Agroecology and Miguel Altieri Agroecology and agriculture in general took a giant leap forward in 1492 when Christopher Columbus discovered the New World. Previously, the New and the Old World only shared three species: sweet potato, bottle gourd, and coconut. Now that this New World had been discovered, there was much that could be gained, and it was more than just gold (Bermejo 1994). Many attempts at growing crops in the new and very different environment proved frivolous, but others found success. In fact, it is known today that many crops reach their optimum yield in an environment that is different from their own. The first crops introduced into the Americas were the European grains, vegetables, and fruits; these were unsuccessful at first. However, some crops did adapt well to the tropical environment right from the beginning, including: bananas, sugar cane, and citrus fruits. Potatoes, tomatoes, gourds, beans, and chilies have all found their way into European cuisine; these crops all originated in the Americas. Rice, a now major player in Mexican food, was also introduced by the Spaniards. African grasses also replaced low yield grass species in Latin America. This giant exchange of species would completely change the world’s diet (Bermejo 1994). Although explorers set out in a conquest for “God, gold, and Glory,” and did, in fact, satisfy all of those desires, they discovered something that was way more valuable than anything they could have ever imagined. They discovered a whole new world that had unlimited resources, land, plant species, and anything else they could ever use in their lifetime. In their conquest, however, they managed to almost wipe out a whole population, thousands of years of history, an... ... middle of paper ... ... from http://www.historycooperative.org/journals/wm/60.4/jones.html Lopez, B. (1990) The Rediscovery of North America. The University Press of Kentucky. Lexington. Sandberg, B. (2006). Beyond Encounters: Religion, Ethnicity, and Violence in the Early Modern Atlantic World, 1492-1700. Journal of World History, 17, Retrieved November 10, 2006, from http://historycooperative.press.uiuc.edu/journals/jwh/17.1/sandberg.html Schwartz, B., D'Arcy, H., Schuman, H. (2005, April 1). Elite Revisionists and Popular Beliefs: Christopher Columbus, Hero or Villain?. Public Opinion Quarterly, 69, Retrieved November 10, 2006, from http://80elibrary.bigchalk.com.proxy.uwlib.uwyo.edu/libweb/elib/do/document?set=pbsissue&groupid=1&requestid=issue_docs&resultid=9&edition=&ts=22A09C01D33E00EEC1C57E5266921447_1163398443033&urn=urn%3Abigchalk%3AUS%3BBCLib%3Bdocument%3B106981986
Along with an exuberance of gold and silver, plants such as corn, tobacco, potatoes, tomatoes, chocolate, sugar, and myriad other fruits and vegetables were introduced into European diets. The humble potato was especially adopted by the Irish; Tomatoes, the Spanish; and tobacco, the entire world. Due to the increased food supply, the European population exploded and necessitated the subsequent settlement of the ‘New World’.
Many consider Columbus a Hero, others believe he was selfish and self centered. Myint author of “Christopher Columbus: Hero or Villain?” and Ransby author of “Columbus and the Making of Historical Myth.”, are faced with the same dilemma. From a young age children are taught about Columbus and his greatness, but the books fail to document the atrocities committed in the process. Most of the books use biased language; little evidence and vague language is used to hail Columbus as a great hero. Myint provides a more objective stance, while Ransby condemns Columbus entirely. However, both suggest to consider Columbus a hero is a mistake.
Written sometime after A People’s History of the United States, the play on words might indicate the authors’ intent to refute the biased nature of the older book, and redeem the major players. Chapter one begins covering the year 1492-1707 with the age of European discovery. Schweikart and Allen focus of the catchy phrase “God, glory, and gold” as the central motives for exploration, emphasizing the desire to bring the Gospel to the New World. They paint native settlers as “thieves” and “bloodthirsty killers who pillage for pleasure” (Allen 1). The narrative continues, discussing the explorers from Portugal and Spain and their contact with the Arabs and Africans. The authors quote Columbus as saying “[he] hoped to convert them ‘to our Holy Faith by love rather than by force’” (4) a contrary portrayal to that in A People’s History of the United States. The authors continue on to discuss the French and English and the foundations for success in the New World; how people lived in the Colonial South. They write about the physical labor, the natural resources, and the food. Schweikart and Allen enlighten the readers about early slavery, the start of the House of Burgesses, the founding of Plymouth, Massachusetts, the Pequot Indian War, the English Civil War, Bacon’s Rebellion, Pennsylvania’s settlement, and the
The first similarity between the regions of America and Africa was the spread of new crops. In America, crops such as bananas and sugarcane had found their way to the region and became heavily cultivated. Evenmore so, livestock had spread like wildfire through the americas, particularly domesticated animals such as cows, sheep, and pigs, and this was due to the fact that the Americas were largely free of natural predators. Similarly, Africa had received crops such as corn and maize had reached the
The accounts of great explorers like Marco Polo and of the various Spanish conquistadores are important not only because they introduced things that the Western World had been unaware of for centuries, but because they show many of their preconceived ideas. Polo’s admiration is overwhelmingly present in his writing, which shows that what he had found clearly exceeded his expectations. On the other hand, the Spanish abhorrence of the Aztec culture shows that they had many preconceived ideas, which were too powerful to be overcome by the reality they found, which was far more amazing than they could have ever imagined.
Columbian Exchange or the big exchange was a great exchange on a wide range of animals (Horses, Chickens, sheep, swine, Turkey), plants (Wheat, barley, corn, beans, tomatoes), people and culture, infectious diseases, and ideas, technology (Wheeled vehicles, iron tools, metallurgy) all these things happened between Native Americans and from Europe after the voyage of Christopher Columbus in 1492. Resulting in communication between the two cultures to initiate a number of crops that have led to the increase in population in both hemispheres, where the explorers returned to Europe loaded with corn, tomatoes, potatoes, which has become one of the main crops in Eurasia with the solutions of the eighteenth century. At the same time, the Europeans crops, cassava and peanuts to Southeast Asia with a tropical climate.
The controversy of whether or not Christopher Columbus should continue to be acknowledged by a federal holiday proves that his legacy has not escaped the scrutiny of history. Arguments born of both sides of the controversy stem from issues such as genocide, racism, multiculturalism, geographical land rights, and the superiority of certain cultures over others. In The Christopher Columbus Controversy: Western Civilization vs. Primitivism, Michael Berliner, Ph.D. declares that recognition of Columbus Day is well-deserved, claiming that Western civilization is superior to all other cultures and Columbus personifies this truth. On the contrary, Jack Weatherford's Examining the Reputation of Christopher Columbus equates Columbus' so-called discovery with brutal genocide and the destruction of ancient sophisticated civilizations. These articles demonstrate two extreme points of view in a manner that makes clear each authors' goals, leading the reader to consider issues of author bias, motivation, and information validity.
The Columbian Exchange is the exchange of plants, animals, food, and diseases between Europe and the Americas. In 1492, when Christopher Columbus came to America, he saw plants and animals he had never seen before so he took them back with him to Europe. Columbus began the trade routes which had never been established between Europe and the Americas so his voyages initiated the interchange of plants between the Eastern and Western Hemispheres, which doubled the food crop resources available to people on both sides of the Atlantic.
When humans travel, they often brought their plants and animals with them. Early man brought their dogs with them, even to the Americas, while much later settlers also brought their cows, horses, and agricultural plants to the New World. However, things also traveled the other way, and potatoes and corn became widespread in the rest of the world after the Europeans brought it back from the Amer...
Another impact on both the Native Americans and the Europeans was the sharing of native crops to each other. The Europeans brought back from the New World, tobacco, maize, beans, tomatoes, and potatoes, which provided food for the now greatly populated Europe. Other crops that were brought to Europe included blueberry, cranberry, papaya, wild rice, and pumpkin. In exchange for these great new crops the Europeans brought massive amounts of pigs, cattle, and horses. The horse highly effected the lives of the Native Americans by improving their hunting abilities. Another crop that did exceptionally well in the tropical climate of the Caribbean was the sugar cane brought over by Columbus.
Among the many flaws American history textbooks have, one that stands out above the rest is heroification. Heroification is, according to Loewen "A generative process that makes people over into heroes.”(pg.19) Through heroification national heroes such as Christopher Columbus are always portrayed as perfect individuals, with only the best intentions and absolutely no flaws. Textbooks use heroification to inspire, and instate a sense of national pride in students. Though it may instate a sense of national pride in students, it does not present the truth. Heroification leaves out important details of these "heroes" lives, and only presents trivial melodramatic details. By doing this students will never really fully understand why our "heroes" did what they did, and will never know the truth.
[2] Columbus is a mainstay of American patriotism. He is the patron saint who planted the seeds of our nation. Our culture has been lulled into his heroic myth for hundreds of years and has celebrated this man with much pomp and circumstance. Columbus’ worthiness has been the subject of much controversy and is now being linked to such un-heroic terms as mass murder, holocaust, and genocide.
However, what he found was not the East Indies but instead the West Indies, discovering an abundance of natural resources and new land. Columbus had paved the way for the colonization of America, not only for the English but for the French, Spanish, and Portuguese as well. This led to the establishment of trans-Atlantic connections, such as the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade and many other trade routes, most of which are still used today. The world now had the final piece to begin a full-scale global trading economy. With the establishment of this new trading option, the exchange of new plants and animals began. Crops such as corn, tomatoes, cotton, tobacco, and potatoes were previously unknown to Europeans. These soon became staple food supplements in the diet of most Europeans, so much that the collapse of the potato crops, The Great Irish Famine in Ireland, caused the population to fall by as much as 25%. Similarly, farm animals such as sheep, pigs, cattle, and horses were introduced into the Americas. The Native Americans’ introduction to horses led to them becoming a large part of their hunting culture. Native Americans would also trade animal fur skins to the Europeans for items like beads or bronze jewelry. Both sides of these trades believed they were getting the better end of the deal thus resulting in a
In the years leading up to and including 1491 European explorers had been researching and studying the world, however they lacked a real understanding of the true size and geography of our planet. When explorers finally began setting out on their expeditions in the late 1400’s, the world began to experience serious change. Before Columbus is credited with the discovery of America in 1492, the Americas were untouched by Europeans, but within a few hundred years permanent settlements would be founded on American soil despite the presence of the native people.
Agriculture is quite possibly the most important advancement and discovery that humanity has made. It produces the one thing that we need the most: food. It has been around since 9500 BC, and can be the oldest sign of mankind’s acumen and the development and evolving of our minds and creations. Agriculture has been mastered throughout hundreds of years and is one of our most important resources on Earth, along with water and fossil fuels. Although the older farming methods from ancient times seem somewhat mediocre and barbaric, they were very ingenious and advanced for that time period. Over thousands of years, we have improved the way agriculture is used, how land is cultivated, the various techniques of farming and irrigation, and the tools and mechanics used. Numerous things that we see as aboriginal today, such as using a hand plow, were extremely contemporary in ancient times, and played key roles in the development of man and society, since quick labor was not abundant before this time. We are now extremely advanced in agriculture and irrigation and the tools used to farm and grow and harvest crops. We have learned from our past and ancestors how to grow and evolve in our methods and have advanced forward greatly.