Abstract
The great oceanic voyages had unexpected consequences on the pace with which plants moved between the most far-removed corners of the globe. From the mid-sixteenth century onwards, the huge distances covered led to an unprecedented change in the distribution of vegetable species. Settlers and voyagers took European plants with them and introduced them into the Americas, Africa, and Asia. African plants were transferred to America and Asia, and Asian species were dispersed across all continents. These biological transferences led to global changes in people’s dietary habits and therapeutic practices, as well as giving rise to new business opportunities and previously untested ways of exploiting the land. Originally from Brazil, the pineapple—Ananas comosus—made a great impression on those who came across it. Refusing to take root in the cold European latitudes, the fruit crossed the Atlantic Ocean aboard Portuguese ships in search of other territories with an adequate climate. In this essay, I will analyze the references to pineapple in the chronicles, botanical texts, and missionaries’ letters in circulation in the 1500s. I will examine the cultural context that permitted the diffusion of this botanical species and follow the oceanic routes traced by this exotic plant that allowed the wide dissemination of the fruit throughout the Portuguese empire.
Highlights
The great oceanic voyages had unexpected consequences on the pace with which plants moved between the most far-removed corners of the globe
“All these islands are very beautiful, and distinguished by a diversity of scenery; they are filled with a great variety of trees of immense height, and which I believe to retain their foliage in all seasons; for when I saw them they were as verdant and luxuriant as they usually are in Spain in the month of May, some of them were blossoming, some bearing fruit, and all flourishing in the greatest perfection, according to their [sic] respective stages of growth, and the nature and quality of each; yet the islands are not so thickly wooded as to be impassable.”
I intend to shed some light on what may justify the silence of the Portuguese documents about this botanical species during the first half of the 16th century, as well as about the relevance it assumed in the second half of the same century, and, contribute to a better understanding of the process that led to the cultural and scientific appropriation of this tropical fruit in the early modern times
Summary
When Columbus arrived on the islands of Central America (1492), he recognized little of the natural world he encountered. A variety of botanical species were sent from Europe aboard Castilian and Portuguese ships These would have carried dryland cereals and vines to ensure eucharistic rites could be performed, as well as fruit trees, vegetables, and crops that would meet the sailors’ and settlers’ everyday needs. I intend to shed some light on what may justify the silence of the Portuguese documents about this botanical species during the first half of the 16th century, as well as about the relevance it assumed in the second half of the same century, and, contribute to a better understanding of the process that led to the cultural and scientific appropriation of this tropical fruit in the early modern times
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