Editing Cassava (section)

== History ==

Wild populations of ''M. esculenta'' subspecies ''flabellifolia'', shown to be the progenitor of domesticated cassava, are centered in west-central Brazil, where it was likely first domesticated no more than 10,000 years ago.<ref>{{Cite journal |last1=Olsen |first1=K. M. |last2=Schaal |first2=B. A. |title=Evidence on the origin of cassava: phylogeography of ''Manihot esculenta'' |journal=[[Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America]] |volume=96 |issue=10 |pages=5586–5591 |year=1999 |pmid=10318928 |pmc=21904 |bibcode=1999PNAS...96.5586O |doi=10.1073/pnas.96.10.5586 |doi-access=free }}</ref> Forms of the modern domesticated species can also be found growing in the wild in the south of Brazil. By 4600 BC, cassava pollen appears in the [[Gulf of Mexico]] lowlands, at the [[San Andrés (Mesoamerican site)|San Andrés]] archaeological site.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Pope |first1=Kevin O. |last2=Pohl |first2=Mary E. D. |last3=Jones |first3=John G. |last4=Lentz |first4=David L. |last5=von Nagy |first5=Christopher |last6=Vega |first6=Francisco J. |last7=Quitmyer |first7=Irvy R. |title=Origin and Environmental Setting of Ancient Agriculture in the Lowlands of Mesoamerica |journal=[[Science (journal)|Science]] |volume=292 |issue=5520 |pages=1370–1373 |year=2001 |doi=10.1126/science.292.5520.1370 |pmid=11359011 |bibcode=2001Sci...292.1370P}}</ref> The oldest direct evidence of cassava cultivation comes from a 1,400-year-old [[Maya civilization|Maya]] site, [[Joya de Cerén]], in [[El Salvador]].<ref>{{cite news |last=Carroll |first=Rory |title=CU team discovers Mayan crop system |newspaper=[[The Guardian]] |date=23 August 2007 |url=https://www.theguardian.com/science/2007/aug/23/1 |access-date=31 July 2019 |archive-date=31 July 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190731171801/https://www.theguardian.com/science/2007/aug/23/1 |url-status=live }}</ref> It became a [[staple food]] of the native populations of northern South America, southern Mesoamerica, and the [[Taíno|Taino]] people in the [[List of Caribbean islands|Caribbean islands]], who grew it using a high-yielding form of [[shifting cultivation|shifting agriculture]] by the time of European contact in 1492.<ref>{{cite web |title=Taino: History & Culture |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Taino |access-date=2020-09-24 |website=Encyclopedia Britannica |archive-date=2020-09-01 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200901154607/https://www.britannica.com/topic/Taino |url-status=live}}</ref> Cassava was a staple food of [[pre-Columbian]] peoples in the Americas and is often portrayed in [[Pre-Columbian art|indigenous art]]. The [[Moche (culture)|Moche]] people often depicted cassava in their ceramics.<ref>Berrin, Katherine & Larco Museum. ''The Spirit of Ancient Peru:Treasures from the [[Larco Museum|Museo Arqueológico Rafael Larco Herrera]].'' New York: [[Thames & Hudson]], 1997.</ref>

[[Spaniards]] in their early occupation of Caribbean islands did not want to eat cassava or maize, which they considered insubstantial, dangerous, and not nutritious. They much preferred foods from Spain, specifically wheat bread, olive oil, red wine, and meat, and considered maize and cassava damaging to Europeans.<ref>Earle, Rebecca (2012) ''The Body of the Conquistador: Food, Race, and the Colonial Experience in Spanish America, 1492–1700''. New York: Cambridge University Press. pp. 54–57, 151. {{ISBN|978-1107693296}}.</ref> The cultivation and consumption of cassava were nonetheless continued in both Portuguese and Spanish America. Mass production of cassava bread became the first Cuban industry established by the Spanish.<ref>{{cite book |last=Long |first=Janet |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Rn9LZ2XrIWgC&pg=PA75 |title=Conquest and food: consequences of the encounter of two worlds; page 75|publisher=UNAM|date=2003 |isbn=978-9703208524 |access-date=24 August 2020 |archive-date=20 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230420125914/https://books.google.com/books?id=Rn9LZ2XrIWgC&pg=PA75 |url-status=live}}</ref> Ships departing to Europe from Cuban ports such as [[Havana]], [[Santiago de Cuba|Santiago]], [[Bayamo]], and [[Baracoa]] carried goods to Spain, but sailors needed to be provisioned for the voyage. The Spanish also needed to replenish their boats with dried meat, water, fruit, and large amounts of cassava bread.<ref>{{cite web |last=Watkins |first=Thayer |title=The Economic History of Havana, Cuba: A City So Beautiful and Important It Was Once Worth More Than All of Florida |publisher=San José State University, Department of Economics |date=2006  |url=http://www.sjsu.edu/faculty/watkins/havana.htm |access-date=20 August 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160502042108/http://www.sjsu.edu/faculty/watkins/havana.htm |archive-date=2 May 2016}}</ref> Sailors complained that it caused them digestive problems.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Super |first=John C. |title=Spanish Diet in the Atlantic Crossing|journal=[[Terrae Incognitae]] |volume=16 |year=1984 |pages=60–63 |doi=10.1179/008228884791016718}}</ref>

Portuguese traders introduced cassava to Africa from Brazil in the 16th century. Around the same period, it was introduced to Asia through [[Columbian Exchange]] by Portuguese and Spanish traders, who planted it in their colonies in Goa, Malacca, Eastern Indonesia, Timor and the Philippines.<ref name="Nweke 2005">{{cite book |last=Nweke |first=Felix I. |chapter=The cassava transformation in Africa |chapter-url=http://www.fao.org/docrep/009/a0154e/A0154E02.HTM |publisher=The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations |place=Rome |year=2005 |title=A review of cassava in Africa with country case studies on Nigeria, Ghana, the United Republic of Tanzania, Uganda and Benin |series=Proceedings of the Validation Forum on the Global Cassava Development Strategy |volume=2 |access-date=1 January 2011 |archive-date=11 February 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190211073843/http://www.fao.org/docrep/009/a0154e/A0154E02.htm |url-status=live}}</ref> Cassava has also become an important crop in Asia. While it is a valued food staple in parts of eastern Indonesia, it is primarily cultivated for starch extraction and bio-fuel production in Thailand, Cambodia and Vietnam.<ref>{{cite book |last=Hershey |first=Clair |display-authors=et al |date=April 2000 |chapter-url=http://www.fao.org/docrep/009/y1177e/Y1177E02.htm |publisher=Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations |title=A review of cassava in Asia with country case studies on Thailand and Viet Nam |chapter=Cassava in Asia. Expanding the Competitive Edge in Diversified Markets |place=Rome |access-date=28 January 2018 |archive-date=7 November 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171107231144/http://www.fao.org/docrep/009/y1177e/Y1177E02.htm|url-status=live}}</ref> Cassava is sometimes described as the "bread of the tropics"<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Adams |first1=C. |last2=Murrieta |first2=R. |last3=Siqueira |first3=A. |last4=Neves |first4=W. |last5=Sanches |first5=R. |chapter=Bread of the Land: The Invisibility of Manioc in the Amazon |title=Amazon Peasant Societies in a Changing Environment |doi=10.1007/978-1-4020-9283-1_13 |pages=281–305 |year=2009 |isbn=978-1-4020-9282-4 }}</ref> but should not be confused with the tropical and equatorial [[bread tree]] ''(Encephalartos)'', the [[breadfruit]] ''(Artocarpus altilis)'' or the [[African breadfruit]] ''(Treculia africana)''. This description definitely holds in Africa and parts of South America; in Asian countries such as Vietnam fresh cassava barely features in human diets.<ref name="Mota-Guttierez 2019">{{cite journal |last1=Mota-Guttierez |first1=Jatziri |last2=O'Brien |first2=Gerard Michael |date=September 2019 |title=Cassava consumption and the occurrence of cyanide in cassava in Vietnam, Indonesia and Philippines |journal=Public Health Nutrition |volume=23 |issue=13 |pages=2410–2423 |doi=10.1017/S136898001900524X |doi-access=free |pmid=32438936 |pmc=11374567 }}</ref>
Cassava was introduced to East Africa around 1850 by Arab and European settlers, who promoted its cultivation as a reliable crop to mitigate the effects of drought and famine.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Ofcansky |first1=Thomas P. |title=Historical dictionary of Tanzania |last2=Yeager |first2=Rodger |last3=Kurtz |first3=Laura S. |date=1997 |publisher=Scarecrow Press |isbn=978-0-8108-3244-2 |edition=2nd |series=African historical dictionaries |location=Lanham, Md |pages=134}}</ref>

There is a legend that cassava was introduced in 1880–1885 to the South Indian state of [[Kerala]] by the King of [[Travancore]], Vishakham Thirunal Maharaja, after a great famine hit the kingdom, as a substitute for rice.<ref name="Saraswathy-2019">{{cite web |last=Nagarajan |first=Saraswathy |url=https://www.thehindu.com/life-and-style/food/how-tapioca-came-to-travancore/article28181288.ece |title=How tapioca came to Travancore |work=The Hindu |date=June 27, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200727082403/https://www.thehindu.com/life-and-style/food/how-tapioca-came-to-travancore/article28181288.ece |archive-date=27 July 2020 |url-status=live}}</ref> However, cassava was cultivated in the state before that time.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Ainslie |first1=Whitelaw |last2=Halford |first2=Henry |url=http://archive.org/details/b28037340 |title=Materia medica of Hindoostan, and artisan's and agriculturalist's nomenclature |date=1813 |publisher=Government Press |location=Madras State}}</ref> Cassava is called kappa or maricheeni in [[Malayalam]], and [[tapioca]] in Indian English usage.<ref>{{cite web |title=Kappa for all seasons - many avatars of the magic starch root... |url=https://www.onmanorama.com/food/features/2018/01/30/kappa-for-all-seasons.html |website=Onmanorama |location=[[Kerala]], India |access-date=11 May 2024 |date=1 February 2018}}</ref>

<gallery class=center mode=nolines widths=180 heights=180><!--arrange images to stop'em running into next section-->
File:Taíno women preparing cassava bread.png|[[Taíno]] women preparing [[cassava bread]] in 1565: grating tuberous roots into paste, shaping the bread, and cooking it on a fire-heated burén
File:Albert_Eckhout_-_Mandioca.jpg|17th-century painting by [[Albert Eckhout]] in [[Dutch Brazil]]
</gallery>