A plant that was brought to Europe by Columbus. Columbus exchange, or what was brought from the Old World to the New: a history from gifts to smuggling. Charles VIII is trying to chop off Naples, and syphilis is preparing to chop off Charles VIII's nose

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Those readers who follow our posts already know that at the end of the fifteenth century, Christopher Columbus managed to convince the royal family of Spain to equip an expedition in search of a sea route to India. The expedition was quite modest, so the trophies brought were not distinguished by abundance and variety. Nevertheless, cocoa beans, hammock, turkey, tobacco, red hot pepper and much more have firmly entered into everyday life in Europe and the entire “old” world. Nevertheless, there were compelling reasons that allowed Alfred Crosby to consider the exchange between the continents to be quite equivalent, and not to consider what was happening as a unilateral overload of Europe with gifts from the New World. Moreover, the flow of goods from the Old World turned out to be more solid, faster and better organized. Crosby called it the "Columbus Exchange".

What could the Old World offer to the New as counter discoveries that allowed Crosby to consider everything that happened as an exchange between peoples? What did such ancient events mean then and what do they mean today for modern man? I will try to describe the “external” side of this exchange, visible to everyone, and at the same time reveal the behind-the-scenes, let’s say, “internal” component of these connections between the Old and New Worlds.

So, let's begin: first of all, we will present the traditional view of the Columbus exchange

As is known, the ships that plied delivered plants and animals in both directions. It is impossible to list the entire list, but it roughly looks like this: artichokes, watermelons, peas, cabbage, hemp, onions, coffee, almonds, cucumbers, olives, rice, rye and wheat, beets, sugar cane, apples and asparagus arrived from Europe to America. . IN reverse direction: avocado, pineapple, peanuts, vanilla, cocoa, hot red pepper, potato, tomato, cashew, sunflower and beans.

Now about animals: Sheep, donkeys, cows, cats and dogs, horses, pigs, rabbits and chickens were transported from Europe to America. Back: turkey, llama, alpaca, muskrat, nutria and guinea pig. Perhaps something in this list will surprise you: for example, many people believe that coffee and cocoa grow on neighboring trees, that peas and beans are the same thing, and that a llama is the same camel, only with wool. If you thought so, then in all these cases you were wrong by an entire “continent”, but our notes will not become a platform for argument, just take my word for it: all this is the result of centuries of exchange. Some things caught on quickly, but some didn’t.

You have probably already noticed that in the field of plants there is an approximate equality of contributions from the parties, and in the field of animals Europe is much better represented. The fact is that in America the situation was as follows: a well-developed Agriculture and a wealth of all kinds of cultures, but from the animal world, only fish and birds were in abundance in America. Merchant Michele de Cuneo, sent to New World for observations, he wrote in his diary about the local residents: “These are cold people, not sensual. And the reason for this may be that they are not eating well.” He meant precisely that it was difficult to find meat, cheese, sausages, wine, and olive oil in America, and the Spaniards in those days considered fish food for fasting days or for the poor. Fishing was treated with fear and contempt.

There was an exchange in both directions, but to call it equivalent would be inaccurate: the ships belonged to white people, and they decided how to fill the holds in both directions. The opinions of the Indian tribes were not taken into account. Therefore, it is not surprising that the very first ships began to take into account the needs of the Spaniards who settled in America, who wanted the usual wheat bread, meat products, olive oil and wine.

What was Columbus really looking for on the other side of the world? The coming of the “white” man to America

This chapter does not seem entirely appropriate now, because today we are interested in what was transported to the New World, and not vice versa, but we cannot do without it: I have already explained that they were transported in both directions, but essentially the same people controlled the process people, white gentlemen from Spain, Portugal, Holland, England and Italy. That is, it is important to understand what they wanted from the New World. Official version is that Columbus wanted to reach India with its riches, mainly in the form of spices. In fact, most likely, spices were a priority only for the Portuguese and a little for the Dutch. The Portuguese did have a slight "spice craze" (Fernando Braudel's term). The Castilian nobility rather dreamed of fame, gold and jewelry. The Italians and Genoese were looking for new trade markets and land for establishing various industries. And they were all looking for expansion of their possessions, new coats of arms and increased influence. In particular, everyone was attracted by the opportunity to bypass the Muslims and go behind their rear. And, of course, the interests of the church must also be taken into account: the spread of the Christian faith has not been canceled.

Now we will draw the first and unexpected conclusion from all of the above: the main thing that the Old World brought to the New was the “white man” himself, the European. This was the main difference from the first discovery of America by the Vikings: they did not intend to consider America as a new place for their settlement or work. Therefore, no “new Vikings” arose, although individual villages did exist. But the Europeans immediately settled new lands and began trade and production projects. Therefore, they had urgent needs for what they were used to. In addition, where the Europeans quickly managed to get rich (for example, from silver mining in Lima), they also had enormous funds to satisfy these needs. This demand was followed by the era of the "Manila galleons".


Intercontinental trade. Manila galleons

Now that logistics has become a common thing and goods are warehoused, packaged and delivered around the world with enviable speed and organization, it is difficult to imagine a world without these services. But, in fact, the Spanish invented global trade when they first established it between the three parts of the world.

The Spaniards built an amazing trade exchange between three centers: Spain in Europe, the Philippines in the East and America. The ships connected Manila and Acapulca across the Atlantic, and through Pacific Ocean they went to Europe, completing this, essentially, round-the-world route. Moreover, the needs of the New World were such that it was necessary to build giant ships, capable of transporting up to 2000 tons. These ships were built at a special shipyard in Manila and were called “Manila galleons.” Such huge ships were required to transport horses, cows, luxury goods from China and food from India to America. The rich “new Spaniards” in America demanded all this, and even willingly bought slaves from Angola.

The cargo of the Manila galleon consisted of silk, gold, jewelry such as Chinese pearls, carpets, spices, etc. The galleon was huge, well equipped with cannons and almost inaccessible to pirates. The main threat for him was the danger of sinking due to storms. Therefore, the route was carefully planned for the Manila galleon, and it set sail once a year in June. This was the royal decision, and the king had his own interest, since part of the property on the ship and, moreover, part of the income from the colonies for the whole year in money and goods belonged to him. And the king decided that it was better once a year, but without mistakes. This reminded me of Stalin’s decision about young Russian cinema: as you know, Stalin decided that we would not chase Hollywood in terms of quantity: we would release only a few films a year, or even just one, but of excellent quality, in no way inferior to Hollywood. In general, the decision is controversial, but the king knows better.

As for the second part of the route, between America and Europe, the situation with pirates there was somewhat different and required a different solution: periodic caravan expeditions were equipped from several small galleons under the protection of the military fleet. Olives, wine and wheat were brought from Europe. Spain for quite a long time resisted the New Spaniards growing all this at home, hoping to replenish the treasury with exports. Another issue is that wine spoiled on the road and over time, vineyards became the norm in Mexico, Argentina and other lands.


Globalization as the main content of human development

Alfred Crosby wrote his book The Columbus Exchange in 1972. His ideas were significantly developed later in his works by journalist Charles Mann. He was primarily interested in the phenomenon that the world of humanity as a whole was divided by the conditional year 1492, and, more broadly, by the era geographical discoveries. Mann believed that the “exchanges” and mixing that arose as a result of these discoveries were much broader than just the establishment of cultural and trade ties, that is, that they were rather global, biological in nature. Entire new nations were formed, trends of globalism emerged, medicine and biology made a huge leap in development, responding to the export of imported infections and diseases. These processes affected not only the exchange between Spain and America, because in 1570 Miguel Lopez de Legazpi and Andres de Urdaneta realized the task facing Columbus and opened the western trade route to China. Before this, China's population grew very slowly. With the opening of the trade route, China received cheap grain from America and its population began to grow rapidly.

The so-called “Manila galleons” connected Asia, Africa, Europe and America with trade. The era of globalization has begun. In principle, the era of great geographical discoveries simply provided many with opportunities that they did not have before. But the desires were there before, that is, always. There is an old peasant proverb, approximately the same in meaning among most different nations: “If a peasant ate his chicken, then one of the two of them is sick.” The point is that a farmer will never eat his chicken if it can be sold. Money is always more scarce for him than food. And a person’s desires almost always outstrip his capabilities. Therefore, it is clear that the opportunities that opened up in the New World sharply accelerated the advent of what we now call the era of globalization, the formation of the bourgeois class, the development of technological progress and the construction of a consumer society. In many ways, Columbus's discovery turned out to be a turning point.

Europe gave America dogs

Sheep also came to America from the Old World

Rabbits came to America on European ships

What America received “as a burden” and through smuggling

What was imported to America was not a well thought out project. Everything developed slowly and rather spontaneously. Nevertheless, the appearance of vineyards, sugar cane plantations, horses and cows in America was quite logical, which we tried to justify logically. But some things entered America, so to speak, by smuggling. Firstly, these are diseases and infections. From Europe came: plague, smallpox, influenza, some forms of malaria, typhus, tuberculosis, cholera. The local population, having no immunity and no medicine, suffered greatly from these diseases. The ships' holds also carried rats and weeds. For example, plantain: it quickly spread to America, and the Indians called it “the white man’s footprint.”

In the future, micro-disasters of a biological nature will occur more than once, as a result of illegal border crossings: in 1869, a silkworm butterfly will be brought to America from France, and it will suddenly begin to devour blocks of forests. In 1970, bees will be brought from Africa, which will multiply at enormous speed and begin to pose a threat to humans. There were, of course, surprises from America: the Colorado potato beetle, a real disaster for potato fields, came from there to Europe.

Modern Americans as a result of mixed blood

We have already said that one of the main contents of the “Columbus Exchange” can be considered the exchange of people. The Indians were almost immediately brought to Europe, but they did not take root there. There are many reasons for this. Firstly, the local population was small. Secondly, it was completely unadapted to life in Europe (the Indians were sick and drank too much). Thirdly, as workers or slaves, Europe did not really need them; they had enough of their own poor people who were ready to work for pennies. And if there wasn’t enough, Africa was nearby, whose population, by the way, was about five times larger than the American one. But America itself quickly began to run out of people. People were needed to work in silver mines, on tobacco plantations, and in sugar cane harvesting. Agriculture grew, manufacturing industries grew - all this had to be serviced somehow.

Today I will not go into details of how people who came to the New World should be correctly called: slaves, migrants, contract workers. Slavery is a sad phenomenon, but it was certainly not invented by the Spaniards or the Americans, and it was not only slaves who went to America. The first to be brought were about one million Irish, whose situation was sometimes worse than that of slaves. But there were still not enough workers, so about 15 million slaves were exported from Africa. All this caused a mixture of blood, cultures and traditions. Let's define the terms: white + black = mulatto, white + Indian = mestizo, black + Indian = sambo. Since this question is important and quite entertaining, I borrowed a sign from the Big Question website:

Of course, we have already written about the most common products.

Therefore, here are some interesting and little-known products that came to us from distant America. For example, from South America The cocoa tree, or chocolate tree, came to us, from the seeds of which the American Indians have long made the whipped drink Chocalotl, hence the name chocolate in all European languages. Corn was also brought to us. The Indians called it maize. North America is also the birthplace of sunflowers, and the South is the birthplace of tomatoes.

When Christopher Columbus returned from his first voyage from America, he brought many unprecedented wonders: potatoes, tobacco, beans, corn and many other previously unknown plants. And subsequent expeditions, and the news of the discovery of new, previously unknown lands, spread across Europe, bringing from America everything you liked, both plants and animals.

This is how cocoa and beans, sunflowers and cacti, agave and peppers, eggplants and many other plants came to the Old World, which first took root among rich people, and then came to ordinary people, such as potatoes and tomatoes. And for a long time no one does not remember that until the 16th century they simply did not exist in Europe.

When you sometimes watch a film where, for example, the Romans prepare dishes from corn or the Scots cook beans in the 14th century, you don’t immediately think that this simply could not have happened, the Romans did not know corn in those days, and there was no way it could grow in Scotland beans.

I think it’s most likely worth starting with the most common and, of course, our favorite - these are potatoes, which people initially did not know how to cook. He also brought tobacco and pineapple from his first trip; in the future, cocoa beans were also brought from America to our expanses, and after many years, tequila.

When Columbus discovered America, it was like a collision with a new world for the European people. Of course, a lot of special new plants were transported to the Eurasian continent.

You definitely need to remember about potatoes. For a long time, people could not figure out how to eat it and were poisoned by it. But, over time, it became a food loved by many peoples.

Pepper, corn, and legumes appeared in Europe from South America.

Corn is a special grain. Like wheat crop, bread is not made from it. Even the Mayan tribes knew about its nutritional properties.

Potatoes, it seemed, but they also seemed to be carrying grains and some cereal crops.

When you find out the list of plants that the conquerors of American lands brought to Europe in the 16th century, you will be amazed: What did the Europeans eat until they conquered the lands of the American aborigines?

Potatoes, tomatoes (which the Italians began to call tomatoes), peppers, eggplants, corn, maize, cocoa... Moreover, many of them were considered exotic plants for a long time, which were grown in greenhouses, but were not served to the table.

Moreover, many were considered not only inedible, but also strong poisons. For example, tomatoes in Rus' were called crazy berries (by the way, tomatoes are biologically fruits, not vegetables), and peasants rebelled against growing potatoes because they tried to eat the tops, not the roots.

In addition to food, exotic cacti of various stripes and succulent plants became popular; they became houseplants because the European climate did not suit them.

Growing corn. Engraving from the book “A Brief Tale of What Befell the French in Florida, an American Province...” by Lemoine de Morgues. Frankfurt am Main, 1591, 1609

Corn. Engraving from the book “Journeys by Sea and Land” by Giovan Battista Ramusio. Venice, 1565

Francesco Carletti visited America a hundred years after its discovery, when it was already Spanish, and ate corn there. He was well acquainted with this product and knew that in Tuscany it is called “Turkish grain”, but he did not like the local tradition of consuming corn: he did not appreciate any tortillas(corn tortillas) nor roasted corn.

In Italy, polenta began to be made from corn, just as it had previously been made from sorghum; in Croatia, Slovenia and Bosnia, corn porridge was also prepared, and in Greece it was cooked from yellow beans. The opportunity to introduce corn into the European gastronomic tradition was a determining factor in its spread, and the agricultural crisis of the 17th century convinced many landowners and peasants that it was time to get rid of prejudices.

Corn grown on farms was usually fed to livestock, but the owners quickly realized that this product could be grown for themselves when other grains were not available. This is how corn from a “garden” plant became a real agricultural crop. I say “garden” plant because in the garden the peasants grew fruits in order to feed their own family, fruits that did not have to be given to the owner. Perhaps the acclimatization of corn began this way.

In the 17th century, the feudal lords of the imperial fiefs in Monferrato and Piedmont, as well as noble merchant entrepreneurs, quickly realized that this new product, with high productivity, could feed the poor peasant, which meant that even more wheat could now be taken from him - let eats corn porridge.

Therefore, it was not difficult for them to convince their subjects that they should eat the grain that was used to feed the cattle in their own domains.

The peasants began to resist the spread of corn when it turned out that this “new product” also had to be given to the owner, when it also began to be taxed.

Monferrato had slightly different agricultural traditions than the rest of Italy, and there were many different crops grown there and small property ownership, so the peasants of Monferrato ate more than just corn. But in other areas, where production relations were different, and contracts between the landowner and the peasant were more difficult, peasants began to experience a lack of vitamin PP (nicotinic acid), which caused epidemics of pellagra. The disease spread from northern Spain (around 1730) to France, the Balkans and northern Italy, where it continued to rage until the early decades of the 20th century.

Other plants were also brought from America, although less significant, for example, the earthen pear, which grows along the banks and ditches, decorating them with its large yellow flowers. The roots of this plant are edible and were and are still used today along with other vegetables in festive dishes such as banya khaoda. Other huge yellow flowers adorned gardens for a long time, until in the first decades of the 18th century they learned to squeeze oil from their seeds. This contributed to the rapid and widespread spread of sunflowers in those European countries (France, Germany, England, Russia) where olive trees did not grow.

In addition, prickly pear began to be brought from America - because of the cochineal, the small insect that lives in it, from which the red dye is obtained; When aniline dyes appeared, prickly pear fruits began to be eaten.

In addition to all of the above, medicinal plants like quinine were imported into Europe; it was used by Roman and Genoese doctors, for example, Sebastiano Baldo (or Blado), who in the mid-17th century was the chief physician of the Incurabili Hospital in Genoa. Timber, ornamental plants and tobacco were also imported, but they are no longer food products.

The peoples of the territory conquered by the Europeans lived completely differently from the Europeans. Their warriors and leaders provided themselves with proteins during the war, and ordinary aborigines ate the meat of animals that did not seem particularly attractive to Europeans. And although need forced the conquistadors to try everything they came across, they did not want to stay in the Antilles or Mexico under such conditions, so they tried to bring to America plants and animals that they lacked in a foreign land, and in the end they received excellent results.

From Europe to America

Conquistadors in the New World. Engraving from the book "History of America". Frankfurt am Main, 1602

One day Michele da Cuneo wrote to Geronimo Aimari, a representative of a Ligurian family that had taken root in Seville and other spanish cities, letter. However, due to an error by the scribe who copied this letter, the addressee Michele da Cuneo turned into Annari, which is why for a long time no one could find any other mention of this same Signor Geronimo, including me, until I turned to the original letter.

Antananarivo

Geronimo Aimari was a merchant who personally knew Christopher Columbus and volunteered to “sponsor” Michele da Cuneo’s journey with Columbus in exchange for Michele da Cuneo sending him interesting and preferably truthful information about America. This information was sent to the merchant on October 28, 1495.

Michele da Cuneo's account lacks the usual rhetoric praising Columbus's event and does not present America as a paradise on earth. The author describes only what he sees, and his view is not that of a humanist, but that of a merchant. I will present here some information from the letter-report of the Savonian Michele da Cuneo, as well as from the notes of Francesco Carletti, another merchant-writer who came to America a hundred years after its discovery - the information that I will need to confirm my theses .

Import of European goods to Antilles and there was more import to the American continent than the import of American goods to Europe, and most importantly, it was established much faster. Christopher Columbus, already on his first voyage, discovered that the islands he had just discovered abounded in fish and birds, but were almost completely devoid of mammals.

Cereals, for example corn, were not considered at all then, and it became clear that it would not be possible to create nutritional conditions in the New World comparable to European ones, “... in my opinion, these are cold people, not sensual, and the reason for this may be , is that they don’t eat well…” writes Michele da Cuneo.

I will also turn here to some very significant observations for me by Michele da Cuneo, significant also because they contradicted the admiring notes of those who wrote about America from rumors, or those who simply had to praise Columbus’s enterprise. Now I will cite for comparison the letter of Michele da Cuneo and the letter of Angelo Trevisan, who, although he wrote very diligently, was partly based on rumors, and partly copied from the book of Pietro Martire d'Anghier, written by him in Spain.

Angelo Trevisan

... This plain is so fertile that in some gardens on the banks of the river numerous vegetables grow - radishes, lettuce, cabbage and rutabaga - and all of them ripen within sixteen days after planting, and melons, watermelons, pumpkins and other similar plants - through thirty-six days, and yet they taste like nowhere else in the world, and the sugar cane ripens in fifteen days. They also say that if you plant a grapevine, it will produce excellent grapes in the second year. And one peasant decided to check whether it was possible to grow wheat here, and, having planted some in early February, he received ripe ears by mid-March. Moreover, the straw of this wheat was thicker, the ears were longer, and the grains were larger than ours or anywhere else.

Michele da Cuneo

...On your advice, we brought with us from Spain all kinds of seeds to plant them and see which plants will grow well here and which ones will not. As a result, we discovered that melons, watermelons and pumpkins ripen well here. But other plants - for example, onions, lettuce and other vegetables that are put in salads - tolerate local conditions very poorly - they grow very small size. Likewise wheat and beans: in ten days they grew, but immediately began to droop to the ground and soon dried up.

It seems to me that these two passages speak for themselves, but Michele da Cuneo adds another interesting observation: “... although the soil there is excellent and black, they have not yet found a way and time to sow anything, and the reason is that that no one wants to live in those parts.”

How history's first vacation to the Caribbean turned into an epidemic that influenced the course of European history

How the first ever vacation to the Caribbean turned into a syphilis epidemic

In 1493, Columbus and his friends returned from the world's first tour of the Caribbean and brought gifts: a new route to India (not really), land acquisitions for the crown, tobacco, coconuts, syphilis and tropical fruits. Of course, syphilis was an unplanned gift. Although it is possible that the Arawak Indians deliberately slipped spoiled goods to the whites.

Returning from the trip, infected, but still believing that “it will scratch and go away,” the sailors and soldiers began to do what befits sailors and soldiers. They began to waste the resulting doubloons in brothels and quickly went bankrupt. After this, the poor people (and those who became infected through them) had no choice but to go back to work as mercenaries.

According to the Castilian doctor Ray Diaz de Isla, the world's first patient with syphilis was Vincent Pinzon, who, if anything, was the captain of the Niña, one of the three ships on which Columbus's crew discovered America.

Charles VIII is trying to chop off Naples, and syphilis is preparing to chop off Charles VIII's nose

Another serious upheaval had just broken out in Europe, so mercenaries were at a premium. The French king Charles VIII, who married 15-year-old Mary of Anjou, dreamed of winning her heart and at the same time becoming famous as a great conqueror. However, nothing came of it; everything turned out even worse than “it couldn’t get worse.”

Charles VIII not only had a funny face, but also some rights to Italian lands, so he prepared a campaign and set off to conquer the Kingdom of Naples and everything that came along the way. In addition to the army of soldiers, consisting of 30 thousand people, he equipped an army of regimental prostitutes, of whom there were at least eight hundred. Having taken care of his soldiers, His Majesty did not forget about himself, taking with him a whole harem of ladies-in-waiting who were supposed to “help with the housework.” The economy of the great commander did not remain inactive, so he set an infectious example for the troops.

At first the campaign went great. Naples quickly fell at the feet of Charles, and he proclaimed himself King of the Kingdoms of Naples and Jerusalem, as well as Emperor of the East. What more could a man of 24 want? On the occasion of the incredible victory, the king and his troops staged a grandiose two-month orgy, which attracted thousands of prostitutes from all over Italy. In such a situation, even a couple of syphilis-stricken sutlers and soldiers would be enough to cause an epidemic. There were clearly more infected, and soon almost every third soldier in the glorious army was covered with ulcers.

Syphilis was caused by cannibalism and sex with horses.

The plague struck like thunder among clear skies. It was like a plague, but much uglier and more terrible. It spread in an unknown way and immediately gave rise to a lot of rumors.

Contemporaries of this epidemic reasoned this way: if God sent the plague for mortal sins, then a new, even more vile disease - for something much more disgusting. This is where the first two theories of the origin of syphilis came from. The first said that this was punishment for the cannibalism that Charles’s soldiers were engaged in. The second said that the reason was mass intercourse with horses. Although we understand: who needs horses if His Majesty invited thousands of the hottest Italian girls to the party?

Charles VIII is defeated and dies as befits a failed king.

Luck ran out on the French; the combined forces of the Italians and Spaniards drove the army of syphilitic patients back to France. Karl was disgraced and, to top it off, suffered from smallpox, which disfigured his face. It would be logical and ironic if it were actually syphilis, but most likely it is not. Arriving home, the king raised his offspring, and no one had problems with venereal disease, so he really was smart enough to protect himself from this disease.

Charles, having suffered a humiliating defeat, disbanded his troops, and with them the mercenaries, who poured into all corners of Europe, spreading the “love plague.” The tsunami of the epidemic was so powerful that in just a decade and a half, syphilis spread throughout Eurasia and Northern Africa. In 1512, even the Japanese encountered it, who, it would seem, tried with all their might to isolate themselves from the rest of the world.

As Voltaire said: “In their gullible campaign against Italy, the French acquired Genoa, Naples and syphilis. Then they were driven back and lost Naples and Genoa, but syphilis remained with them.”

By the way, King Charles VIII, shortly after a failed expedition to Italy, died a slightly unnatural death: he accidentally hit his head on a door frame and smashed his head like an overripe pumpkin. Apparently, the courtiers were so dissatisfied with the fact that, at the instigation of their monarch, syphilis began to be called the “French disease” that they did not even imagine his death with imagination, as, for example, in the case of the king’s namesake, Charles the Evil.

Syphilis changed the course of history

Syphilis has changed the world much more than it might seem at first glance. It was not just another infection - it became a lever that moved the mountains of history. Largely thanks to syphilis, the church split and Protestants came to success. Puritanism would not have found such a response in the hearts of the flock if it did not have living (and sometimes no longer exists) confirmation of how the Lord punishes for riotous living.

It is precisely because syphilis, first of all, has a detrimental effect on hair, that wigs appeared, which became business card New time. It is also not surprising that humanity remembered and began to actively use another wonderful invention - condoms.

Likewise, the need to treat sunken noses gave impetus to European surgery. The operation to restore the nose was done in a bizarre way: a piece of skin from the patient's arm was cut out, but not completely - a flap had to remain connected to the body so that the blood vessels would continue to supply this piece of skin with blood. The flap was then applied to the nose, and the patient was forced to walk with his hand tied to his head until the piece of skin took root in place of the nose. The person who came up with this was either a genius or a madman.

It was syphilis that helped the Netherlands gain independence from Spain. The disease was one of the foundations of anti-Spanish propaganda: Dutch Protestants argued that the source of the infection were Catholics and, by getting rid of their oppression, the disease could be defeated.

Be that as it may, neither religious propaganda nor fear of a terrifying disease defeated syphilis. People continued to fornicate left and right, no matter what. Suffice it to say that in Renaissance Europe it generally became the leading cause of death. Roughly speaking, the average European had a greater chance of dying from syphilis than from wars, famine, other diseases, and even more so from old age. Against this background, the fact that three of the Popes supposedly had this shameful disease does not seem so surprising.

Euphemisms for syphilis
(which you can show off in company)

The word "Syphilis" has a curious (and rather raunchy) origin story. It was invented by the doctor and poet Girolamo Fracastoro, who gave the name “Syphilus” (that is, “friend of pigs”) to the hero of his poem. In it, the author allegorically talked about the symptoms of the disease and presented his version of its origin: the shepherd Syphilus, yearning for women, reclined with his pigs and was punished for this by the disgusting gods.

Everyone liked the story and they began to call the infection “Syphilis.” Although before that it had many other sonorous nicknames: the Black Lion, Cupid's disease, the Great Smallpox, the Venereal Plague, and the Scots gave it the harsh name Grandgore, which is more suitable for this disease than the frivolous “Syphilis”.

During four expeditions from 1493 to 1504, carried out Christopher Columbus to the shores of the American continent, his ships brought dozens of plants and animals to Spain that European inhabitants had never seen. It took years of careful study and selection for these products to become part of their diet, and several centuries for the dishes to end up on the tables of residents of remote parts of Europe and other continents. Pineapple, sunflower, pumpkin, avocado, zucchini... This is an incomplete list of our favorite products, which we owe to the seafarer.

Potato

The homeland of potatoes is considered to be the territory of South America from Chile to Central America, where it was cultivated by the Indians for tens of thousands of years. When excavating ancient Inca burials, archaeologists found images of this plant on pottery. The potatoes that came to Europe thanks to Columbus's expeditions were wild, unlike modern ones. It was small and watery tubers, so it was mistaken for an ornamental plant. At first they tried to eat it raw and used green fruits, and as a result the vegetable was declared poisonous. Only in the 70s of the 18th century, thanks to the efforts French agronomist Antoine-Auguste Permentier, The plant was recognized as edible and rich in useful and nutritious substances. After several centuries of selection, the rumor about “earth apples” spread throughout Europe, and during the reign of Peter I potatoes were brought to Russia. However, residents refused to eat or grow the product, which was rumored to cause leprosy, rickets and tuberculosis. And yet, after a couple of centuries, potatoes became our second bread: about a third of the world’s crop production was grown in the USSR.

Tomatoes

Columbus and his associates were attracted by the appearance of the bushes with carved leaves and small flowers, so they brought the plant to the Old World. Just like potatoes, at first it was considered decorative and poisonous: Europeans were afraid to use the bright red fruits for food. Author of plant classification Carl Linnaeus He called it “solyanum lycopersicum”, translated from Latin as “wolf peach”. But the Aztecs, in whose homeland the Spaniards discovered the plant, called it “tumantla” - “large berry”, the Italians gave it the name “tomato”, translated as “golden apple”, and the French called it “pom d’amore”, which means "apple of love." Tomatoes came to Russia during the reign of Catherine II, but only in 1850 was their edibility and usefulness proven. From that moment on, agronomists began to plant seeds southern territories countries, and breeders to work on varieties suitable for the northern climate.

Corn

One of the first crops that Columbus brought from the New World was corn, or maize, as the American Indians called it. Archaeological excavations in Mexico, Peru and Bolivia show that it was cultivated by the Mayan tribes, then by the Incas and Aztecs. Before Europeans set foot on the American continent, corn was the only grain crop there. It was cooked on the cob or ground into flour, from which cakes were baked. That's why local residents They considered maize a sacred plant and created legends and myths about it. The Aztecs believed that corn fell to the ground in the form of a golden hail, which the Sun God sent to people during a terrible famine. The Mexicans called corn "tlaolli" - body, and the Spaniards called it "Indian wheat". Once in Europe, the crop spread across the continent incredibly quickly, and plant growers immediately appreciated its food value. The high productivity and easy growing conditions of corn have become a significant advantage for farmers, especially when compared with wheat and rice. It came to Russia in the 17th century, and from the beginning of the 19th century its cultivation began in the fields.

Cocoa

Historians believe that the word "kakawa" appeared in the lowlands on the Gulf Coast, where 1000 BC. e. lived by the Olmec tribes. Then they were replaced by the Mayan civilization, which began to grow plantations of cocoa trees, and dubbed the drink obtained from the beans “chocolatl.” Chocolate became a sacred liquid for South American Indians, which was used to fill ritual vases. Local tribes have invented many recipes for its preparation with the addition of all kinds of spices. Christopher Columbus brought cocoa beans from his fourth expedition to the New World, but against the backdrop of gold and other riches, they did not attract the attention of nobles. However, later Europeans learned the recipe for the drink from the inhabitants of the American continent, and chocolate became their second addiction after tobacco, which, by the way, was also brought by Columbus. At first, the delicacy was considered the privilege of men, and very noble and rich ones at that. Cocoa beans began to be used as currency: for 100 seeds you could buy a good slave. At the end of the 16th century. Sugar was added to the drink, and it became a favorite treat of women and children. In 1674, chocolate began to be used in the manufacture of cakes, and in 1847 the recipe for solid chocolate bar was invented.

Turkey

Before Columbus's voyages to the New World, Europeans had never seen a turkey. The wild bird, found in American forests, was domesticated by local tribes, and at the beginning of the 16th century it was brought to Spain. Columbus's sailors named the animals "Indian chickens", which was due to the crew's geographical misconceptions about their stay in India. According to another version, Columbus dubbed the bird “Indian peacock”; in Indian dialect, peacock sounds like “tuka”. This explains its name in English language- "Turkey". However, linguists find analogies with Turkey (Turkey), which was considered a distant land where exotic creatures live, as well as with the sounds “turc, turc, turc” made by a bird. Europeans initially called the animal “Spanish chicken” and fell in love with dishes made from its tender meat. By the 30s of the 16th century, turkeys began to be raised throughout Europe, but in Russia they were accepted only in XVIII-XIX centuries influenced by the fashion for everything French.

On November 6, 1492, lighting the peace pipe in Cuba for the first time in his life, Christopher Columbus had no idea that he was discovering not only a new continent for Europe, but also a dangerous disease, insect pests and a killer habit.

Discovery One: Tobacco

Columbus was indeed the first European to try tobacco, but he did not become a smoker. Strictly speaking, it was not Columbus who was to blame for the import of the addiction from the New World to the Old. Having tried something like a cigar - according to contemporaries, it was tightly rolled dried leaves of an unknown plant, set on fire on one side - great traveler I didn’t find anything attractive in smoking.

The first real smoker of the Old World, who set a bad example for the Europeans, was one of the members of Columbus’s crew, Rodrigo de Jerez, who brought the “infection” to Europe, from which, according to WHO, more than 5 million people still die in the world in year. Ironically, de Jerez also became the first victim of tobacco smoking. Moreover, he was a political victim. The Catholic Church accused de Jerez, who was blowing smoke from his mouth, of having a connection with Satan and immediately launched the first anti-tobacco campaign in history.

But tobacco won. No matter how powerful the church is, the anti-tobacco campaign carried out under its strict leadership has failed miserably. Europeans liked smoking. The Inquisition had to retreat, limiting itself to a ban on smoking in places of worship. And de Jerez, who received a real sentence for “association with Satan,” was released from prison after 7 years.

From a “tool of the devil” in the mass consciousness of that time, tobacco turned into a “medicine”. Catherine de Medici, for example, used it to treat migraines. They tried to treat toothache, stomach disorders and aching bones with tobacco.


Tobacco manufactory. Engraving by an unknown author, published in a magazine Pittoresque. Paris, 1843

A century after the discovery of America, tobacco conquered all of Europe: it was grown in Belgium, Spain, Italy, Switzerland and England. State power, first in France and Spain, and later in England, monopolized the tobacco market. Thus, the nicotine addiction of one’s own and other people’s subjects turned into an uninterrupted source of profit.

Discovery two: syphilis

Exchanges between the Old and New Worlds continued unceasingly. The conquistadors “rewarded” the Indians with smallpox, plague, influenza and cholera. And they, in turn, “gave” the Spaniards the first venereal disease in their lives - syphilis. Some sources claim that Columbus himself became the first syphilitic in Europe. Others give all the “laurels” to the sailors. The latter in 1494 acted as part of the army of the Spanish king Charles VIII, who led the army to war with the Neapolitan state. The army was huge and moved slowly, so outbreaks of an unprecedented disease occurred both in the army itself and among the inhabitants of the occupied territories.


Nikolaus Knupfer. Brothel scene. 1630s

The historiographer of that time, Pietro Bembo, described this situation as follows: “Soon, in the city occupied by aliens, due to contagion and the influence of the luminaries, a severe disease began, called “Gallic.” Later the disease was called “French” and even “Belgian”.

If you believe the sources of that time, just a few years after the capture of Naples by Charles VIII, half of Europe was infected with the “French disease.”

The first syphilis epidemic, which occurred in 1495, reduced the population of Europe by 5 million people. Syphilis spared no one - neither ordinary people nor royalty. By 1500, syphilis had crossed the borders of Europe and reached Turkey and Asia. The devastation that the disease brought to European peoples was comparable to the consequences of epidemics of smallpox, measles and plague.

They learned to treat syphilis only with the discovery of penicillin in the middle of the twentieth century; until that moment, the disease was fought with the help of arsenic and mercury.

Discovery three: the Colorado potato beetle

For thousands of years, an unremarkable insect lived on the border of North and South America, feeding on wild nightshade, which had no commercial value...

Colonizers from Europe, without knowing it, changed not only their habitat, but also their taste preferences. Leptinotarsa ​​decemlineata(Colorado potato beetle).

Here is how it was. Columbus brought wild potatoes to Europe. Small and watery, its tubers were a pitiful sight and were not at all like what we eat today. At first, Europeans considered potatoes to be poisonous and perceived them solely as an ornamental plant. Several centuries of selection followed, and tasty, edible potatoes returned to their homeland - America. There it becomes a food product not only for the colonists, but also for the beetle.


Having covered thousands of kilometers, the army of beetles reached the coast Atlantic Ocean. In Europe they already knew about the beetle and looked to the west with caution.

 

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