Editing Chili pepper (section)

== History ==

=== Origins ===

''Capsicum'' plants originated in modern-day [[Peru]] and [[Bolivia]], and have been a part of human diets since about 7,500 BC.<ref name="Pickersgill">{{cite journal | author=B Pickersgill | title=Relationships Between Weedy and Cultivated Forms in Some Species of Chili Peppers (Genus Capsicum) | journal=Evolution; International Journal of Organic Evolution | volume=25 | issue=4 | pages=683–691 | date=December 1971 | pmid=28564789 | doi=10.1111/j.1558-5646.1971.tb01926.x | s2cid=205772121 | doi-access=free }}</ref><ref name="bosland">{{cite book|chapter-url=http://www.hort.purdue.edu/newcrop/proceedings1996/V3-479.html| author=PW Bosland | date=1998 | chapter=Capsicums: Innovative uses of an ancient crop | pages=479–487 | veditors=Janick J | title=Progress in New Crops | publisher=ASHS Press |location=Arlington, Virginia |access-date=23 December 2010}}</ref><!--<ref>{{cite news |vauthors=L Mishan |title=How The Chili Became Hot |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/08/18/t-magazine/hot-chiles-pepper-spice.html |access-date=1 October 2022 |work=[[The New York Times]] |date=18 August 2022 }}</ref>--> They are one of the oldest [[agriculture|cultivated crops]] in the Americas.<ref name="bosland"/> Chili peppers were cultivated in east-central [[Mexico]] some 6,000 years ago,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.eurekalert.org/pub_releases/2014-04/uoc--bot041614.php |title=Birthplace of the domesticated chili pepper identified in Mexico |publisher= EurekaAlert, [[American Association for the Advancement of Science]]|date=21 April 2014}}</ref><ref name="Kraft_2014">{{cite journal |vauthors=Kraft KH, Brown CH, Nabhan GP, Luedeling E, Luna Ruiz J, d'Eeckenbrugge GC, Hijmans RJ, Gepts P |title=Multiple lines of evidence for the origin of domesticated chili pepper, Capsicum annuum, in Mexico |journal=Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America |volume=111 |issue=17 |pages=6165–6170 |date=April 2014 |pmid=24753581 |pmc=4035960 |doi=10.1073/pnas.1308933111 | doi-access=free |bibcode=2014PNAS..111.6165K}}</ref> and independently across different locations in the Americas including highland Peru and Bolivia, central Mexico, and the [[Amazon rainforest|Amazon]].<ref name="Chiou">{{cite journal |vauthors=Chiou KL, Hastorf CA |title=A Systematic Approach to Species-Level Identification of Chile Pepper (Capsicum spp.) Seeds: Establishing the Groundwork for Tracking the Domestication and Movement of Chile Peppers through the Americas and Beyond |journal=Economic Botany |date=16 December 2014 |volume=68 |issue=3 |publisher=New York Botanical Garden Press |pages=316–336 |doi=10.1007/s12231-014-9279-2 |jstor=43305668 |bibcode=2014EcBot..68..316C |s2cid=36556206 }}</ref> They were among the first [[Self-pollination|self-pollinating]] crops cultivated in those areas.<ref>{{Cite journal |vauthors=Carrizo García C, Barfuss MH, Sehr EM, Barboza GE, Samuel R, Moscone EA, Ehrendorfer F |date=July 2016 |title=Phylogenetic relationships, diversification and expansion of chili peppers ( Capsicum, Solanaceae) |journal=Annals of Botany |volume=118 |issue=1 |pages=35–51 |doi=10.1093/aob/mcw079 |issn=0305-7364 |pmc=4934398 |pmid=27245634 }}</ref><ref name=bosland/>

[[Peru]] has the highest diversity of cultivated ''Capsicum''; it is a center of diversification where varieties of all five domesticates were introduced, grown, and consumed in pre-Columbian times.<ref name="van">{{cite journal |author1=Maarten van Zonneveld |author2=Marleni Ramirez |author3=David E. Williams |author4=Michael Petz |author5=Sven Meckelmann |author6=Teresa Avila |author7=Carlos Bejarano |author8=Llermé Ríos |author9=Karla Peña |author10=Matthias Jäger |author11=Dimary Libreros |author12=Karen Amaya |author13=Xavier Scheldeman | title=Screening Genetic Resources of Capsicum Peppers in Their Primary Center of Diversity in Bolivia and Peru | journal=PLOS ONE | volume=10 | issue=9 | pages=e0134663 | year=2015 | pmid=26402618 | pmc=4581705 | doi=10.1371/journal.pone.0134663 | doi-access=free | bibcode=2015PLoSO..1034663V }}</ref> The largest diversity of wild ''Capsicum'' peppers is consumed in Bolivia. Bolivian consumers distinguish two basic forms: ''ulupicas'', species with small round fruits including ''C. eximium'', ''C. cardenasii'', ''C. eshbaughii'', and ''C. caballeroi'' landraces; and ''arivivis'' with small elongated fruits including ''C. baccatum'' var. ''baccatum'' and ''C. chacoense'' varieties.<ref name=van/>

[[File:Leiden University Library - Seikei Zusetsu vol. 25, page 019 - 蕃椒 - Capsicum annuum L., 1804 (cropped).jpg|thumb|upright|Illustration from the Japanese agricultural encyclopedia ''[[Seikei Zusetsu]]'', 1804]]

=== Distribution to Europe ===

{{further|Columbian exchange}}

When [[Christopher Columbus]] and his crew reached the Caribbean, they were the first Europeans to encounter ''Capsicum'' fruits. They called them "peppers" because, like [[black pepper]] (''Piper nigrum''), which had long been known in Europe, they have a hot spicy taste unlike other foods.<ref name="cabi_2000">{{cite book |vauthors=Bosland PW, Votava E |title=Peppers: Vegetable and Spice Capsicums |date=2000 |publisher=[[Centre for Agriculture and Bioscience International|CABI]] |location=New York City |isbn=978-0-85199-335-5 |page=1 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ESCNZMvMAYAC |access-date=29 November 2018}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://cpi.nmsu.edu/chile-info/for-kids-pages/the-story-of-chile-peppers.html |title=The Story of Chile Peppers |website=New Mexico State University Chile Pepper Institute |access-date=7 August 2024}}</ref> Chilies were first brought back to Europe by the Spanish, who financed Columbus's voyages, at the start of the large-scale interchange of plants and culture between the New World and the Old World called the [[Columbian exchange]]. Chilies appear in Spanish records by 1493. Unlike ''[[Piper (plant)|Piper]]'' vines, which grow naturally only in the [[tropics]], chilies could be grown in [[temperate climate]]s. By the mid-1500s, they had become a common garden plant in Spain and were incorporated into numerous dishes. By 1526, they had appeared in Italy, in 1543 in Germany, and by 1569 in the Balkans, where they came to be processed into [[paprika]].<ref name="Sauer">{{cite book |vauthors=Sauer JD |title=Historical Geography of Crop Plants A Select Roster |date=2017 |publisher=CRC Press |isbn=978-1-351-44062-2 |page=161}}</ref><ref name=Raghavan>{{cite book |author=S Raghavan |title=Handbook of Spices, Seasonings, and Flavorings |date=2006 |publisher=CRC Press |isbn=978-1-4200-0436-6 |page=8}}</ref>

=== Distribution to the rest of the world ===

The rapid introduction of chilies to Africa and Asia was likely through [[Portuguese Empire|Portuguese]] and [[Spanish Empire|Spanish traders]] in the 16th century, though the details are unrecorded. The Portuguese introduced them first to Africa and Arabia, and then to their colonies and trading posts in Asia, including [[Goa]], [[Sri Lanka]], and [[Malacca]]. From there, chilies spread to neighboring regions in South Asia and western Southeast Asia via local trade and natural dispersal. Around the same time, the Spanish also introduced chilies to the Philippines, where they spread to [[Melanesia]], [[Micronesia]], and other [[Pacific Islands]] via their monopoly of the [[Manila galleons]]. Their spread to East Asia in the late 16th century is less clear, but was likely also through local trade or through Portuguese and Spanish trading ports in [[Canton, China]], and [[Nagasaki]], [[Japan]].<ref>{{cite web |last=Wallin |first=Nils-Bertil |date=11 June 2004|title=Chili: Small Fruit Sets Global Palettes on Fire |url=https://archive-yaleglobal.yale.edu/chili-small-fruit-sets-global-palettes-fire |website=YaleGlobal Online |publisher=Yale University |access-date=5 January 2024 }}</ref><ref>{{cite book |vauthors=DeWitt D |title=Chile Peppers A Global History |date=2020 |publisher=University of New Mexico Press |isbn=978-0-8263-6180-6}}</ref><ref>{{cite book |vauthors=Collingham E |author-link=Lizzie Collingham | title=Curry |url=https://archive.org/details/currytaleofcooks00coll| url-access=registration |publisher=Oxford University Press |date=February 2006 |isbn=978-0-09-943786-4 }}</ref><ref name="E.V.Nybe2007">{{cite book |vauthors=Raj NM, Peter KV, Nybe EV |title=Spices |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=HHs6ANrJ-MEC&pg=PA107|date=1 January 2007 |publisher=New India Publishing |isbn=978-81-89422-44-8 |pages=107–}}</ref> The earliest known mention of the chili pepper in Chinese writing dates to 1591, though the pepper is thought to have entered the country in the 1570s.<ref>{{cite book |author=Brian R. Dott |year=2020 |title=The Chile Pepper in China |page=21 |publisher=[[Columbia University Press]] |isbn=978-0-231-55130-4 |quote=The earliest known record for chiles in a Chinese source is from Hangzhou, Zhejiang, in 1591}}</ref>