The discovery of the American continent
Dec 04, 2014
The discovery of the American continent
What comes from the american continent?
• What’s your favourite food?
• American words?
• Products : potatoes, tomatoes, chocolate, avocados, chillies, corn, beans, (commercial strawberry = hybrid), cotton, coffee, pumpkin, walnut, pecans, maple syrup, turkey, plums, black cherries, blueberries, cranberries, peanuts, tobacco, cacao, alpaca …
• Words : axolotl (Mexican walking fish), Hurricane – Huracán, Chocolate – choclatl…
• Computer game: http://www.open2.net/everwonderedfood/origins.html
Late 1400’s (15th c.) in Europe
Feudality + religion dictates life.
Usual meals: rich = meat + spices
poor = bread, soup, porridge, cheese
Drinks often fermented.
– Ferdinand II of Aragon and Isabella I of Castile:
• Spanish inquisition (1478)• Reconquista (800 yrs)
Geography during the Middle Age
• The earth is flat.
• Known world = (parts of) Europe + N Africa + Middle East = same as the Romans.
Christopher Colombus 1451-1509
A clash of cultures : the first encounter.
Video 1
http://il.youtube.com/watch?v=jOfEAbNiKFM&feature=related
Summary:• Late 15th c. (1490’s): feudality and church
dictate life. Society is unequal: serfs are “workable and taxable at will”.
• Knowledge is very limited: the earth is flat, geography is limited to around the Mediterranean, Western Europe and the Middle East.
• Food is preserved through spices, salt and sugar that come by sea (around Africa) or land (across Asia) since Marco Polo (early 1300’s).
• Christopher Columbus wants to use the trade winds and cut through the West to reach India, instead he discovers the American continent.