I don’t remember exactly when I learned about Columbus and his discovery. Although I learned about world history, my history classes in high school focused mainly on local history. I generally know that Columbus and his crew discovered the Americas but mistakenly thought that the land was India. Other than this, I did not know much about the consequences of this discovery on the New World and its People.
I used to think about this event as a discovery of a new land for people to settle down and live, and thus, a good thing. However, this week’s readings make me realize that this discovery gave rise to various social issues including cultural conflict and morality such as enslavement and exploitation. One aspect that I find interesting is the role of diet – food in colonization.
In “If You Eat Their Food…”: Diets and Bodies in Early Colonial Spanish America by Rebecca Earle (2010), in the Old World, the view about food is greatly influenced by Catholicism, for example, the non substitutable grape wine and wheat bread for living (p. 699). With the importance of food in religious belief for the Spanish, the Old World crops and animals were introduced to the New World (EARLE, 2010, pp. 700-702). Besides, in an attempt to convert Indigenous People to Europeans, Old World products were also brought to Americas (EARLE, 2010, p. 708). In terms of the adoption of a new diet in the Americas, although I am not sure if the Indians were mainly responsible for the cultivation, or the Europeans brought slaves with them to do this laboring work, I think that the idea of forcing the Indians to switch to new diet would impact the yield of native crops such as cassava and maize. Moreover, this new diet was the reason many Indigenous People became sick (EARLE, 2010, p. 709).
In general, I find that the colonization of the Spanish has brought dramatic changes to the lives of the inhabitants in the Americas. Through the “If You Eat Their Food…”: Diets and Bodies in Early Colonial Spanish America by Rebecca Earle (2010), I think it is fascinating to see how food and religion played a crucial role in colonization.
Reference
EARLE, R. (2010). “If You Eat Their Food…”: Diets and Bodies in Early Colonial Spanish America. The American Historical Review, 115(3), 688–713. http://www.jstor.org/stable/23302943