Economic botany
Economic botany is the study of the relationship between people and plants. Economic botany intersects many fields including established disciplines such as agronomy, anthropology, archaeology, chemistry, economics, ethnobotany, ethnology, forestry, genetic resources, geography, geology, horticulture, medicine, microbiology, nutrition, pharmacognosy, and pharmacology. This link between botany and anthropology explores the ways humans use plants for food, medicines, and commerce.
History
In a 1958 essay at the conference that founded the Society for Economic Botany, David J. Rogers wrote, "A current viewpoint is that economic botany should concern itself with basic botanical, phytochemical and ethnological studies of plants known to be useful or those which may have potential uses so far underdeveloped. Economic botany is, then, a composite of those sciences working specifically with plants of importance to ." Closely allied with economic botany is ethnobotany, which emphasizes plants in the context of anthropology.Botany itself came about through medicine and the development of herbal remedies. Thus at its advent, botany was economic as well as systematic. As plants became useful for herbals and curatives, their economic value increased. An early set of instructions drawn up by a cosmographer of Charles the fifth instructed explorers to
Teosinte and rice are two examples of plants modified so that their economic values would increase.
"determine what are the items of sustenance of the land and which ones are generally used, whether fruits or seeds, and all manner of spices, drugs, or whatever other scents, and find out the time in which one can reproduce the trees, plants, herbs, and fruits that these parts offer, and if the natives use them for medicines, as we do."
Economic botany in colonial Spain
Contrary to common belief that modern economic botany had been spearheaded by the British as early as the 19th century, economic botany had been exemplified in the form of plant diffusion for millennia. It really took a foothold beginning as early as the 7th century during the early phases of the Islamic Empire. Then it was further studied by the Spanish due to their lack of economic power in the spice trade of colonial world.Roots in Islamic endeavors
As the Islamic Empire reached its westernmost limits on the Iberian Peninsula, Muslims were able to bring with them flora from the east. Between the 10th and 11th centuries, multiple types of non-native citrus were reported to exist on the Iberian Peninsula. Several books were published on the subject between the 10th and 14th centuries, showing the detailed nature of Islamic botany, differentiating between various citrus such as lemons, limes, sweet and sour oranges, pomelos, and grapefruit. In addition to classifying these various citrus before western naturalists, the Muslims were also responsible for citrus diffusion and cultivation in the Mediterranean Basin. Because of Islamic presence in the Iberian Peninsula before the fall of the Empire, Paula De Vos explained that the greater western world gained its botanical scientific roots from Islamic botany.Early Spanish botany
Spanish exploration for spices
During the Age of Exploration and Discovery, the Spanish engaged in botany not for the sake of botany as a science, but for economic and personal gain. The Spanish King Charles III stated that an expedition to South America in the 18th century was for the benefit of learning about the regions' flora, but more specifically to build upon the kings' Museum and Garden with plants and botanical illustrations. For the most part, many of these expeditions from Spain were taxonomic, but the botanists did take note of medicinal uses of many flora.The other factor for Spanish involvement in botanical sciences during this time was because of their lack of power in spice trade. The main location for spice trade during this time was in the Spice Islands, which had been under the control of the Portuguese since 1513 until later in the 17 century when it was taken over by the Dutch. The Spanish Empire sent Magellan on a voyage for the purpose of gaining trade relations with the Spice Islands, but failed due to Portuguese control of the area. Spanish attempts at gaining power in the Spice Islands, however, were not fruitless. Antonio Pigafetta, who was on Magellan's expedition recorded many important botanical properties of the important spices found in the Maluku Islands, which would later help the Spanish in their botanical economically motivated botanical pursuits.
In addition to their attempts to gain power in the spice trade in the Moluccas, the Spanish also sought after similar spices in their colonies in the Philippines and the Americas. In the early 17th century, the Spanish found that there were numerous valuable spices like cinnamon, clove, nutmeg, and pepper that could be cultivated in the Philippines similarly to what the Portuguese could in the Moluccas. In the Americas however, the Spanish found spices of different varieties whose properties differed from those of the varieties found in the East. Some of these properties were for the better, for example a type of pepper found in the Caribbean was described by Nicolas Mondares as more flavorful and spicy than black pepper. But there were also varieties of spices found in the Americas that were not suitable for the Spanish to gain power in spice trade. For example, the cinnamon that Mondares found in the Americas had no taste or smell at all, though it was most definitely a variety of cinnamon.
Francisco De Mendoza
As the Spanish realized that their colonies in the Americas and the Philippines were not going to be able to produce a suitable amount of spices that they needed to gain an economic advantage, they landed upon the idea of transplantation. The first Viceroy of New Spain, Antonio De Mendoza showed interest for transplantation 1542, and illegally came upon seeds from the East Indies. Later in 1558 with Antonio De Mendoza's help, Francisco De Mendoza gained total rights to the production and trade over various spices from the East Indies. Francisco De Mendoza was granted all the land he saw necessary to carry out this operation, despite reservations from the Council of the Indies, who thought it intolerable to give Mendoza so much power over the situation.Although there was almost no documentation of Mendoza's success, Nicolas Mondares was able to contact Mendoza. He found out that Mendoza had indeed been successful in cultivating both ginger and China root in New Spain. The Council of the Indies and the Spanish Crown did not gather proficient information on Mendoza's scientific and economical success although they tried. The grants given to Mendoza in 1558 provided him with enough power as to be able to avoid confrontation altogether until his death. After Mendoza's death, his spice operation failed to continue.
Ginger transplantation
Though the transplantation of most of the spices that Mendoza brought to New Spain didn't succeed, ginger was one that actually flourished in certain regions. Ginger did not do well on the mainland of New Spain, but it grew on the Caribbean Island of Hispaniola. In fact, ginger was largest crop in Hispaniola during the late 16th century, even larger than the sugar crop. Ginger was so successful on the island that there were serious problems with oversupply and overshadowing of the sugar industry.Because of their success with ginger in the Caribbean, the Spanish tried transplantation in Spain. They brought the information they learned about growing ginger from New Spain back to Europe. In some cases, the Spanish were successful in growing ginger and it was to grow well in Seville and neighboring areas. Even though ginger grew well in Spain, it was never a major export, thus diminishing its economic value.