User:Eddiewalsh25/Early Impact of Mesoamerican Goods on Iberian Society

Early Impact of Mesoamerican Goods on Iberian Society

Christopher Columbus’s first voyage to the New World had forever changed the western world. The introduction of new lands, peoples, foods, and goods led to incredible changes in the societies of the Old World. Foods and goods from the Americas had a unique effect on European societies, particularly in Spain and Portugal. The introduction of American “miracle foods” was instrumental in pulling the Iberian population out of the famine and hunger that was common in the 16th century . Maize (corn), potatoes, turkey, squash, beans, and tomatoes were all incorporated into existing Spanish and Portuguese cuisine styles. Equally important was the impact of coffee and sugar cane growing in the New World (despite having already existed in the Old World). Along with the impact from food, the introduction of new goods (such as tobacco) also altered how Iberian society worked. One can categorize the impacts of these New World goods and foods based on their influence over the state, the economy, religious institutions, and the culture of the time. The power and influence of the state grew as external entities (i.e. other European nations) became dependent on Spain for these New Goods in the early 16th century. The economies of both Portugal and Spain saw an enormous increase in power as a result of trading these American goods. While the influence on religious thought was influenced by the introduction of new people, the new foods and goods also played a role in shaping religion at the time. Iberian culture at the time was very influenced by New World goods, as is illustrated in poetry, paintings, and novels from the time. Mesoamerican foods and goods had an enormous influence on Iberian society in the 16th century.

Food’s Influence on 16th Century Spanish Society

Spain's early involvement in colonizing the New World brought the European world into contact with several new types of food. These included Maize, capsicum, squash, the pinto bean, tomato, avocado, cacahuate, chicle, chocolate, vanilla, the black raspberry, pineapple, nopales, tunas, jicama, papaya, guayaba, huautli, cherimoya, mamey, yerba Buena, sunflower seeds, cassava, and chaya . The influx of these new foodstuffs into Europe had substantial effects on Iberian society.

Cacoa

Chocolate was by far one of the most influential of the New World goods on Spanish, and later European, society. By the 1590’s, chocolate had a significant presence in the Iberian Peninsula. The growing chocolate habit in Spain led to a cross-cultural transmission of tastes (such as vanilla, pepper, the color red, and a foamy froth similar to that found in chocolate). The taste for chocolate diffused in a bottom-up fashion as colonists and conquistadors encountered new native tastes. Spaniards in the Americas who initially encountered the chocolate liquid had mixed reactions, but a love for the new taste quickly spread into the Iberian Peninsula itself. The method in which chocolate’s popularity spread changed by the time it had reached the peninsula. The upper class in Spain would embrace this chocolate craving to the point where the lower classes sought to emulate them. For natives, chocolate was filled with religious meaning while it played the role of a drug for the Spanish. The distinction between how the two societies perceived the role of chocolate’s use is interesting. Natives saw this liquid through the lens of religious meaning while the Spanish saw the economic and culinary benefits. By the 1620’s, thousands of pounds of chocolate was imported to Spain annually. The components of European chocolate evolved over time as the Spanish sought to modify the formula to reflect available resources (such as adding sugar as a sweetener rather than honey). Chocolate started a lavish item in the diets of the Spanish nobility but eventually became an accessible commodity for all member of Spanish society. While the initial interest in chocolate for the Spanish was hampered by negative stigmas (ie that chocolate drinking was a form of idolatry), chocolate went on to become one of the most desired and influential goods from the New World .

Maize

Columbus encountered and noted the cultivation of maize on all of his voyages . Maize became a pivotal crop in the Turkish Empire and the Balkans by the mid 16th century. Maize became a necessity for the growing Ottoman armies and was noted for its productive harvests. The fact that corn had reached the Ottoman Empire by the mid 16th century certainly suggests it was a prevalent crop in both Spain and Portugal at the time.

Squash

Squash was known in the Turkish Empire by 1539 . This could have possibly been the result of goods brought from expelled Spanish Jews and Muslims. If this is true, then it raises an interesting question about how the expulsion of Jews and Muslims from the Iberian Peninsula altered the rest of the Old World. Jews and Muslims leaving the peninsula would bring with them goods, customs, and traditions from Spain to their new homes. This certainly could have been the reason why squash had reached the Ottomans in the early 16th century.

Sugar

While initially a crop of the Indian subcontinent, the cultivation of sugar in the New World had significant effects on Spanish society. New World sugar cultivation added to the growing power of the Spanish and Portuguese economies while also increasing the popularity of slave labor (which had severe impacts on African, American, and European societies). Sugar started off as a mark of social statues amongst the upper classes but gradually trickled down towards the lower classes. This desire for sugar reflected social reasons other than simply a biologically pleasing taste for the tongue . Sociologist Pierre Bourdieu argues that subjective pleasures, such as a taste for sugar, reflect social constructs and often and determined by those in power . Bourdeieu's argument certainly suggests that the popularity of sugar in Iberian society was a result of the perceived value placed on it by the upper classes whom held power.

Tomatoes

Culinary historian Alan Davidson argues that the tomato and potato were initially treated with suspicion due to their similarity to the poisonous belladonna plant . This explains why Spanish society was initially slow to incorporate the tomato into their diet (relative to the initial popularity of other foods, such as chocolate and maize).

Turkey

Spaniards had encountered domesticated turkeys in Panama in 1502 . These turkeys were part of a pre-existeing land trade route throughout Central and South America carried out by various native peoples. The Spanish then brought the turkey back to Spain where it became a popular new type of meat eaten by the masses.

Coffee

While initially an Ethiopian product, the cultivation of coffee in the New World increased its popularity amongst the European population substantially. The assimilation of chocolate into Spanish tastes paved the way for coffee as the new hot stimulant drink to gain popularity in Spain. Coffee imports even surpassed those of chocolate by the eighteenth century . The desire for coffee, like that of chocolate, eventually spread to include all castes in Iberia.

New Peppers

Columbus had recorded at least two new types of peppers following his first voyage. Spain, following Columbus's initial encounter, gradually incorporate these new peppers into their diets and spread them throughout Europe. The spread of peppers in the Old World was dependent on pre-existing trade networks through Europe, Africa, Asia, and the Near East. The Portuguese and Ottomans were more influential in the diffusion of the Mesoamerican food complex across Europe than the Spanish (who introduced the crops in the first place). By 1543, the first European illustrations of peppers were published in a German herbal . Peppers from the New World began to replace the pre-existing peppers from Africa and Asia.

Influence from Non-food Goods

Along with the influence of foods from the New World, the introduction of other non-food items into Iberia had an incredible impact on the society.

Tobacco

As we know more now then ever, tobacco had very addictive qualities. The insidious addictiveness of tobacco led to an increasingly prominent demand for the good in New World trade . The demand for tobacco stimulated the Spanish and Portuguese trade networks as well as increased Iberian power in world trade.

Cotton

Columbus encountered woven cotton fabrics in Nicaragua and Honduras during his fourth voyages . While cotton's spread into Europe was gradual, it came to revolutionize fabric production in the Old World. This crop, along with many others in the Americas, led to an increasing demand for slave labor.

Summary of Non-Social Consequences

The influx of new goods and foods into 16th century Spain and Portugal had significant effects on other aspects of Iberian history besides merely the society.

Summary of Economic Impact

Spain and Portugal, having been the first two European nations to begin trading New World goods, developed impressive economies as a result of their control over the trade of American goods and foods in the early 16th century. Cravings for New World stimulants such as coffee and sugar led may have motivated people to work harder to obtain money to supple these new habits. Along with this, the accessory implements that were necessary for many of these new goods (such as tobaccos and coffee) led to a new professions aimed at manufacturing clay pipes, snuffboxes, porcelain chocolate pots etc… . The demand for New World goods, such as chocolate, led to an enormous growth in the transatlantic slave trade during the 16th and 17th centuries. The slave trade had devastating effects on the societies of several African nations.

Summary of Religious Impact

The abundance of meat in Spanish America led to the use of animal fats over olive oil in cooking. Pope Pius III, in recognition of the meat basis for their diet, granted a thirty year exemption from fasting for the colonists. This led to a further reliance on meat in the Spanish American diet and persisted to be a common occurrence in the cuisine following the thirty year mark .

Summary of State Impact

Despite the mutual trade exclusion that existed between Spain and Portugal in the early sixteenth century, Portuguese merchants still acquired goods from the Spanish. This led to a Portuguese dominance on the pepper trade within Europe. The Portuguese trade with the New World flourished despite the Treaty of Tordesillas due to illicit trade and Spanish permission to Portuguese merchants to bring African slaves and other trade goods into the colonies . This obvious disregard towards sanctions on trade didn’t signify inherent disloyalty, but was a necessity for those whose livelihoods depended on such trade. The trade underground trade between Spain and Portugal was heightened by the African slave trade and became well established as mutually beneficial crops (such as maize, grains, squash, and beans were traded between the nations). Venice, Genoa, and Florence (among other Old World nations) depended on Iberians for New world goods in the early 16th century . If not for the incorporation of American “miracle foods”, Europe may have not pulled out of its sixteenth century cycles of hunger and starvation .

Summary of Cultural Impact

By the late 1630’s, it was increasingly common to find depictions of chocolate accouterments in still life paintings .

External links

[[Category:Years of 16th century in Spain]] [[Category:Years of 16th century in Portugal]] [[Category:16th century in Spain]] [[Category:16th century in Portugal]] [[Category:Social history of Spain]] [[Category:Social history of Portugal]] [[Category:Historical foods]] [[Category:History of Spanish Empire]] [[Category:History of Portuguese Empire]]