When did corn spread to west africa. Hence, we focus our attention on maize.
When did corn spread to west africa. From its origins in Mexico, and its spread throughout the Americas and the rest of the world, corn has played a role in trade, through migration of peoples – whether voluntary or involuntary – and through colonization. As a field crop, farmers broadcast seeds onto prepared plots and harvest the dried ears; women grind its kernels for flour. How did this non-native cereal crop come to be the staple upon which hundreds of millions of families rely for their main source of food? And why is that a potentially very serious problem? Read on. The subsequent crop and animal exchange revolutionized the lifestyle of Europeans, Asians, and Africans. Nov 20, 2023 · In this episode of Eat My Globe, our host, Simon Majumdar, looks into the history of corn. It was cultivated in Spain just a few decades after Columbus's voyages and then spread to Italy, West Africa and elsewhere. Within 25 years, it spread throughout the Mediterranean Basin. Domesticated plant species first spread to neighboring regions via nomadic pastoralists, who traded with various farming communities. He sailed west and though he did not make it to the East Indies, he did encountered continents previously unknown to the Europeans. American diseases, most notably syphilis, spread even faster than foodstuffs and were rampant throughout the Old World before the end of the fifteenth century. Within 50 years it was grown worldwide. After briefly describing how corn traveled from Mesoamerica to Europe and Africa during the colonial period, this chapter describes several key processes through which corn became a ubiquitous, industrial “flex” crop. Aug 24, 2025 · These centres of plant domestication in Africa include: the West African Sahel, the West African Savannah, the West African Forest, the East Sudanic Grasslands, and the Ethiopian highlands. Jan 1, 2019 · Cultivation spread quickly; as we discuss below, the available historical evidence indicates that maize was grown across much of the African continent by the early 1700s. Most farms are small, typically 1 to 5 hectares. Seedlings smuggled from the Arabian peninsula in the seventeenth century enabled the Dutch to develop coffee plantations in Ceylon and Java. What plants did people in Africa eat before Columbus? Maize, turkeys, potatoes, tomatoes, various beans, squash, and peppers all traveled East to Europe and Africa, as well as the Middle East and Asia. This research aims at filling this gap and better understanding the evolution of agriculture and foodways in West Africa. son. American Crops, Africa The Columbian Exchange left significant marks on African history and society, arguably nowhere more than in the introduction of American food crops, which occurred within the context of Portuguese trade in slaves and commodities and the development of a broader Atlantic economy. *Since the list of African plant domesticates contains as many as 60 crops, only a handful of the best-studied crops will be outlined in this essay. It reports evidence from systematic flotation samples taken at the settlement mounds of Sadia (Mali [11] Maize spread to the rest of the world because of its ability to grow in diverse climates. Yet some food experts say Africa has now become over-reliant on corn, and the result has been increased malnutrition and vulnerability to famine. Corn, beans, avocado, peanuts, casava, yams/sweet potatoesthese are all major parts of African diet, at least in Cameroon, where I live. In the moist tropical forests of western and west-central Africa, where humidity worked against food hoarding, new and larger states emerged on the basis of corn agriculture in the 17th century. [11] By the 17th century, it was a common peasant food in Southern Europe. . Colonial Agriculture 3. It was cultivated in Spain just a few decades after Columbus's voyages and then spread to Italy, West Africa, the Philippines and elsewhere. [50] Maize spread to the rest of the world because of its ability to grow in diverse climates. Subsequent increase in the cultivation of these crops is inseparable from population growth Jul 21, 2024 · Maize, also known as corn, is believed to have originated in Central America over 7,000 years ago. In the 16th century, one French botanist called corn Turkish wheat in the mistaken notion that corn had originated Oct 5, 2016 · There were also American crops and species that became important in West Africa through the time of contact through the period of slavery. Tomatoes, corn, peanuts, tropical fruits like papaya, pineapple, guava and avocado became incorporated in the West and Central African diet, on the terms of the adapters. People don't seem to eat much else sometimes! Yet all of these are New World foods. In this way, Islam spread across and around the Sahara May 19, 2022 · The Columbian exchange is a term coined by Alfred Crosby Jr. Given its characteristics and the timing of its introduction, maize is the most likely cause of any agricultural productivity shock. Historians refer to this process as the “Columbian Exchange. The industrialization of corn introduced hybridization, GMOs, and large-scale monocultures, embedding corn into food processing, biofuels, and global trade. They base their argument on the long history of West African rice cultivation, the Carolina adoption of rice-growing technology unique to West Africa, and Lowcountry planter preferences for enslaved Africans from rice-growing regions. Maize was only found in the New World until Columbus introduced it into the Old World. Agriculture is the basic driver of West Africa’s economy, on which the majority of people depend for their livelihood (Gyasi and Uitto, 1997). The recent spread of maize has been alarmingly fast, with implications largely overlooked by the media and policymakers. Nov 10, 2020 · In Africa, corn is best known as maize — and it’s everywhere. Sep 22, 2025 · Previously, without long-lasting foods, Africans found it harder to build states and harder still to project military power over large spaces. An overview is presented on the reports available so far on pre-Columbian maize covering the regions of India, Mideast, Africa and Iberia. HISTORY, CORN, AND AFRICA S NEW LANDSCAPES, I500 -I 999 249 at its green, milky stage, boiled as a snack, or roasted on the cob. How Did Disease Spread? Before 1492, the Indigenous peoples of the Americas had never been exposed to Old World diseases. ” Corn (or maize) is an exemplary commodity of far-reaching changes to capitalist agriculture. Abstract While narratives of the spread of agriculture are central to interpretation of African history, hard evidence of past crops and cultivation practices are still few. As tribal wars broke out, the grains were also looted and brought to May 10, 2019 · Following the conquest of North Africa by Muslim Arabs in the 7th century CE, Islam spread throughout West Africa via merchants, traders, scholars, and missionaries, that is largely through peaceful means whereby African rulers either tolerated the religion or converted to it themselves. Jan 22, 2009 · Linguistic evidence strongly suggests that maize penetrated the interior of tropical Africa from the coastal regions, but the timing and mode of its introduction cannot be established. Although the small size of farms reflects a scarcity of land in heavily populated areas as The Columbian Exchange Maize Instead of finding gold in the New World, Columbus was one of the first Europeans to see maize (corn) (Morison, 1991). So ubiquitous did corn become so quickly that some people forgot that it was a native plant of the Americas. [50][51] By the 17th century, it was a common peasant food in Southern Europe. It was introduced to Africa by Portuguese traders and explorers in the 16th century, specifically Aug 11, 2023 · The spread of corn cultivation allowed diverse indigenous cultures to harness the benefits of this versatile crop [4]. Hence, we focus our attention on maize. Frequent observations of maize recorded in the past on the East and the West Coast of Africa and at the ports in the Mideast show that maize was one of the stapl … Feb 23, 2025 · This biological exchange was one-sided —while some European and African diseases spread rapidly in the New World, very few American illnesses made their way back to Europe with the same level of devastation. 1 Crop Exchanges before the Industrial Revolution The migration of the human population meant that the movement of crops away from their centers of origin was inevitable. Recognizing its value, Columbus brought corn back to Spain in 1493. in 1972 that is traditionally defined as the transfer of plants, animals, and diseases between the Old World of Europe and Africa and the As it unfolds, we see how this sixteenth-century stranger has become indispensable to Africa's fields, storehouses, and diets, and has embedded itself in Africa's political, economic, and social relations. Cultivation spread quickly; as we discuss further below, the available historical evidence indicates that maize functioned as a staple crop for much of the African continent by the mid-eighteenth century. Columbus brought maize to the Old World and significantly changed the lives of Europeans (Nunn & Qian, 2010). From the northern reaches of present-day Canada to the southern regions of South America, corn became a staple crop in various communities, supporting their sustenance and contributing to the development of their unique Jul 14, 2025 · Where did corn originate, and how did it spread to other parts of the world? The origins of corn are traced back to the Balsas Valley in southern Mexico, where archaeologists have discovered evidence of ancient corn cultivation dating back over 9,000 years. May 6, 2024 · Its global spread followed the Columbian Exchange, transforming agriculture across Europe, Africa, and Asia due to its adaptability and caloric density. Aug 14, 2013 · Development agencies have long promoted corn as a crop that can modernize African agriculture. what was the first new world crop to reach africa maize where did corn enter africa west africa, the nile delta (egypt), ethiopia, and east africa what did africans cultivate before the introduction of corn sorghum, millet, and rice The cultivation of maize in ____ was widely reported by European traders in the 17th century Oct 24, 2024 · The story of corn in Europe is inextricably linked to the Columbian Exchange, the widespread transfer of plants, animals, culture, human populations, technology, diseases, and ideas between the Americas, West Africa, and the Old World in the 15th and 16th centuries, following Christopher Columbus’s 1492 voyage. And particularly, corn, and the Native peoples knowledge in growing and preparing May 16, 2023 · West Africa is composed of a wide variety of ecosystems and an equally high number of food production systems. The consumption of coffee spread over the following centuries with the diffusion of Islam to North Africa, Turkey and Persia. rhcrikun3d6alzmsnakhdavelizqaf6qgvo2kxiivanwrtz5h