaves were brought to the New
World, fully 2.5 million of whom were deployed in the Caribbean where they
worked substantially in the sugar industry.
For 360 years slavery was the key labor source for New World sugar
production. (Mintz in Viola & Margolis, 1991) By another breakdown, approximately
13,000,000 slaves were exported from Africa between 1440 and 1870. Of those people, about 6,000,000 were
deployed initially to work in sugar plantations, 2,000,000 to coffee, 1,000,000
to mining, 1,000,000 for domestic labor, 500,000 for cotton fields, 250,000 for
cacao walks, and 250,000 for construction.
(Thomas, 1999)
1505 The Portuguese settled Ceylon. Their exploitation of the cinnamon forests
led to a system of slavery and a monopoly on trade in this spice. (Rosengarten, 1969)
1506 A Suzhou author described Chinese
potted landscapes (pinjing, or pan jing) in the following manner: “The people
of Tiger Hill are excellent at planting strange flowers and rare blossoms in a
dish. A dish with pine or antique
flowering plum, when placed on a table, is pure, elegant and delightful.” (Clunas, 1996)
1511 Western explorers discovered that the
Molucca Islands (the Spice Islands) were the source of cloves. See Root (1980) for detail of intrigue that
followed. Eventually [see 1773] one
tree planted by Pierre Poivre parented orchards in Madagascar and
Zanzibar. These countries nearly
provide the world supply today.
1511 Having won battles over Muslim forces,
the Portuguese advanced their control over spice producing areas of India,
Ceylon, Java, Sumatra - and by 1514, the Spice Islands. For nearly 100 years great Portuguese wealth
would flow from control of the spice trade. [See 1605] (Rosengarten, 1969)
1514 Alvarez was the first European to reach
China by sea. In the region of Canton
the Portuguese encountered oranges superior in sweetness and fragrance even to
those brought from India and Ceylon.
(Tolkowsky, 1938)
1516 The banana was introduced to the New
World from Africa. (Heiser, 1981)[See
1804]
1518 Duarte Barbosa, in An Account of the
Countries bordering on the Indian Ocean and their Inhabitants describes
sweet oranges in Ceylon. A later book
by Garcia da Orta, 1562, one of the earliest European books printed in India,
commented that the oranges of Ceylon “are the best of the whole world in regard
to sweetness and abundance of juice.”
Prior to the discovery that Asia harbored sweet oranges, Europeans (who
were less accustomed to consuming citrus fruit) considered citrus more valuable
for its fragrance. (Tolkowsky, 1938)
[See 1550]
1519 Magellan began his circumnavigation of
South America, exploring trade routes.
Nearly 3 years later, on 8 September 1522, 18 of the original 250
crewmen (lacking Magellan, who died on the isle of Mactan in April, 1521)
returned to Seville, with 1 of the 5 ships that started (only the Victoria
made the entire voyage). Even given
such great losses, the cloves (26 tons), sacks of nutmeg, mace, and cinnamon,
and load of sandalwood returned to Spain from the very last legs of the voyage
covered the entire expedition cost. The
returning captain, Sebastian del Cana, was given a pension and awarded a coat
of arms that displays two cinnamon sticks, three nutmegs, and 12 cloves. A journal detailing exploits of this voyage
was maintained by Antonio Pigafetta, gentleman-adventurer, and published
subsequently as Primo Viaggio Intorno al Mondo. (Rosengarten, 1969; Boorstin, 1983) [See
1522]
1521 Hernando Cortés conquered Mexico. While on reconnaissance in southeastern
Mexico, his soldiers were the first Europeans to discover the delights of the
Aztecan spice, vanilla. (Rosengarten,
1969) Among the people in Cortés’ party was a free, black African, Juan
Garrido. At his farm in Coyoacán,
Garrido later would become the first European to plant wheat in Mexico.
(Thomas, 1999)
1522 Pigaphetta, following three years on
the Magellan voyage to the Moluccas, wrote that “in all the islands of the
Moluccas there are to be found cloves, ginger, sago which is wood-bread, rice,
...pomegranates, both sweet and sour oranges, lemons...” He also wrote that: “the betel-nut is a
fruit which they keep chewing together with flowers of jasmine and orange,” and
“ the cannibals of the islands...eat no other part of the human body but the
heart, uncooked but seasoned with the juice of oranges and lemons.” (Tolkowsky, 1938)
1524 Representatives of Spain and Portugal
met to review maps and charts in an attempt to agree over ownership of the
Spice Islands (first controlled by Portuguese in 1511); five years later
Portugal paid 350,000 gold ducats to Spain for relinquishment of claims. (Milton, 1999)
1525 Rycharde Banckes published his English Herbal
with the introductory phrase: “Here begynneth a newe mater, the whiche sheweth
and treateth of ye vertues and proprytes of herbes, the which is called an
Herball” (Sanecki, 1992)
1526 Peter Treveris published The Grete
Herbal, an English translation of a popular French herbal. The book appears to be the first illustrated
herbal published in English. (Sanecki,
1992)
1526 Oviedo reported having often
transported sweet potatoes (batatas) from the Caribbean to Castile. During this century, Portuguese traders
carried the crop to all of their shipping ports, and the sweet potato was
quickly adopted from Africa to India and Java.
To this day, confusion exists between the sweet potato (batata,
or camote in Spanish) and the yam.
This began as early as the first encounter by Colombus, who introduced
the crop to the Spanish court as similar to the true yam, a plant native to
West Africa and already familiar to Europeans.
A member of the morning glory family, sweet potato appears to have its
origins in the Chilean/Peruvian Andes.
(Sauer, 1993)
1530 Brunfels published Herbarium Vivae
Eicones, the first newly written and printed botanical book/herbal.
1531 A decree issued in Castile under the
Spanish Crown allowed good terms for loans to allow purchase of slaves by
settlers for establishment of sugar mills. (Thomas, 1999)
1532 Francisco Pizarro conquered Peru.
1533 A professorship in botany, created at
the university in Padua, established plant study as a discipline separate from
medicine. That position was filled by
Francesco Bonafede. The following year
Luca Ghini became a lecturer in botany at Bologna. (Morton, 1971) [See 1543;
1545]
1533 Authorship by Wen Zhengming of an album
including a lengthy written Record as well as numerous paintings and poems
documenting the Garden of the Unsuccessful Politician in China’s garden city of
Suzhou codified the significant history of one of the world’s most famous built
landscapes. His concluding descriptive
statement gave a panoramic view of the site: “In all there is one hall, one
tower, six pavilions and twenty-three studios, balustrades, ponds, terraces,
banks and torrents, making a total of thirty-one, by name the Garden of the
Unsuccessful Politician.” (Clunas,
1996)
1536 Spaniards completed the conquest of
Peru and soon began to use potatoes as cheap food for sailors. The earliest English publication describing
potatoes was Gerard’s 1597 herbal. By
1700 potatoes were important in Germany, and by 1800, important in Russia.
1538 The word “carnation” first appeared as
a royal reminder of this plant’s ancient Greek name Diosanthos, which
translates as “the flowers of Zeus.”
The scientific name for these plants with clove-scented flowers, Dianthus
caryophyllus, yields yet more etymological charm, since the term for clove
spice comes to us from the Arabic (quaranful) to the Greek (karyophillon)
to the Latin (caryophyllus).
(Grimshaw, 1998)
1541 Jacques Cartier introduced cabbage to
Canada on his third voyage. The first
written record of cabbage in the US is 1669.
1541 A book to promote cooking with sugar
was available in Venice. Later
Nostradamus wrote the first French book on this topic. (Root, 1980)
1542 Fuchs published De Historia Stirpium
Commentarii. By 1543 he had published
the German version, New Kreüterbuch. Illustrations for his herbals were based on
studies of living plants, rather than on the simplified images that had become
common in various scribed editions of the Apuleius herbal. [See c. 350] The text, however, was taken essentially
from Dioscorides. (HNT) Much later, the
plant genus Fuchsia was named in his honor.
1543 One of the first botanical gardens, a
garden of “simples,” was established by Luca Ghini at the University in Pisa -
on a site different from that of the present garden.
1545 The botanical garden was established at
Padua, Italy.
1550 Introduced to China by 1550, corn grew
so quickly in importance that this crop became a significant factor in the 18th
century increase in the Chinese population, particularly in inland areas where
rice was not prolific. (By the end of the 20th century, China was
the world’s second largest producer of corn.)
1550 By this year, tomatoes (introduced from
the New World) were regularly consumed in Italy. [See 1554] (Morton, 1981)
1550 Damiao de Goes described orange exports
from Portugal to Spain. The date
follows very quickly after the tradition that J. de Castro, on returning from
India, brought the sweet orange and planted it at his country home of Penh
Verde. From this tree, all of the
Portugal type sweet oranges were descendent.
(Tolkowsky, 1938)
1551 Jerome Bock published his Kreüterbuch,
one of the first herbals to include the author’s own plant descriptions from
first-hand observations - rather than copying the work of Dioscorides. (HNT)
1554 First written record of the
tomato. Italians grew the plant by
about 1550. Thomas Jefferson was the
first American to grow tomatoes, in 1781.
Tomatoes were eaten in New Orleans by 1812. George W. Carver dedicated himself to promoting the tomato, in
addition to his work on peanuts.
1554 Though the first description in Europe
of kohlrabi was in this year, it was not grown commercially (that was
accomplished in Ireland) until 1734.
Records of this vegetable in the US date from 1806.
1556 Tobacco cultivation began in Europe
with an importation of seed by André Thevet.
(Simpson, 1989) Introduction to Europe is reported as 1559 by De
Wolf. (Punch, 1992)
1558 An illustration published by Thevet
documented the harvesting and processing of cashew by natives in Brasil. (Other
contemporary writers also had discussed the value of this native American
tree.) Within a decade, Portuguese
traders had introduced the cashew to India, where it remains an important
crop. Its value lies not simply in the
cashew nut, but also in the juicy peduncle (the stem, called marañon in
Latin America) on which the nut-bearing fruit forms. That peduncle, resembling a quince or apple, provides astringent,
watery refreshment. Moreover, once
fermented it yields cashew wine and brandy.
North Americans, very aware of the asymmetric roasted cashew seed that
competes with peanuts for dominance in cans of mixed nuts, are often unfamiliar
with the fruit-like peduncle. (Sauer, 1993)
Never make the mistake of eating raw cashew nuts taken from a fresh marañon. The shell (the real fruit) surrounding the
seed is invested with toxic compounds that are dispelled with roasting. The cashew tree is related to the mango (Mangifera
indica), which is native to the hills of Assam. Many people are allergic to the foliage of the mango, though they
may not be affected by the fruit.
1559 In this year Conrad Gesner recorded the
earliest known instance of a tulip flowering in cultivation in Europe, in the
garden of Johann Heinrich Herwart in Augsburg.
(Pavord, 1999) Gesner is said to have received these bulbs from Ogier
Ghiselin de Busbecq, ambassador from Holy Roman Emperor Ferdinand I to the
Ottoman court of Suleiman the Magnificent. Busbecq reported these highly
colored flowers were called tulipam by their Turkish admirers, but since
the native word for these plants is lalé, supposition comes into play
that Busbecq was told the flowers (or even the bulbs) resemble the dulban
(the turban). (Grimshaw, 1998)
1560 Spanish settlers planted three olive
saplings in Lima, Peru. An olive from
this original introduction was later taken to Chile. This simple introduction formed the basis of today’s South
American olive industry. (Root, 1980)
1561 The posthumously published work of
Valerius Cordus established wholly new standards for systematic plant
description. His was the first work to
uniformly address all aspects of a plant, in standard sequence and parallel
treatment. (Morton, 1981)
1564 The European grape vine was imported to
California via Mexico, brought by priests.
1565 According to popular history, John
Hawkins introduced the potato to Ireland.
1568 The New Herball of William
Turner was published in completed forM (in Cologne), including all three
parts. Part 1 had been published in
1551 (in Antwerp), part 2 in Cologne in 1561.
(Sanecki, 1992)