1.
Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta
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The Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta is an isolated mountain range separated from the Andes chain that runs through Colombia. The Sierra Nevada encompasses about 17,000 km2 and serves as the source of 36 rivers, the range is in the Departments of Magdalena, Cesar and La Guajira. SRTM data and local topographic maps show that their true elevations are approximately 5,700 m, the Sierra Nevada is a compact group, relatively small in area, and completely surrounded by lands with elevations below 200 m. Although it is associated with the Tropical Andes, the backbone of the Andes cannot be reached from the Sierra Nevada without dropping below this level. This makes its highest point the worlds fifth most prominent summit, several peaks in the Sierra Nevada are intervisible with Cerro Paramillo, a 3,730 m peak in Antioquia Department. This implies a direct line of sight of just over 500 km. It is calculated that the average rainfall is 4,000 mm at elevations of 500 m to 1,500 m. The temperature varies between 0 °C and 27 °C, the tropical rainforest is made up of perennial trees, with a canopy reaching between 30 m to 40 m. There is a variety and large populations of epiphytes and lianas. The indigenous peoples made an alcoholic beverage from fruits of the palm Attalea maripa found at the lower elevations, of Colombias 340 endemic species,44 are found in the park, for example seven species of endemic hummingbirds. Of the 3,057 endangered species,44 are found here, the area is home to 440 species of birds, including black-fronted wood-quail, king vulture, Andean condor, Santa Marta warbler and Santa Marta parakeet. Mammals found in the include, tapir, cougar, jaguar, squirrel, Transandinomys talamancae, otter. The Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta is home to a number of ecoregions, the Guajira-Barranquilla xeric scrub region lies near the Caribbean seacoast to the north of the range. The Sinú Valley dry forests cover the lower slopes, up to an elevation of 500 m. The Santa Marta montane forests lie above 500 m to 800 m, the montane forests are separated from other moist forests by the lower-elevation dry forests and xeric shrublands, and have large numbers of endemic species. Above 900 m is a transitional forest zone of smaller trees, the Santa Marta Páramo, a high altitude belt of montane grasslands and shrublands interspersed with marshes and acid bogs, occupies the zone between 3,300 m and 5,000 m. The Santa Marta Páramo is the northernmost enclave of Páramo in South America, above 5,000 m meters lies the permanent snow cap. The Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta National Natural Park is Colombias second oldest national park and it is located in the Cordillera Oriental range, between the departments of La Guajira, Magdalena and Cesar, in the mountain range of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta
2.
Colombia
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Colombia, officially the Republic of Colombia, is a transcontinental country largely situated in the northwest of South America, with territories in Central America. Colombia shares a border to the northwest with Panama, to the east with Venezuela and Brazil and to the south with Ecuador and it shares its maritime limits with Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras, Jamaica, Haiti and the Dominican Republic. It is a unitary, constitutional republic comprising thirty-two departments, the territory of what is now Colombia was originally inhabited by indigenous peoples including the Muisca, the Quimbaya and the Tairona. The Spanish arrived in 1499 and initiated a period of conquest and colonization ultimately creating the Viceroyalty of New Granada, independence from Spain was won in 1819, but by 1830 the Gran Colombia Federation was dissolved. What is now Colombia and Panama emerged as the Republic of New Granada, the new nation experimented with federalism as the Granadine Confederation, and then the United States of Colombia, before the Republic of Colombia was finally declared in 1886. Since the 1960s the country has suffered from an asymmetric low-intensity armed conflict, Colombia is one of the most ethnically and linguistically diverse countries in the world, and thereby possesses a rich cultural heritage. Cultural diversity has also influenced by Colombias varied geography. The urban centres are located in the highlands of the Andes mountains. Colombian territory also encompasses Amazon rainforest, tropical grassland and both Caribbean and Pacific coastlines, ecologically, it is one of the worlds 17 megadiverse countries, and the most densely biodiverse of these per square kilometer. Colombia is a power and a regional actor with the fourth-largest economy in Latin America, is part of the CIVETS group of six leading emerging markets and is an accessing member to the OECD. Colombia has an economy with macroeconomic stability and favorable growth prospects in the long run. The name Colombia is derived from the last name of Christopher Columbus and it was conceived by the Venezuelan revolutionary Francisco de Miranda as a reference to all the New World, but especially to those portions under Spanish and Portuguese rule. The name was adopted by the Republic of Colombia of 1819. When Venezuela, Ecuador and Cundinamarca came to exist as independent states, New Granada officially changed its name in 1858 to the Granadine Confederation. In 1863 the name was changed, this time to United States of Colombia. To refer to country, the Colombian government uses the terms Colombia. Owing to its location, the present territory of Colombia was a corridor of early human migration from Mesoamerica, the oldest archaeological finds are from the Pubenza and El Totumo sites in the Magdalena Valley 100 km southwest of Bogotá. These sites date from the Paleoindian period, at Puerto Hormiga and other sites, traces from the Archaic Period have been found
3.
Spanish language
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Spanish —also called Castilian —is a Romance language that originated in the Castile region of Spain, with hundreds of millions of native speakers around the world. It is usually considered the worlds second-most spoken native language after Mandarin Chinese and it is one of the few languages to use inverted question and exclamation marks. Spanish is a part of the Ibero-Romance group of languages, which evolved from several dialects of Vulgar Latin in Iberia after the collapse of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century. Beginning in the early 16th century, Spanish was taken to the colonies of the Spanish Empire, most notably to the Americas, as well as territories in Africa, Oceania, around 75% of modern Spanish is derived from Latin. Greek has also contributed substantially to Spanish vocabulary, especially through Latin, Spanish vocabulary has been in contact from an early date with Arabic, having developed during the Al-Andalus era in the Iberian Peninsula. With around 8% of its vocabulary being Arabic in origin, this language is the second most important influence after Latin and it has also been influenced by Basque as well as by neighboring Ibero-Romance languages. It also adopted words from languages such as Gothic language from the Visigoths in which many Spanish names and surnames have a Visigothic origin. Spanish is one of the six languages of the United Nations. It is the language in the world by the number of people who speak it as a mother tongue, after Mandarin Chinese. It is estimated more than 437 million people speak Spanish as a native language. Spanish is the official or national language in Spain, Equatorial Guinea, speakers in the Americas total some 418 million. In the European Union, Spanish is the tongue of 8% of the population. Spanish is the most popular second language learned in the United States, in 2011 it was estimated by the American Community Survey that of the 55 million Hispanic United States residents who are five years of age and over,38 million speak Spanish at home. The Spanish Constitution of 1978 uses the term castellano to define the language of the whole Spanish State in contrast to las demás lenguas españolas. Article III reads as follows, El castellano es la lengua española oficial del Estado, las demás lenguas españolas serán también oficiales en las respectivas Comunidades Autónomas. Castilian is the official Spanish language of the State, the other Spanish languages as well shall be official in their respective Autonomous Communities. The Spanish Royal Academy, on the hand, currently uses the term español in its publications. Two etymologies for español have been suggested, the Spanish Royal Academy Dictionary derives the term from the Provençal word espaignol, and that in turn from the Medieval Latin word Hispaniolus, from—or pertaining to—Hispania
4.
Muisca
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The Muisca are the Chibcha-speaking people that formed the Muisca Confederation of the central Andean highlands of present-day Colombias Eastern Range, in particular the Altiplano Cundiboyacense. As one out of four advanced civilizations of the Americas, they were encountered by the Spanish Empire in 1537 and it bordered the territories of the Panche and Pijao tribes. At the time of the conquest, the area had a large population, estimates vary from half a million to up to three million inhabitants. The Muisca spoke muysccubun, a dialect of Chibcha, also called Muysca and Mosca, the economy was based on agriculture, salt mining, metalworking and manufacturing. Today the Muisca population has almost died out, although in the municipalities and districts Cota, Chía, Tenjo, Suba, Engativá, Tocancipá, Gachancipá, a census by the Ministry of Interior Affairs in 2005 provided a total of 14,051 Muisca persons in Colombia. Excavations in the Altiplano Cundiboyacense show evidence of activity since the Archaic stage at the beginning of the Holocene era. Colombia has one of the most ancient archaeological sites of the Americas, El Abra, human skeletons were found that date to 5000 BCE. Analysis demonstrated that the people were members of the El Abra Culture, scholars agree that the group identified as Muisca migrated to the Altiplano Cundiboyacense in the Formative stage, as shown by evidence found at Aguazuque and Soacha. Like the other cultures of America, the Muiscas were in a transition between being hunter-gatherers and becoming sedentary farmers. Around 1500 BCE, groups of agrarians with ceramic traditions came to the region from the lowlands and they had permanent housing and stationary camps, and worked the salty water to extract salt. In Zipacón there is evidence of agriculture and ceramics, the most ancient settlement of the highlands dates to 1270 BCE. Between 500 BCE and 800 BCE, a wave of migrants came to the highlands. Their presence is identified by multicolor ceramics, housing, and farms and these groups were still in residence upon the arrival of the Spanish conquerors. They left abundant traces of their occupation that have been studied since the 16th century and it is possible that the Muisca integrated with more ancient inhabitants, but the Muisca were the ones who molded the cultural profile and the social and political organization. Their language, a dialect of Chibcha, was similar to those peoples of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. Zipa Saguamanchica was in a constant war against aggressive tribes such as the Sutagao, and especially the Panche, the Caribs were also a permanent threat as rivals of the zaque of Hunza, especially for the possession of the salt mines of Zipaquirá, Nemocón and Tausa. The Muisca people were organized in a confederation that was a union of states that each retained sovereignty. The confederation was not a kingdom, as there was no monarch, nor was it an empire
5.
Indigenous peoples in Colombia
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Indigenous peoples of Colombia, or Native Colombians, are the ethnic groups who have been in Colombia prior to the Europeans in the early 16th century. Known as pueblos indígenas in Spanish, they comprise 3. 4% of the countrys population, approximately 80% of the indigenous peoples of Colombia live in the La Guajira, Cauca, and Nariño Departments. While the Amazonian region of Colombia is sparsely populated, it is home to over 70 different indigenous ethnic groups. Some theories claim the earliest human habitation of South America to be as early as 43,000 BC, anthropologist Tom Dillehay dates the earliest hunter-gatherer cultures on the continent at almost 10,000 BC, during the late Pleistocene and early Holocene periods. According to his evidence based on rock shelters, Colombias first human inhabitants were concentrated along the Caribbean coast. By that time, these regions were forested and had a climate resembling todays. Dillehay has noted that Tibitó, located just north of Bogotá, is one of the oldest known and most widely accepted sites of human occupation in Colombia. Colombias indigenous culture evolved from three main groups—the Quimbaya, who inhabited the western slopes of the Cordillera Central, the Chibchas, and the Kalina. The two most advanced cultures of Amerindian peoples at the time were the Muisca and Taironas, who belonged to the Chibcha group and were skilled in farming, mining, and metalcraft. D. The Taironas, who were divided into two subgroups, lived in the Caribbean lowlands and the highlands of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta. The Muisca civilization was organized into distinct provinces governed by communal land laws and powerful caciques. At the end of the period, the native population still constituted about half of the total population. In the agricultural chiefdoms of the highlands, the Spaniards successfully imposed institutions designed to ensure their control of the Amerindians, the colonists had organized political and religious administration by the end of the sixteenth century, and they had begun attempts to religiously convert the Amerindians. The most important institution that regulated the lives and welfare of the highland Amerindians was the resguardo, under this system, Amerindians were allowed to use the land but could not sell it. As land pressures increased, however, encroachment of white or mestizo settlers onto resguardo lands accelerated, the government generally had not attempted to legislate in the past in matters affecting the forest Amerindians. During the colonial period, Roman Catholic missions were granted jurisdiction over the lowland tribes, division of the resguardos stopped in 1958, and a new program of community development began to try to bring the Amerindians more fully into the national society. New resguardos have been created, and others have been reconstituted, the 1991 constitution opened special political and social arenas for indigenous and other minority groups. For example, it allowed for creation of a commission to design a law recognizing the black communities occupying unsettled lands in the riverine areas of the Pacific Coast
6.
Chibchan
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The language of the Tairona is unattested, but may well be one of the Arwako languages still spoken in the Santa Marta range. The Zenú AKA Sinú language of northern Colombia is also included, as are the Malibu languages. The Cofán language of Ecuador and Colombia has been included in Chibchan due to borrowed vocabulary. The most significant neighboring linguistic groups, with there are important relationships, are the Misumalpan languages. A larger family called Macro-Chibchan, which would contain the Misumalpan languages, Xinca, dennis Holt claimed evidence for possible distant relationships with the Uto-Aztecan and Pano–Takanan language-families. Las lenguas del Área Intermedia, Introducción a su estudio areal, editorial de la Universidad de Costa Rica, San José. Sobre el estudio de las lenguas chibchenses y su contribución al conocimiento del pasado de sus hablantes. Boletín del Museo del Oro 38-39, 13-56, the Development of the Paya Sound-System. Editorial Technólogica de Costa Rica,259 pp. ISBN 9977-66-186-3, a journal of Chibchan linguistics Estudios de Lingüistica Chibcha is published by the Universidad de Costa Rica
7.
Tairona
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The Tairona people formed one of the two principal linguistic groups of the Chibcha family, the other being the Muisca. Genetic and archaeological evidence shows a relatively dense occupation of the region by at least 200 BCE, pollen data compiled by Luisa Fernanda Herrera in the 1980 shows considerable deforestation and the use of cultigens such as yuca and maiz since possibly 1200 BCE. However, occupation of the Colombian Caribbean coast by sedentary or semi-sedentary populations have been documented to have occurred by c.4000 BCE and this movement allowed them to evade the worst of the Spanish colonial system during the 17th and 18th centuries. The indigenous Kogi, Wiwa, Arhuacos and Kankuamo people who live in the area today are believed to be descendants of the Tairona. Initially it was used to refer to the inhabitants of a valley, but by the 16th century, the Spanish used it for the whole group of complex chiefdoms in the area. The groups in the northern and western Sierra Nevada were largely indistinguishable to the Spaniards, the archaeological sequence of the region spans from approximately 200 BCE to the 17th century CE when the Tairona were forcibly integrated into the Spanish Encomienda system. Knowledge sources about the pre-Columbian Tairona civilization are limited to archaeological findings, one of the first descriptions of the region was written by Pedro Martyr d Anghiera and was published in 1530. The area also was described by explorers who visited the region between 1505 and 1524. Anghiera portrays the Tairona valleys as densely populated, with extensive fields irrigated in the way as those in Tuscany. Many villages were dedicated to fishing and traded their goods for the rest of their needs with those living inland. Anghiera describes how they aggressively repelled the Spanish when they attempted to take women and children as slaves in the first contacts, one of the best-known Tairona nucleated villages and archaeological sites is known as Ciudad Perdida. It was a city, about 13 hectares in the core. It was discovered by looters in 1975 but is now under the care of the Colombian Institute of Anthropology, there are many other sites of similar or greater size. A larger site, Pueblito is located near the coast, according to Reichel-Dolmatoffs research, it contains at least 254 terraces and had a population of about 3,000 people. Archaeological studies in the show that even larger nucleated villages existed towards the western slope of the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, like Posiguieca. Smaller villages and hamlets were part of a very robust exchange network of specialized communities, villages that specialized in salt production and fishing, like Chengue in the Parque Tairona, are evidence of a robust Tairona political economy based on specialized staple production. Chengue contains at least 100 terraces and was inhabited by about 800 to 1,000 people in 15 hectares by 1400, the Tairona are known to have built stone terraced platforms, house foundations, stairs, sewers, tombs, and bridges. Use of pottery for utilitarian and ornamental or ceremonial purposes was also developed as a result of fairly specialized communities
8.
Arawak
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The Arawak are a group of indigenous peoples of South America, Florida, and historically of the Caribbean. The term Arawak originally applied specifically to the South American group who self-identified as Arawak and their language, the Arawak language, gives its name to the Arawakan language family. Arawakan speakers in the Caribbean were also known as the Taíno. In 1871, ethnologist Daniel Garrison Brinton proposed calling the Caribbean populace Island Arawak due to their cultural, subsequent scholars shortened this convention to Arawak, creating confusion between the island and mainland groups. In the 20th century, scholars such as Irving Rouse resumed using Taíno for the Caribbean group to emphasize their distinct culture, the Arawakan languages may have emerged in the Orinoco River valley. The group that self-identified as the Arawak, also known as the Lokono, settled the areas of what is now Guyana, Suriname, Grenada and parts of the island of Trinidad. At some point, the Arawakan-speaking Taíno culture emerged in the Caribbean, however, contact with Europeans exposed the Taino to diseases, particularly smallpox, influenza, measles, and typhus, that they no prior contact with, and thus no natural immunity. By 1504, the Spanish had overthrown the last of the Taino cacique chiefdoms on Hispaniola, and firmly established the supreme authority of the Spanish colonists over the now-subjugated Taino. The population of Hispanoila at the point of first European contact is estimated at several hundred thousand, to over a million people, but by 1514, it had dropped to a mere 35,000. By 1509, the Spanish had successfully conquered Puerto Rico and subjugated the ~30,000 Taino inhabitants, by 1530 there were 1148 Taino left alive in Puerto Rico. Taíno influence has survived even today, though, as can be seen in the religions, languages. The Lokono and other South American groups resisted colonization for a period. In the early 17th century, they allied with the Spanish against the neighboring Kalina and their population declined until the 20th century, when it began to increase again. The Spaniards who arrived in the Bahamas, Cuba, and Hispaniola in 1492, the explorers mated with the Taíno women, who bore mestizo children as a result. While the Taíno have been extinct as a distinct population since the 16th century, a 2003 mitochondrial DNA study under the Taíno genome project determined that 62% of people in Puerto Rico have direct-line maternal ancestry to Taíno/Arawakan ancestors. There are about 10,000 Lokono living primarily in the areas of Venezuela, Guyana, Suriname, and French Guiana. Unlike many indigenous groups in South America, the Lokono population is growing, john P. Bennett -, first Amerindian ordained as an Anglican priest in Guyana, linguist and author of An Arawak-English Dictionary. George Simon -, artist and archaeologist from Guyana, st. Lucia, Archaeological and Historical Society
9.
Spanish Empire
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The Spanish Empire was one of the largest empires in history. The Spanish Empire became the foremost global power of its time and was the first to be called the empire on which the sun never sets, the Spanish Empire originated during the Age of Discovery after the voyages of Christopher Columbus. Following the Spanish–American War of 1898, Spain ceded its last colonies in the Caribbean and its last African colonies were granted independence or abandoned during Decolonisation of Africa finishing in 1976. The unity did not mean uniformity, nevertheless, some historians assert that Portugal was part of the Spanish monarchy at the time, while others draw a clear distinction between the Portuguese and Spanish empires. During the 15th century, Castile and Portugal became territorial and commercial rivals in the western Atlantic. The conquest was completed with the campaigns of the armies of the Crown of Castile between 1478 and 1496, when the islands of Gran Canaria, La Palma, and Tenerife were subjugated. The Portuguese tried in vain to keep secret their discovery of the Gold Coast in the Gulf of Guinea, chronicler Pulgar wrote that the fame of the treasures of Guinea spread around the ports of Andalusia in such way that everybody tried to go there. Worthless trinkets, Moorish textiles, and above all, shells from the Canary and Cape Verde islands were exchanged for gold, slaves, ivory and Guinea pepper. The Crown officially organized this trade with Guinea, every caravel had to get a government license, the treaty delimited the spheres of influence of the two countries, establishing the principle of the Mare clausum. It was confirmed in 1481 by the Pope Sixtus IV, in the papal bull Æterni regis, thus, the limitations imposed by the Alcáçovas treaty were overcome and a new and more balanced worlds division would be reached at Tordesillas between both emerging maritime powers. Seven months before the treaty of Alcaçovas, King John II of Aragon died, Ferdinand and Isabella drove the last Moorish king out of Granada in 1492 after a ten-year war. The Catholic Monarchs then negotiated with Christopher Columbus, a Genoese sailor attempting to reach Cipangu by sailing west, Castile was already engaged in a race of exploration with Portugal to reach the Far East by sea when Columbus made his bold proposal to Isabella. Columbus discoveries inaugurated the Spanish colonization of the Americas and these actions gave Spain exclusive rights to establish colonies in all of the New World from north to south, as well as the easternmost parts of Asia. The treaty of Tordesillas was confirmed by Pope Julius II in the bull Ea quae pro bono pacis on 24 January 1506, Spains expansion and colonization was driven by economic influences, a yearning to improve national prestige, and a desire to spread Catholicism into the New World. The Catholic Monarchs had developed a strategy of marriages for their children in order to isolate their long-time enemy, the Spanish princes married the heirs of Portugal, England and the House of Habsburg. Following the same strategy, the Catholic Monarchs decided to support the Catalan-Aragonese house of Naples against Charles VIII of France in the Italian Wars beginning in 1494. As King of Aragon, Ferdinand had been involved in the struggle against France and Venice for control of Italy, these conflicts became the center of Ferdinands foreign policy as king. Only a year later, Ferdinand became part of the Holy League against France and this war was less of a success than the war against Venice, and in 1516, France agreed to a truce that left Milan in its control and recognized Spanish control of Upper Navarre
10.
Arhuaca mochila
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The mochila arhuaca, or tutu iku in Ika, is a popular Colombian artisan bag made by the Arhuaco people of the Sierra Nevada. In recent years, the bags have turned into a symbol for Colombian identity. Although the whole community is involved in production, only Wati can weave the bags together according to custom. Traditionally, the women learn to weave from an age by watching their mothers. The first mochila they make is given to the priest for the rituals of the life cycle, the colors with which the mochilas are woven are earth tones, ranging from brown and beige to black and gray. Originally they were woven with fibers from the Arahuaco lands, such as agave. The Spanish introduced sheeps wool and currently mochilas also are made with industrial fibers, the bags usually carry indigenous drawings or representations of animals and other objects of their cosmology. In the town of Atanquez, the bags are most frequently made with hemp from the Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta mountain-range. Arhuaco men traditionally use three bags, one called chige kwanu, to personal belongings, another called Zizhu, to carry cocoa leaves. They also used a fourth one called masi, to hold their poporo, the women carry the tutu gawa made of agave. The tutu chakeai and jina kau are marunsama backpacks or mamu, when a man and woman will marry, the future wife weaves two bags, one for her and one for her husband, to symbolize the love of the couple. Starting in the 1960s, the arhuaca mochila left the geographical arhuaco, penetrated large Colombian cities, in 2006, the backpack was nominated as the Arhuaco cultural symbol of Colombia in the contest organized by the magazine Semana
11.
Agriculture
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Agriculture is the cultivation and breeding of animals, plants and fungi for food, fiber, biofuel, medicinal plants and other products used to sustain and enhance human life. Agriculture was the key development in the rise of human civilization. The study of agriculture is known as agricultural science, the history of agriculture dates back thousands of years, and its development has been driven and defined by greatly different climates, cultures, and technologies. Industrial agriculture based on large-scale monoculture farming has become the dominant agricultural methodology, genetically modified organisms are an increasing component of agriculture, although they are banned in several countries. Agricultural food production and water management are increasingly becoming global issues that are fostering debate on a number of fronts, the major agricultural products can be broadly grouped into foods, fibers, fuels, and raw materials. Specific foods include cereals, vegetables, fruits, oils, meats, fibers include cotton, wool, hemp, silk and flax. Raw materials include lumber and bamboo, other useful materials are also produced by plants, such as resins, dyes, drugs, perfumes, biofuels and ornamental products such as cut flowers and nursery plants. The word agriculture is a late Middle English adaptation of Latin agricultūra, from ager, field, Agriculture usually refers to human activities, although it is also observed in certain species of ant, termite and ambrosia beetle. To practice agriculture means to use resources to produce commodities which maintain life, including food, fiber, forest products, horticultural crops. This definition includes arable farming or agronomy, and horticulture, all terms for the growing of plants, even then, it is acknowledged that there is a large amount of knowledge transfer and overlap between silviculture and agriculture. In traditional farming, the two are often combined even on small landholdings, leading to the term agroforestry, Agriculture began independently in different parts of the globe, and included a diverse range of taxa. At least 11 separate regions of the Old and New World were involved as independent centers of origin, wild grains were collected and eaten from at least 105,000 years ago. Pigs were domesticated in Mesopotamia around 15,000 years ago, rice was domesticated in China between 13,500 and 8,200 years ago, followed by mung, soy and azuki beans. Sheep were domesticated in Mesopotamia between 13,000 and 11,000 years ago. From around 11,500 years ago, the eight Neolithic founder crops, emmer and einkorn wheat, hulled barley, peas, lentils, bitter vetch, chick peas and flax were cultivated in the Levant. Cattle were domesticated from the aurochs in the areas of modern Turkey. In the Andes of South America, the potato was domesticated between 10,000 and 7,000 years ago, along with beans, coca, llamas, alpacas, sugarcane and some root vegetables were domesticated in New Guinea around 9,000 years ago. Sorghum was domesticated in the Sahel region of Africa by 7,000 years ago, cotton was domesticated in Peru by 5,600 years ago, and was independently domesticated in Eurasia at an unknown time
12.
Potato
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The potato is a starchy, tuberous crop from the perennial nightshade Solanum tuberosum. The word potato may refer either to the plant itself or to the edible tuber, in the Andes, where the species is indigenous, there are some other closely related cultivated potato species. Potatoes were introduced to Europe in the half of the 16th century by the Spanish. It is the worlds fourth-largest food crop, following maize, wheat, the green leaves and green skins of tubers exposed to the light are toxic. Wild potato species can be throughout the Americas from the United States to southern Chile. Following centuries of breeding, there are now over a thousand different types of potatoes. However, the importance of the potato is variable and changing rapidly. As of 2007 China led the world in production, and nearly a third of the worlds potatoes were harvested in China. The English word potato comes from Spanish patata, the Spanish Royal Academy says the Spanish word is a compound of the Taíno batata and the Quechua papa. The 16th-century English herbalist John Gerard used the terms bastard potatoes and Virginia potatoes for this species, potatoes are occasionally referred to as Irish potatoes or white potatoes in the United States, to distinguish them from sweet potatoes. The name spud for a small potato comes from the digging of soil prior to the planting of potatoes, the word spud traces back to the 16th century. It subsequently transferred over to a variety of digging tools, around 1845, the name transferred to the tuber itself. It was Mario Peis 1949 The Story of Language that can be blamed for the false origin. Pei writes, the potato, for its part, was in disrepute some centuries ago, some Englishmen who did not fancy potatoes formed a Society for the Prevention of Unwholesome Diet. The initials of the words in this title gave rise to spud. Like most other pre-20th century acronymic origins, this is false, Potato plants are herbaceous perennials that grow about 60 cm high, depending on variety, with the leaves dying back after flowering, fruiting and tuber formation. They bear white, pink, red, blue, or purple flowers with yellow stamens, in general, the tubers of varieties with white flowers have white skins, while those of varieties with colored flowers tend to have pinkish skins. Potatoes are mostly cross-pollinated by insects such as bumblebees, which carry pollen from other potato plants, tubers form in response to decreasing day length, although this tendency has been minimized in commercial varieties
13.
Onion
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The onion, also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is a vegetable and is the most widely cultivated species of the genus Allium. This genus also contains several other species variously referred to as onions and cultivated for food, such as the Japanese bunching onion, the onion. The name wild onion is applied to a number of Allium species and its ancestral wild original form is not known, although escapes from cultivation have become established in some regions. The onion is most frequently a biennial or a perennial plant, the onion plant has a fan of hollow, bluish-green leaves and its bulb at the base of the plant begins to swell when a certain day-length is reached. The bulbs are composed of shortened, compressed, underground stems surrounded by fleshy modified scale that envelop a central bud at the tip of the stem, in the autumn, the foliage dies down and the outer layers of the bulb become dry and brittle. The crop is harvested and dried and the onions are ready for use or storage, the crop is prone to attack by a number of pests and diseases, particularly the onion fly, the onion eelworm, and various fungi cause rotting. Some varieties of A. cepa, such as shallots and potato onions, Onions are cultivated and used around the world. As a food item, they are served cooked, as a vegetable or part of a prepared savoury dish. They are pungent when chopped and contain certain chemical substances which irritate the eyes, the onion plant, also known as the bulb onion or common onion, is the most widely cultivated species of the genus Allium. It was first officially described by Carl Linnaeus in his 1753 work Species Plantarum, a. cepa is known exclusively from cultivation, but related wild species occur in Central Asia. The most closely related species include A. vavilovii and A. asarense from Iran, however, Zohary and Hopf state that there are doubts whether the A. vavilovii collections tested represent genuine wild material or only feral derivatives of the crop. The vast majority of cultivars of A. cepa belong to the common onion group and are referred to simply as onions. The Aggregatum group of cultivars includes both shallots and potato onions, the genus Allium also contains a number of other species variously referred to as onions and cultivated for food, such as the Japanese bunching onion, Egyptian onion, and Canada onion. The onion plant has grown and selectively bred in cultivation for at least 7,000 years. It is a plant, but is usually grown as an annual. Modern varieties typically grow to a height of 15 to 45 cm, the leaves are yellowish- to bluish green and grow alternately in a flattened, fan-shaped swathe. They are fleshy, hollow, and cylindrical, with one flattened side and they are at their broadest about a quarter of the way up, beyond which they taper towards a blunt tip. The base of leaf is a flattened, usually white sheath that grows out of a basal disc
14.
Cabbage
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Cabbage or headed cabbage is a leafy green or purple biennial plant, grown as an annual vegetable crop for its dense-leaved heads. It is descended from the cabbage, B. oleracea var. oleracea. Cabbage heads generally range from 0.5 to 4 kilograms, smooth-leafed firm-headed green cabbages are the most common, with smooth-leafed red and crinkle-leafed savoy cabbages of both colors seen more rarely. Under conditions of long sunlit days such as are found at high latitudes in summer. Some records are discussed at the end of the history section and it is difficult to trace the exact history of cabbage, but it was most likely domesticated somewhere in Europe before 1000 BC, although savoys were not developed until the 16th century. By the Middle Ages, it had become a prominent part of European cuisine, cabbage is prone to several nutrient deficiencies, as well as to multiple pests, and bacterial and fungal diseases. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations reports that production of cabbage. Almost half of these crops were grown in China, where Chinese cabbage is the most popular Brassica vegetable, cabbages are prepared in many different ways for eating. They can be pickled, fermented for dishes such as sauerkraut, steamed, stewed, sautéed, braised, cabbage is a good source of vitamin K, vitamin C and dietary fiber. Contaminated cabbage has been linked to cases of illness in humans. Cabbage is a member of the genus Brassica and the mustard family, several other cruciferous vegetables are considered cultivars of B. oleracea, including broccoli, collard greens, brussels sprouts, kohlrabi and sprouting broccoli. All of these developed from the wild cabbage B. oleracea var. oleracea, the varietal epithet capitata is derived from the Latin word for having a head. B. oleracea and its derivatives have hundreds of names throughout the world. Cabbage was originally used to refer to forms of B. oleracea. A related species, Brassica rapa, is commonly named Chinese, napa or celery cabbage and it is also a part of common names for several unrelated species. These include cabbage bark or cabbage tree and cabbage palms, which include several genera of palms such as Mauritia, Roystonea oleracea, Acrocomia, the original family name of brassicas was Cruciferae, which derived from the flower petal pattern thought by medieval Europeans to resemble a crucifix. The word brassica derives from bresic, a Celtic word for cabbage, many European and Asiatic names for cabbage are derived from the Celto-Slavic root cap or kap, meaning head. The late Middle English word cabbage derives from the word caboche and this in turn is a variant of the Old French caboce
15.
Lettuce
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Lettuce is an annual plant of the daisy family, Asteraceae. It is most often grown as a vegetable, but sometimes for its stem. Lettuce is most often used for salads, although it is seen in other kinds of food, such as soups, sandwiches and wraps. One variety, the woju, or asparagus lettuce, is grown for its stems, in addition to its main use as a leafy green, it has also gathered religious and medicinal significance over centuries of human consumption. Europe and North America originally dominated the market for lettuce, world production of lettuce and chicory for calendar year 2013 was 24.9 million tonnes, over half of which came from China. Lettuce was first cultivated by the ancient Egyptians who turned it from a weed whose seeds were used to oil, into a food plant grown for its succulent leaves. Lettuce spread to the Greeks and Romans, the latter of whom gave it the name lactuca, by 50 AD, many types were described, and lettuce appeared often in medieval writings, including several herbals. The 16th through 18th centuries saw the development of varieties in Europe. Generally grown as an annual, lettuce is easily cultivated. It can be plagued by numerous nutrient deficiencies, as well as insect and mammal pests, L. sativa crosses easily within the species and with some other species within the Lactuca genus. Although this trait can be a problem to home gardeners who attempt to save seeds, lettuce is a rich source of vitamin K and vitamin A, and a moderate source of folate and iron. Contaminated lettuce is often a source of bacterial, viral and parasitic outbreaks in humans, including E. coli, Lactuca sativa is a member of the Lactuca genus and the Asteraceae family. The species was first described in 1753 by Carl Linnaeus in the volume of his Species Plantarum. Synonyms for L. sativa include Lactuca scariola var. sativa, L. scariola var. integrata, L. scariola is itself a synonym for L. serriola, the common wild or prickly lettuce. L. sativa also has many identified taxonomic groups, subspecies and varieties, the Romans referred to lettuce as lactuca, an allusion to the white substance, now called latex, exuded by cut stems. This word has become the name, while sativa was added to create the species name. The current word lettuce, originally from Middle English, came from the Old French letues or laitues, lettuces native range spreads from the Mediterranean to Siberia, although it has been transported to almost all areas of the world. Plants generally have a height and spread of 15 to 30 cm, the leaves are colorful, mainly in the green and red color spectrums, with some variegated varieties
16.
Blueberry
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Blueberries are perennial flowering plants with indigo-colored berries from the section Cyanococcus within the genus Vaccinium. Species in the section Cyanococcus are the most common fruits sold as blueberries and are native to North America, Blueberries are usually erect, prostrate shrubs that can vary in size from 10 centimeters to 4 meters in height. In the commercial production of blueberries, the species are known as lowbush blueberries. The leaves can be deciduous or evergreen, ovate to lanceolate. The flowers are bell-shaped, white, pale pink or red, the fruit is a berry 5–16 millimeters in diameter with a flared crown at the end, they are pale greenish at first, then reddish-purple, and finally dark purple when ripe. They are covered in a coating of powdery epicuticular wax. They have a sweet taste when mature, with variable acidity, the genus Vaccinium has a mostly circumpolar distribution, with species mainly being present in North America, Europe, Asia and Africa. Many commercially sold species with English common names including blueberry are currently classified in section Cyanococcus of the genus Vaccinium, many North American native species of blueberries are grown commercially in the Southern Hemisphere in Australia, New Zealand and South American nations. See the Identification section for more information, note, habitat and range summaries are from the Flora of New Brunswick, published in 1986 by Harold R. These species are sometimes called blueberries and sold as jam or other products. The names of blueberries in languages other than English often translate as blueberry, e. g. Scots blaeberry, blaeberry, blåbær and French myrtilles usually refer to the European native bilberry, while bleuets refers to the North American blueberry. Russian голубика does not refer to blueberries, which are non-native and nearly unknown in Russia, Cyanococcus blueberries can be distinguished from the nearly identical-looking bilberries by their flesh color when cut in half. Ripe blueberries have light green flesh, while bilberries, whortleberries and huckleberries are red or purple throughout, Blueberries may be cultivated, or they may be picked from semiwild or wild bushes. In North America, the most common cultivated species is V. corymbosum, hybrids of this with other Vaccinium species adapted to southern U. S. climates are known collectively as southern highbush blueberries. So-called wild blueberries, smaller than cultivated highbush ones, have intense color, the lowbush blueberry, V. angustifolium, is found from the Atlantic provinces westward to Quebec and southward to Michigan and West Virginia. In some areas, it produces natural blueberry barrens, where it is the dominant species covering large areas, several First Nations communities in Ontario are involved in harvesting wild blueberries. Wild has been adopted as a term for harvests of managed native stands of lowbush blueberries. The bushes are not planted or genetically manipulated, but they are pruned or burned over two years, and pests are managed
17.
Tamarillo
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The tamarillo is a small tree or shrub in the flowering plant family Solanaceae. It is best known as the species that bears the tamarillo and it is also known as the tree tomato, tamamoro, and tomate de árbol in South America. The tamarillo is native to the Andes of Ecuador, Colombia, Peru, Chile, today it is still cultivated in gardens and small orchards for local production, and it is one of the most popular fruits in these regions. In New Zealand, about 2,000 tons are produced on 200 hectares of land and exported to the United States, Japan, for the export, the existing marketing channels developed for the kiwifruit are used. The tamarillo is also grown at higher elevations of Malaysia and the Philippines. In the hot lowlands, it develops only small fruits. The choice is explained by similarity to the word tomato, the Spanish word amarillo, meaning yellow. The plant is a tree that grows up to 5 meters. Peak production is reached after 4 years, and the life expectancy is about 12 years, the tree usually forms a single upright trunk with lateral branches. The flowers and fruits hang from the lateral branches, the leaves are large, simple and perennial, and have a strong pungent smell. The flowers are pink-white, and form clusters of 10 to 50 flowers and they produce 1 to 6 fruits per cluster. Plants can set fruit without cross-pollination, but the flowers are fragrant, cross-pollination seems to improve fruit set. The roots are shallow and not very pronounced, therefore the plant is not tolerant of drought stress, Tamarillos will hybridize with many other solanaceae, though the hybrid fruits will be sterile, and unpalatable in some instances. The fruits are egg-shaped and about 4-10 centimeters long and their color varies from yellow and orange to red and almost purple. Sometimes they have dark, longitudinal stripes, Red fruits are more acetous, yellow and orange fruits are sweeter. The flesh has a texture and contains more and larger seeds than a common tomato. The fruits are high in vitamins and iron and low in calories. The tamarillo prefers subtropical climate, with rainfall between 600 and 4000 millimeters and annual temperatures between 15 and 20 °C and it is intolerant to frost and drought stress
18.
Pumpkin
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A pumpkin is a cultivar of a squash plant, most commonly of Cucurbita pepo, that is round, with smooth, slightly ribbed skin, and deep yellow to orange coloration. The thick shell contains the seeds and pulp, some exceptionally large cultivars of squash with similar appearance have also been derived from Cucurbita maxima. Specific cultivars of winter squash derived from other species, including C. argyrosperma, in New Zealand and Australian English, the term pumpkin generally refers to the broader category called winter squash elsewhere. Native to North America, pumpkins are grown for commercial use and are used both in food and recreation. Pumpkins, like squash, are thought to have originated in North America. The oldest evidence, pumpkin-related seeds dating between 7000 and 5500 BC, was found in Mexico, since some squash share the same botanical classifications as pumpkins, the names are frequently used interchangeably. Pumpkin fruits are a type of botanical berry known as a pepo, traditional C. pepo pumpkins generally weigh between 6 and 18 pounds, though the largest cultivars regularly reach weights of over 75 pounds. The color of pumpkins derives from orange carotenoid pigments, including beta-cryptoxanthin, alpha and beta carotene, the word pumpkin originates from the word pepon, which is Greek for large melon, something round and large. The French adapted this word to pompon, which the British changed to pumpion and later American colonists changed that to the word that is used today, pumpkin. The term pumpkin has no agreed upon botanical or scientific meaning, all pumpkins are winter squash, mature fruit of certain species in the genus Cucurbita. Characteristics commonly used to define pumpkin include smooth and slightly ribbed skin, circa 2005, white pumpkins had become increasingly popular in the United States. Other colors, including green, also exist. Pumpkins are grown all around the world for a variety of reasons ranging from agricultural purposes to commercial and ornamental sales. Of the seven continents, only Antarctica is unable to produce pumpkins, the biggest international producers of pumpkins include the United States, Canada, Mexico, India, the traditional American pumpkin used for jack-o-lanterns is the Connecticut Field variety. As one of the most popular crops in the United States,1.5 billion pounds of pumpkins are produced each year, the top pumpkin-producing states include Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and California. According to the Illinois Department of Agriculture, 95% of the U. S. crop intended for processing is grown in Illinois, Nestlé, operating under the brand name Libbys, produces 85% of the processed pumpkin in the United States, at their plant in Morton, Illinois. In the fall of 2009, rain in Illinois devastated the Nestlé crop, Pumpkins are a warm-weather crop that is usually planted in early July. The specific conditions necessary for growing pumpkins require that soil temperatures three inches deep are at least 60 °F and soil that holds water well
19.
Garlic
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Garlic is a species in the onion genus, Allium. Its close relatives include the onion, shallot, leek, chive, with a history of several thousand years of human consumption and use, garlic is native to the region between the Mediterranean and China, and has long been a common seasoning worldwide. It was known to Ancient Egyptians, and has used both as a food flavoring and as a traditional medicine. Allium sativum is a bulbous plant and it grows up to 1.2 m in height. Its hardiness is USDA Zone 8 and it is pollinated by bees and other insects. Allium sativum grows in the wild in areas where it has become naturalized, the wild garlic, crow garlic, and field garlic of Britain are members of the species Allium ursinum, Allium vineale, and Allium oleraceum, respectively. In North America, Allium vineale and Allium canadense, known as garlic or wild garlic. So-called elephant garlic is actually a wild leek, and not a true garlic, single clove garlic originated in the Yunnan province of China. A. sativum var. ophioscorodon Döll, called Ophioscorodon, or hard-necked garlic, includes porcelain garlics, rocambole garlic and it is sometimes considered to be a separate species, Allium ophioscorodon G. Don. A. sativum var. sativum, or soft-necked garlic, includes artichoke garlic, silverskin garlic, Garlic is easy to grow and can be grown year-round in mild climates. While sexual propagation of garlic is possible, nearly all of the garlic in cultivation is propagated asexually, in colder climates, cloves are planted in the autumn, about six weeks before the soil freezes, and harvested in late spring or early summer. The cloves must be planted deep enough to prevent freeze/thaw, which causes mold or white rot, Garlic plants can be grown closely together, leaving enough space for the bulbs to mature, and are easily grown in containers of sufficient depth. Garlic does well in loose, dry, well-drained soils in sunny locations, when selecting garlic for planting, it is important to pick large bulbs from which to separate cloves. Large cloves, along with proper spacing in the planting bed, Garlic plants prefer to grow in a soil with a high organic material content, but are capable of growing in a wide range of soil conditions and pH levels. There are different varieties or subspecies of garlic, most notably hardneck garlic, the latitude where the garlic is grown affects the choice of type, as garlic can be day-length sensitive. Hardneck garlic is grown in cooler climates and produces relatively large cloves, whereas softneck garlic is generally grown closer to the equator and produces small. Garlic scapes are removed to all the garlics energy into bulb growth. The scapes can be eaten raw or cooked, Garlic plants are usually hardy and not affected by many pests or diseases
20.
Wheat
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Wheat is a cereal grain, originally from the Levant region but now cultivated worldwide. In 2016, world production of wheat was 749 million tonnes, making it the second most-produced cereal after maize, since 1960, world production of wheat and other grain crops has tripled and is expected to grow further through the middle of the 21st Century. This grain is grown on land area than any other commercial food. World trade in wheat is greater than for all other crops combined, globally, wheat is the leading source of vegetal protein in human food, having a protein content of about 13%, which is relatively high compared to other major cereals and staple foods. The archaeological record suggests that wheat was first cultivated in the regions of the Fertile Crescent around 9600 BCE. In a small part of the population, gluten – the major part of wheat protein – can trigger coeliac disease, non-coeliac gluten sensitivity, gluten ataxia. Cultivation and repeated harvesting and sowing of the grains of wild grasses led to the creation of domestic strains, in domesticated wheat, grains are larger, and the seeds remain attached to the ear by a toughened rachis during harvesting. In wild strains, a more fragile rachis allows the ear to easily shatter, as the traits that improve wheat as a food source also involve the loss of the plants natural seed dispersal mechanisms, highly domesticated strains of wheat cannot survive in the wild. Cultivation of wheat began to spread beyond the Fertile Crescent after about 8000 BCE, jared Diamond traces the spread of cultivated emmer wheat starting in the Fertile Crescent sometime before 8800 BCE. Archaeological analysis of wild emmer indicates that it was first cultivated in the southern Levant with finds dating back as far as 9600 BCE, Genetic analysis of wild einkorn wheat suggests that it was first grown in the Karacadag Mountains in southeastern Turkey. Dated archeological remains of wheat in settlement sites near this region, including those at Abu Hureyra in Syria. With the anomalous exception of two grains from Iraq ed-Dubb, the earliest carbon-14 date for einkorn wheat remains at Abu Hureyra is 7800 to 7500 years BCE. Remains of harvested emmer from several sites near the Karacadag Range have been dated to between 8600 and 8400 BCE, that is, in the Neolithic period and these remains were dated by Willem van Zeist and his assistant Johanna Bakker-Heeres to 8800 BCE. They also concluded that the settlers of Tell Aswad did not develop this form of emmer themselves, the cultivation of emmer reached Greece, Cyprus and India by 6500 BCE, Egypt shortly after 6000 BCE, and Germany and Spain by 5000 BCE. The early Egyptians were developers of bread and the use of the oven, by 3000 BCE, wheat had reached the British Isles and Scandinavia. A millennium later it reached China, the oldest evidence for hexaploid wheat has been confirmed through DNA analysis of wheat seeds, dating to around 6400-6200 BCE, recovered from Çatalhöyük. The first identifiable bread wheat with sufficient gluten for yeasted breads has been identified using DNA analysis in samples from a dating to approximately 1350 BCE at Assiros in Macedonia. From Asia, wheat continued to spread throughout Europe, in the British Isles, wheat straw was used for roofing in the Bronze Age, and was in common use until the late 19th century
Colombia
