[CH] Chile origins
mstevens@exit109.com
Wed, 21 Mar 2001 14:20:13 GMT
At 07:29 PM 3/20/01 -0600, you wrote:
>
>> There's another school of thought which has those babies making their
>> way to Asia from South America long before Columbus, a la Kon-Tiki,
>> across the Pacific in balsa rafts. Thence, thru the various islands to
>> the Asian mainland.
>>
>> Anyone have any additional details....or am I perpetuating a myth???
The main reason I find this scenario suspect is that Europe was trading spices
with the far East for centuries prior to Columbus' voyage, and if chiles had
made it to Asia, they would have been traded along with peppercorns, cloves,
cinnamon and such. The main reason for Columbus attempting to reach Asia by
sailing west was to find a faster means of reaching Asia for the spice trade.
The fact that he noted the discovery of chile peppers (In fach, mis naming them
after pungent black peppercorns) would indicate that this was Europes first
encounter with them, and that they had not been previously imported from asia.
=Mark "Runs With Scissors" Stevens
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