© t. m. whitmore today pre-columbian societies in l.a. continued andean (inka) agricultural...

© T. M. Whitmore

TODAY•Pre-Columbian societies in L.A. continued

Andean (Inka) agricultural strategiesPacific coastal desert societies

•Columbian EncounterAmerindian domesticated cropsMajor impacts of Amerindian crops

world-wideOld world crops to the Americas

•Amerindian population collapse

© T. M. Whitmore

Yesterday•Pre-Columbian societies in L.A.

Mesoamerican agriculture (continued)An aside regarding the “Classic” MayaLower Central AmericaCircum-Caribbean & AntillesLowland South America (Amazonia)Southern cone dry lands societiesAndean (Inka) societies

© T. M. Whitmore

Andean Societies I•Inca (or Inka) empire

•Ancient cultures, recent empire (at time of Spanish conquest)

•Quechua and Aymara languages (both still spoken by millions)

•C. Andes population ~ 11-15 m in 1490s

Inka core

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Andean Societies II•Resource management

problemsLittle land in any eco zoneDifferent agriculture needed in different zones

Altitude => frost a problem extreme diurnal temp differences

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Andean Societies III•Resource opportunities

The only large domesticated animals in the Americas (llamas & alpacas)“Camelids”

•Andean solution Murra’s “vertical archipelago”

Use of all major altitudinal zones – at the same time

Special food storage: charki and chuña (chuñu)

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“tame” alpaca

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Charki & chuña = freeze dried meat and tubersTaclla = foot plow/hoe

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Verticality!Note irrigatedterraces

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Colca ValleyNear Ariquipa, Peru(irrigated maize terraces in Inka times)

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Potatoes in Arequipa market, Peru

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Coastal Desert Societies

•Seat of sophisticated high cultures long before the Inka Moche (~100-700 AD) and Chimú (immediate pre-Inka)

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Coastal Desert Societies•Resource opportunities and limitations

Coastal fishing excellentNo frostNo rain except in El Niño yerrs

•Water management problems are severe

•Agricultural strategiesCanal irrigationSunken plotsGathered foods

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Irrigated agSouth of Trujillo, Peru

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Columbian “Encounter” or “Exchange”

•Amerindian domesticated crops & animals

•Impacts of Amerindian crops

•Old World crops and animals to the Americas

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• Maize (corn) (Zea mays) • Potatoes (Solanum tuberosum) (so-called

“Irish” potatoes) & other tubers (e.g., Oca & olluco)

• Sweet potatoes (Ipomoea batatas) (including what we usually call ‘yams’)

• Manioc (Manihot esculenta and M. Dulcis) (or yuca; you know it as tapioca)

• Amaranth (Amaranthus spp.) (grain & greens)

• Beans (Phaseolus spp.) (most all types except soy, mung, & etc.)

• All squashes (Cucurbita spp.) • Tomatoes (Solanum lycopersicon)• Peanuts (Arachis hypogaea)

Foods I

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• Chilies (Capsicum spp.) (not true ‘peppers’)• Vanilla (Vanilla planifolia)• Avocado (Persea americana) • Papaya• Cashew• Chocolate (Theobroma cacao) ‘food of the

gods’)• Pineapple• Guava• Brazil nut• Agaves (Agave spp.) • Chenopodium species (both for grain and

greens) – including quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa)

• Cactus (prickly pear)• and many others, especially fruits

Foods II

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•Cotton (Gossypium spp.) (Most commercial types)

•Tobacco•Rubber (latex)•Coca (as in cocaine)•Indigo (also Old World, blue dye for

jeans)•Sisal/hemp (gunny sacks)•Copal (incense)•Cochineal (brilliant red dye from

crushed insects)•and many others

NON - FOODS

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•Guinea pig (Cavia porcellus) (Food)•Llama (Lama pacos) (food, fiber,

transport)•Alpaca (Lama Glama) (fiber)•Turkey •Dog (food)•Muscovy duck•Bee - only source of sweetness•Cochineal insect•and a very few others

ANIMALS

A sample of the diversity represented in the corn crib of one farmer in the highlands of central Mexico.

(photo by Hugh Iltis)

Maguey (C. Mexico)© BL Turner

Presse Internationale MSCOMM ltée; ©Copyright 1998

Manioc or cassava or yuca

© The Potato Research Program of the National Agrarian University

OLLUCOOCA

International Potato Institute

(Centro International de la Papa)

http://www.cipotato.org/index2.asp

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Impact of Euro-Asian crops & animals

•Most important were animalsCattleSmall stock

•Plantation cropsSugarBananasWheat

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Amerindian Population Collapse

•Uncertainty in estimates of pre-Colombian populations => even more uncertainty about early colonial losses (best in C. Mexico, Guatemala, and parts of Peru)

•Scale of collapse – in most places roughly a 90% loss in 100-150 years!

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WESTERN HEMISPHERE ESTIMATES MILLIONS

RIVET 1924 40-50

SAPPER 1924 40-50

SPINDEN 1928 50-75

WILCOX 1930 13.1

KROEBER 1939 8.4

ROSENBLAT 1945 13.4

STEWARD 1945 15.5

SAPPER 1948 31

RIVET 1952 15.5

BORAH 1964 100

DOBYNS 1966 90-112.5

MORNER 1967 33.3

DRIVER 1969 30

DENEVAN 1976 43-72

THORNTON 1987 72+

DENEVAN 1992 43-65

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Amerindian Population Collapse II

•By the NumbersNadir populations (low point about 1650)

Current populations Regional patterns

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Amerindian Population Collapse III

•CausesIntroduced infectious diseases

Small band initial settlement (little genetic variability)

Cold screenFew domestic animals“Virgin soil” epidemics

Spanish/Portuguese cruelty: the mis-named “leyenda negra”

Miscegenation

© t. m. whitmore today pre-columbian societies in l.a. continued andean (inka) agricultural...

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