Message-ID: <19961108.175811.11415.0.djfuller@juno.com> Date: Fri, 8 Nov 1996 17:57:39 PST From: David Fuller <mailto:djfuller@JUNO.COM> Subject: Corn History To: Multiple recipients of list DEVEL-L <mailto:DEVEL-L@AMERICAN.EDU>
On Thu, 7 Nov 1996 10:48:18 +0700 Richard Tinsley <mailto:tinsley@AIT.AC.TH> writes: >I have a student from Zambia who raised the following question for
>which we would greatly appreciate what informatiom may be available.
>
>Does anyone know how and when maize became the stable crop of Southern
>and Central Africa? It is certainly not native as it did not leave the
>Americas until after the Europeans explorations. But early contacts
>between the Americas and Africa were associated with the slave trade.
>When did maize arrive as a crop? What crops did it replace? Any
>information would be greatly appreciated.
>
>Thank you for your assistance.
>
>Dick Tinsley
> Professor, Agricultural Systems
>Asian Institute of Technology (AIT)
>GPO 2754, Bangkok 10501, Thailand
>Phone: +66-2-524-5459
>Fax: +66-2-524-6200
>Email: mailto:tinsley@ait.ac.th
>
According to Harold McGee (On Food and Cooking: The Science and Lore of the Kitchen, Scribners, 1984 pp240) corn was under cultivation by at least 3500BC in Central America and spread to other American cultures rapidly. Columbus brought it back with him, and it was grown throughout southern Europe within a generation. It was known as Indian Corn or Maize (this term coming from natives of the West Indies).Its widespread use in the old world was associated with Pellagra, since the culturally traditional use of alkaline conditions to release niacin (and also to increase the relative abundance of lysine and tryptophan) was not apparently transferred with the seed stock. Lime, sea shells, natural soda and ash are all used to process corn.
Pellagra was mentioned in Italy in 1771, France in 1820. By the end of the century, it was epidemic in Egypt and other parts of Africa.
So I suppose the answer to your question is that it diffused into the Old World as a food staple popular with large land owners and their sharecroppers in Spain and Italy. The marker for its cultural dominance as a food would have to be the public health issues raised by its adoption without the "slow knowledge" aspects of its successful use by New World cultures.
I hope this helps a little,
David Fuller