Pre-Columbian Gasoline.

It's ironic that while at least one hundred million Native Americans died from wave after wave of diseases imported by conquerors from the Old World, two of the food products that they developed feed more than half of the world's population today, more than three billion people. And that's only corn (maize) and potatoes.

What Englishman would consider a proper meal one that lacked potatoes? The pre-Columbian Native Americans filled our cupboards with many more products. Who could imagine Italian cuisine without tomatoes? What Belgian could make it through the day without his chocolate? How could an Asian cook without hot peppers?

There’s further irony in that after Europeans imported these new, superior foodstuffs, their populations exploded. These new people, who literally owed their lives to these new foodstuffs found themselves overflowing from their European birthplaces. So many of them emigrated and re-populated the new world which they found to be largely empty. It would over three hundred years for the New World to return to the population levels it had before 1492.

And now we have modern Americans converting thousands of acres of corn that could feed so many hungry people into ethanol to add to the gasoline they use to fill up their SUVs. As if that wasn't enough, the people who do most of the hard labour on the farms are migrants from Mexico and Central America who almost without exception are at least partly of Native American descent. Often they are exploited with sub-standard wages, working and living conditions because they enter the country illegally. The reason why most of these migrant workers subject themselves to this abuse is so they can send a little bit of money back to their families. Their families need the money to buy food, basic staples like corn (maize). A bizarre circle of events where the one who loses and has always lost is the Amerindian.

In our homogenised modern world trading system where Canadians can have strawberries in winter while Europeans drink coffee grown in South America, it's interesting to think of how limited the choices were for people on both sides of the Atlantic before the "Columbian Exchange" got underway.

The only disease that the Native Americans may have sent to the old world is Syphilis, although that has not been proven unequivocally.

Following is a short list of where some products originated, some may surprise you.

Old World			New World
Cats	Animal		Armadillo	Animal
Cattle	Animal		Bison	Animal
Chickens	Animal		Bufflo	Animal
Donkeys	Animal		Catfish	Animal
Goats	Animal		Electric Eel	Animal
Horses	Animal		Humming Birds	Animal
Sheep	Animal		Iguana	Animal
Mules	Animal		Llama	Animal
Pigs	Animal		Manta Rays	Animal
Malaria	Disease		Moose	Animal
Cholera	Disease		Piranhas	Animal
Measles	Disease		Prehensile Tails	Animal
Smallpox	Disease		Rattlesnake	Animal
Typhoid	Disease		Tree Sloth	Animal
Akee	Food		Vampire Bat	Animal
Banana	Food		Vicuña	Animal
Barley	Food		Guinea Pig	Animal
Breadfruit	Food		Turkey	Animal
Cauliflower	Food		Manatee	Animal
Figs	Food		Muskrat	Animal
Grapes	Food		Guaiacum	Medicine
Indigo	Food		Syphilis	Disease
Lemons	Food		Avocado	Food
Lettuce	Food		Beans (Frijoles)	Food
Mango	Food		Cassava	Food
Mellon	Food		Chile	Food
Olive	Food		Cocoa	Food
Oranges	Food		Maize	Food
Pomegranite	Food		Papaya	Food
Rice	Food		Paprika	Food
Sugar Cane	Food		Peanuts	Food
Wheat	Food		Potato	Food
Rye	Food		Pumpkins	Food
Candles	Product		Sassafras	Food
			Squash	Food
			Sweet Potato	Food
			Tomato	Food
			Cotton	Product
			Quinoa	Product
			Rubber	Product
			Tobacco	Product

Gasolina Pre-Colombina.

Es irónico que mientras al menos cien millones de Amerindios murieron de ola tras ola de enfermedades importados por los conquistadores del Mundo Viejo, dos de los productos alimenticios que ellos desarrollaron dan sustento básico a más de la mitad de la población humana de hoy. Más de tres billones de personas. Y solo estamos hablando de maíz y la papa (patata).

¿Cual inglés consideraría una cena completa que le faltaba papas? Y los Amerindios llenaron nuestros almacenes con muchos productos más. ¿Quién puede imaginarse un italiano cocinando sin tomates? ¿O una Bélgica pasando un día sin su chocolate? ¿Cómo cocinaría un asiático sin su chile picante?

Continúa a la ironía en que después de que los Europeos importaron estos comestibles superiores, sus poblaciones crecieron enormemente. Estos nuevos Europeos, quienes literalmente debieron sus vidas a estos comestibles importados, se encontraron desbordando sus lugares de nacimiento. Entonces muchos de ellos emigraron al mundo nuevo y lo encontraron bastante vacio. Duraría más de trescientos de años hasta que el Mundo Nuevo recuperaría la población que tenía en 1492.

Y ahora tenemos a los americanos modernos convirtiendo miles de hectáreas de maíz en etanol para añadir al tanque de gasolina de sus enormes automóviles.

Y si eso fuera poco, la gente que hace la mayoría del trabajo fuerte en las fincas son inmigrantes de México y América Central. Esa gente, casi sin excepción son, al menos en parte, descendientes de los Amerindios pre-Colombinos. Muchos son explotados con salarios bajos, y condiciones de trabajo y vivienda deplorables porque no tienen permiso de trabajo. La razón porque ellos toleran estos abusos es que necesitan enviar un poco de dinero a sus familias. Ellos necesitan el dinero para comprar artículos de canasta básica como maíz para hacer sus tortillas. Un círculo vicioso en la que pierde y siempre ha perdido el Amerindio.

En nuestro mundo moderno homogenizado, donde canadienses pueden comer frambuesas todo el año, y europeos toman café de América del Sur, es interesante de ver las Escasas escogencias que tenía la gente a los dos lados del Océano Atlántico antes del "Intercambio Colombino".

La única enfermedad que los Americanos devolvieron al Viejo Mundo era el sífilis, y eso no está completamente comprobado.

Lo que sigue es una lista de donde originaron algunos productos, algunos sorprenden.

Viejo Mundo			Nuevo Mundo
Cats	Animal		Armadillo	Animal
Cattle	Animal		Bison	Animal
Chickens	Animal		Bufflo	Animal
Donkeys	Animal		Catfish	Animal
Goats	Animal		Electric Eel	Animal
Horses	Animal		Humming Birds	Animal
Sheep	Animal		Iguana	Animal
Mules	Animal		Llama	Animal
Pigs	Animal		Manta Rays	Animal
Malaria	Disease		Moose	Animal
Cholera	Disease		Piranhas	Animal
Measles	Disease		Prehensile Tails	Animal
Smallpox	Disease		Rattlesnake	Animal
Typhoid	Disease		Tree Sloth	Animal
Akee	Food		Vampire Bat	Animal
Banana	Food		Vicuña	Animal
Barley	Food		Guinea Pig	Animal
Breadfruit	Food		Turkey	Animal
Cauliflower	Food		Manatee	Animal
Figs	Food		Muskrat	Animal
Grapes	Food		Guaiacum	Medicine
Indigo	Food		Syphilis	Disease
Lemons	Food		Avocado	Food
Lettuce	Food		Beans (Frijoles)	Food
Mango	Food		Cassava	Food
Mellon	Food		Chile	Food
Olive	Food		Cocoa	Food
Oranges	Food		Maize	Food
Pomegranite	Food		Papaya	Food
Rice	Food		Paprika	Food
Sugar Cane	Food		Peanuts	Food
Wheat	Food		Potato	Food
Rye	Food		Pumpkins	Food
Candles	Product		Sassafras	Food
			Squash	Food
			Sweet Potato	Food
			Tomato	Food
			Cotton	Product
			Quinoa	Product
			Rubber	Product
			Tobacco	Product