Message-ID: <s2887b27.043@crs.loc.gov> Date: Tue, 12 Nov 1996 13:20:42 -0500 From: Jonathan Sanford <mailto:JSANFORD@CRS.LOC.GOV> Subject: Corn History -Reply To: Multiple recipients of list DEVEL-L <mailto:DEVEL-L@AMERICAN.EDU>
I recently read an article ( recent issue of Smithsonian? Civilization? Archeology?) on the spread of New World crops to the Old World. I don't have it in front of me. But I do remember the comment that maize was seen growing in southeast Africa in the late 1600s. The article says that maize spread into Africa from both Europe and the Middle East, according to linguistic evidence. Evidently, Europeans traded maize with Africa for slaves and Middle Eastern slavers found it a convenient crop to feed their captives and it spread from there. The article speculates that sub-Saharan Africa could never carry the population it has if casava, sweet potatoes, maize, and other New World crops had not been imported.Jon Sanford