The journey of plants and the Great Discoveries.
Chandeigne| N° d'inventaire | 25863 |
| Format | 16 x 22.5 |
| Détails | 384 p., illustrated, bound. |
| Publication | Paris, 2020 |
| Etat | Nine |
| ISBN | 9782367321165 |
In France, we know a little about the history of the tomato, the potato, and corn, which originated in the New World, because they conquered Europe and their tribulations were vaguely taught to us at school.
But we don't know that in the 16th and 17th centuries, almost all food plants moved to another continent, completely disrupting eating habits and agricultural practices throughout the world, particularly in tropical areas. Thus, typically Asian plants such as coconut palms, mango trees, sweet orange trees, etc., quickly found their way to Africa and the Americas; conversely, American plants – sweet potatoes, pineapples, peanuts, papayas, cashew nuts, etc. – were established on the other two continents; Africa exported some important plants such as coffee and oil palm. Bananas and sugar cane, of Asian origin but long acclimatized in the Mediterranean basin, suddenly experienced almost industrial exploitation in Africa and the New World.
This diffusion took place mainly on Portuguese ships of the East India Line, disseminating seeds and plants at stopovers in Madeira, the Azores, São Tomé, Angola, Mozambique, then in Goa and Malacca, hubs of trade in the Far East.
Featuring a rich iconography of the time, this book, designed in the style of a dictionary, provides a spectacular inventory of this first globalization. It relates the discovery and journey of the 69 main food plants consumed in the world and a few others that had a more or less important industrial use (rubber, castor oil plant, aleurite, annatto, etc.). It gives the conditions of their discovery; their first descriptions and names, images taken from sources of the time; their multiple peregrinations until today; for each, the current figures for world production, its evolution and the main producers.
In France, we know a little about the history of the tomato, the potato, and corn, which originated in the New World, because they conquered Europe and their tribulations were vaguely taught to us at school.
But we don't know that in the 16th and 17th centuries, almost all food plants moved to another continent, completely disrupting eating habits and agricultural practices throughout the world, particularly in tropical areas. Thus, typically Asian plants such as coconut palms, mango trees, sweet orange trees, etc., quickly found their way to Africa and the Americas; conversely, American plants – sweet potatoes, pineapples, peanuts, papayas, cashew nuts, etc. – were established on the other two continents; Africa exported some important plants such as coffee and oil palm. Bananas and sugar cane, of Asian origin but long acclimatized in the Mediterranean basin, suddenly experienced almost industrial exploitation in Africa and the New World.
This diffusion took place mainly on Portuguese ships of the East India Line, disseminating seeds and plants at stopovers in Madeira, the Azores, São Tomé, Angola, Mozambique, then in Goa and Malacca, hubs of trade in the Far East.
Featuring a rich iconography of the time, this book, designed in the style of a dictionary, provides a spectacular inventory of this first globalization. It relates the discovery and journey of the 69 main food plants consumed in the world and a few others that had a more or less important industrial use (rubber, castor oil plant, aleurite, annatto, etc.). It gives the conditions of their discovery; their first descriptions and names, images taken from sources of the time; their multiple peregrinations until today; for each, the current figures for world production, its evolution and the main producers.