The spread of American chili peppers to East Asia?

hama · May 15, 2017

Does anyone have info to share about chili peppers from Mexico/Central America/South America being transported to East Asia during the early-modern era? I noticed a couple claims on a wikipedia article about chili peppers that got me curious:

The spread of chili peppers to Asia was most likely a natural consequence of its introduction to Portuguese traders (Lisbon was a common port of call for Spanish ships sailing to and from the Americas) who, aware of its trade value, would have likely promoted its commerce in the Asian spice trade routes then dominated by Portuguese and Arab traders.

To Japan, it was brought by the Portuguese missionaries in 1542, and then later, it was brought to Korea.

Could anyone who knows the history of the spice trade help verify whether American species of Chilies were indeed brought by the Portuguese to places like Japan and Korea, and whether they were transported anywhere else in East Asia (for example the Portuguese colonies in Malacca and Macao)?

I'm also curious whether the Spanish might have had a hand in transporting chili peppers from the Americas to Asia? They did dominate Mexico and Central/South America after all, and from the mid 16th century their colony in the Philippines gave them a jumping off point in to Asian trade, so I was wondering about that. Are there any historical records of the Spanish transporting chilies from the Americas to the Philippines or farther afield in Asia?

robto · May 15, 2017

Even though the Spanish colonized the Philippines, they weren't really involved in the trading with other Asian polities during the early modern period. It was Portugal, and later the Dutch, that were involved in the Asian trade, therefore they were the main actors of introducing the New World spices to that part of the world.

hama · May 15, 2017

robto said:
Even though the Spanish colonized the Philippines, they weren't really involved in the trading with other Asian polities during the early modern period. It was Portugal, and later the Dutch, that were involved in the in the Asian trade, therefore they were the main actors of introducing the New World spices to that part of the world.

I see, so do you know if the Spanish at least brought chilies to the Philippines? And do you know any details on the Portuguese bringing American chilies to East Asia?

robto · May 15, 2017

hama said:
I see, so do you know if the Spanish at least brought chilies to the Philippines? And do you know any details on the Portuguese bringing American chilies to East Asia?

I have a book with me explaining those details, but you have to wait a little bit before I post that information here ;-)

hama · May 15, 2017

robto said:
I have a book with me explaining those details, but you have to wait a little bit before I post that information here ;-)

No worries man, I'm happy to hear it whenever you get time.

sailorsam · May 18, 2017

amazing how important peppers are to Asian and African cooking, which they knew nothing about until the 16th century.

similarly; hard to imagine Italian cooking without the tomato.
or north/central Europe without the potato.

corn was introduced to China long ago, presumably by the Portugese; European travelers a century or two later concluded that the corn was native to China.

hama · May 18, 2017

sailorsam said:
amazing how important peppers are to Asian and African cooking, which they knew nothing about until the 16th century.

similarly; hard to imagine Italian cooking without the tomato.
or north/central Europe without the potato.

corn was introduced to China long ago, presumably by the Portugese; European travelers a century or two later concluded that the corn was native to China.

There's definitely a whole PhD thesis (or two) in studying the movement of foods/crops following the European discovery of the "New World" and it's effects on our modern cuisines.

Ighayere · May 18, 2017

sailorsam said:
amazing how important peppers are to Asian and African cooking, which they knew nothing about until the 16th century.

This is incorrect. There is native pepper in Africa, and it had long been an important part of African cooking, well before the 16th century.

Actually, piper guineense ("Benin pepper") was imported into Europe from West Africa by the late 15th century.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piper_guineense

The book West African Food in the Middle Ages: According to Arabic Sources (1974) by Tadeusz Lewicki also mentions that pepper was already in use in the western Sudan region. Leo Africanus even mentions west African pepper ("Benin pepper", "Sudan pepper", "Ashanti pepper", etc.) being imported into Morocco.

Europeans did introduce several important foods to Africa, but pepper was not new or foreign.

Aupmanyav · May 19, 2017

sailorsam said:
amazing how important peppers are to Asian and African cooking, which they knew nothing about until the 16th century.

similarly; hard to imagine Italian cooking without the tomato.
or north/central Europe without the potato.

corn was introduced to China long ago, presumably by the Portugese; European travelers a century or two later concluded that the corn was native to China.

Same for India. I could not have lived without these imports. I think even carrot.

hama · May 19, 2017

Aupmanyav said:
Same for India. I could not have lived without these imports. I think even carrot.

I absolutely love Cinnamon and Black Pepper, both of which I believe are native to India. I'm definitely glad us two types of "Indians" were able to share our culinary delights with each other across the Pacific thanks to the Spice Trade.

sailorsam · May 19, 2017

Ighayere said:
This is incorrect. There is native pepper in Africa, and it had long been an important part of African cooking, well before the 16th century.

Actually, piper guineense ("Benin pepper") was imported into Europe from West Africa by the late 15th century.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piper_guineense

The book West African Food in the Middle Ages: According to Arabic Sources (1974) by Tadeusz Lewicki also mentions that pepper was already in use in the western Sudan region. Leo Africanus even mentions west African pepper ("Benin pepper", "Sudan pepper", "Ashanti pepper", etc.) being imported into Morocco.

Europeans did introduce several important foods to Africa, but pepper was not new or foreign.

'black' pepper (piper nigrum) benin pepper and African pepper (melegueta) are different from Chili peppers, aka capsicums.
one theory is that American peppers were so named in hopes they were the equivalent of the old world peppers, a highly sought spice.
perhaps I should have specified that capsicums (chili peppers from the Americas) are a major part of the modern African diet.

hama · May 19, 2017

sailorsam said:
'black' pepper (piper nigrum) benin pepper and African pepper (melegueta) are different from Chili peppers, aka capsicums.
one theory is that American peppers were so named in hopes they were the equivalent of the old world peppers, a highly sought spice.
perhaps I should have specified that capsicums (chili peppers from the Americas) are a major part of the modern African diet.

Good point. My purpose in this thread was to learn a bit about the history of capsicums (specifically chili peppers) being transferred from the Americas to Asia.

Ighayere · May 19, 2017

sailorsam said:
'black' pepper (piper nigrum) benin pepper and African pepper (melegueta) are different from Chili peppers, aka capsicums.
one theory is that American peppers were so named in hopes they were the equivalent of the old world peppers, a highly sought spice.
perhaps I should have specified that capsicums (chili peppers from the Americas) are a major part of the modern African diet.

Ok. Your original post did make it seem like pepper was somehow unknown there. As for chili pepper being a major part of "the modern African diet", the truth is food varies across the continent, and some don't use that pepper in their food. Some do and some don't, just like in the rest of the world.

hama · May 19, 2017

Ighayere said:
Ok. Your original post did make it seem like pepper was somehow unknown there. As for chili pepper being a major part of "the modern African diet", the truth is food varies across the continent, and some don't use that pepper in their food. Some do and some don't, just like in the rest of the world.

I think sailorsam's point was that those who do use it in their cuisine have the Spice Trade and the Americas to thank for it. Just like not all Asians use chilis in their cuisine, but those who do would have first acquired them through the early-modern Spice Trade.

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