Amerindian+Foods+in+Africa

Found on page 507

**__Amerindian Foods in Africa__**
===The migration of European plants and animals across the Atlantic to the new world was one side of the Colombian Exchange The Andean potato for example became a staple crop of the poor in Europe, and cassava a (Brazilian plant cultivated for its edible roots) and maize, or corn. These crops reached Africa by traveling across the Atlantic ocean in trading ships.=== ===Maize was a high yielding grain that could produce much more food per acre than many grains indigenous to Africa. The varieties of maize that spread to Africa were not modern high-bred sweet corn, but they were starchier types that were found in white and yellow corn meal. Cassava was not well known to modern North Americans except in the form of tapioca. Cassava became the most important New World food in Africa. Cassava was truly amazing because it had the highest yield of calories per acre and made it through poor soil and droughts. Another vital characteristic of cassava was that both the roots and the leaves could be eaten. The roots could either be ground up and made into a long lasting bread or brewed into a beverage.=== ===Cassava and Maize were probably accidentally introduced to Africa accidentally by Portuguese ships from Brazil that discarded leftover supplies after reaching Angola. The farmers of this area quickly recognized the value of this crop, especially in drought prone areas.Women played an important role in learning how to cultivate harvest and prepare these foodsBy the eighteenth century rulers hundreds of miles away from Angola were cultivating cassava and maize on their royal estates so that they could supply a more secure food supply.=== ===Some historians of Africa believe that in the inland areas these Amerindian food crops provided the nutritional base for a population increase that partially offset losses due to the Atlantic slave trade. By supplementing the range of food crops available and by enabling populations to increase in once lightly settled or famine prone areas cassava and maize along with peanuts and other New world legumes permanently altered Africans' environmental prospects===