Lands of Red and Gold

[Jared]

As for the Herb Myrtles, to coin a term, I'd imagine they'd have trouble getting through the winters anywhere but the VA/NC coast. They could do well in the barrier islands and outer banks, possibly into the VA Eastern Shore, but wouldn't do too well too far out of the Carolina lowlands, i.e. anywhere with a high percentage of a hard frost hitting.

That sounds about right. Even VA coastline may be unreliable when compared with further south. Although most of the myrtles could be grown there, they'd probably grow better further down in the *Carolinas.

BTW, VA and Carolina summers are hot and very humid. Not sure how the humidity would affect Auraurian crops. Are any mold/mildew/fungus vulnerable?

Not that vulnerable, on the whole. The areas where the Aururian spice crops grow are fairly humid themselves; most of them grow in what are subtropical rainforests. Cinnamon myrtle may be a partial exception - some of its native range is in drier areas - but on the whole, I wouldn't expect fungal infections to be an insurmountable problem.

Do the Aururians have any iconic mythological creatures like the dragons, Unicorns and griffins of Medival Europe or the centaurs and satyrs of the anicient greco-roman world or the trolls of the norse? If so what roles do these creatures play in art,literature and other aspects of Aururian culture?

The Bunyip? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bunyip

The Muldjewngk? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muldjewangk

The Minka Bird? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minka_Bird

Yara-ma-yha-who? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yara-ma-yha-who

Yes, but Aururia is just a bit different from the Australia of our TL

The feared Blaah-Dee-Wan-Kaah?

The Draawn-Goh? Taw-Saah?

Most of the OTL mythical figures don't show up ATL, although I've made a partial exception for the Rainbow Serpent, which was so widespread in OTL that its origins must have gone a long way back.

The Rainbow Serpent is a ubiquitous part of their cultural milieu in the east. (It doesn't really show up with the Atjuntja). It's not a dragon, of course, but a lot of Europeans will probably interpret it as one. It is a frequent part of their art, religion and literature. To pick just one example, the monarchs of the Tjunini in *Tasmania claim descent from the Rainbow Serpent.

There's also "water men" who are a bit like the Muldjewangk of OTL. The details of those beliefs are different, though, and spring from the strong connections to the artificial waterworks of Aururia.

The Water Men are variously depicted as part man/part fish (most commonly with fish heads and large, webbed feet) who live in special water places. They have a habit of luring people to visit them and kidnapping them (a bit like some of the legends of fairies in Europe). In one version of the legends (there are many), *Lake Eyre is one such place where the Water Men can be reached... but only when the lake is full.

There would be others, too, but I haven't really thought through the details yet.

The TV Tropes entry I wrote some time ago for this TL could probably be updated. Anyone who has spotted tropes in recent chapters, feel free to reference them on that page.

I'm not what you would call a regular troper (I know what a timesink that place can be), but I'd welcome anyone else who's identified particular tropes.

Do remember that once the initial settlers arrived, almost all the growth was by natural increase for some considerable time.

The percentage of immigrants up to about 1830 was very small.

Hmm. ITTL, I'm expecting immigration to *Virginia to slow to about zero net migration from about 1650 onward. This is when the tobacco boom will be just about over - by then, the trade in kunduri has relegated tobacco to a marginal crop. A few people will still come after 1650, of course, but they will be roughly balanced by those who leave in search of better opportunities elsewhere (eg further south).

That means I'd need to work out exactly how much net migration was to *Virginia after 1650 (including descendants). And factor in how much the effects of lower natural increase will be. (Marnitja will lower global population growth rates until about 1960).

I do know that Virginia got some immigrants up until about 1820 (after that, immigration rates were low, as they were in most of the Old South), but I haven't got precise immigration figures.

The closest I can find is here, which has roughly 25,000 immigrants entering Virginia between 1623-1666. That number is going to be reduced ATL, but without the detailed breakdown of when those immigrants came, I can't work out by how much.

Quite possibly not. The tea grown in India is mostly descended from the large-leafed wild Assam (sub)species, not the small leafed Chinese tea. I have heard it claimed that the 'wild' tea was not quite as wild as all that, but that was in a pretty unreliable source.

So, I'm not at all sure that there is a barely drinkable 'wild' tea.

I wasn't talking about wild tea being 'barely' drinkable, per se, but that the domesticated cultivars do have an improved taste. In OTL, that means that evaluating the taste of domesticated tea versus the wild 'lemon tea' of Australia isn't a fair comparison. Wild 'lemon tea' is certainly drinkable, as is wild tea, but to do a fair taste test would require comparing wild tea to wild lemon tea. I'm not aware of anyone who's done that sort of comparison.

Either way, though, as I mentioned upthread, I now think that domesticated "lemon tea" will fill a different niche than tea. A calming beverage, etc. Although as has happened a bit in OTL, small amounts of the plant's leaves may be added to regular tea as an additional flavouring.

We REALLY need an alt-Baffin Island here!

Already covered... although it won't be as big on the map as the OTL Baffin Island.

Baffin as an explorer of the south seas!? The mind boggles.

Yeah, it seems odd, but given that he served with the EIC and died in that service in OTL, I figured that if he survived, ITTL he would be exploring the south

Googling him, I do see that OTL he took service with the EIC, but being Canadian, and seeing that great big lump of frozen rock every time I look at a map....

Half the fun of ATLs is finding plausible ways for historical characters to end up in very odd situations.

Anyway. Good stuff. Keep the TL flowing (as you have time for it).

Glad you enjoy it. Am still working on it, of course. Just that I can't keep up the old schedule of one post per fortnight like it used to be.

 

[mojojojo]

There's also "water men" who are a bit like the Muldjewangk of OTL. The details of those beliefs are different, though, and spring from the strong connections to the artificial waterworks of Aururia.

The Water Men are variously depicted as part man/part fish (most commonly with fish heads and large, webbed feet) who live in special water places. They have a habit of luring people to visit them and kidnapping them (a bit like some of the legends of fairies in Europe). In one version of the legends (there are many), *Lake Eyre is one such place where the Water Men can be reached... but only when the lake is full.

How interesting, they remind me a bit of the Japanese kappa

 

[Workable Goblin]

Hmm. ITTL, I'm expecting immigration to *Virginia to slow to about zero net migration from about 1650 onward. This is when the tobacco boom will be just about over - by then, the trade in kunduri has relegated tobacco to a marginal crop. A few people will still come after 1650, of course, but they will be roughly balanced by those who leave in search of better opportunities elsewhere (eg further south).

I don't know that kunduri would totally displace tobacco, or even mostly displace it, any more than coffee or tea displaced each other. The very qualities that make kunduri interesting also mean that some people won't like it, compared to tobacco. What you might instead end up with is something...more like tea or coffee, where cultures with easy access to the one (eg., the Dutch and mainland Europeans for kunduri) use that, while cultures with easy access to the other (eg., the British and tobacco) use that, instead.

Just a thought, anyways.

 

[Geekhis Khan]

I don't know that kunduri would totally displace tobacco, or even mostly displace it, any more than coffee or tea displaced each other. The very qualities that make kunduri interesting also mean that some people won't like it, compared to tobacco. What you might instead end up with is something...more like tea or coffee, where cultures with easy access to the one (eg., the Dutch and mainland Europeans for kunduri) use that, while cultures with easy access to the other (eg., the British and tobacco) use that, instead.

Just a thought, anyways.

I'd kind of wondered that myself. Is Kunduri very much cheaper to grow/cure/distribute than tobacco? I'd assume the opposite, and that tobac will be the "poor man's Kunduri". That and/or be popular with the Spanish and English and *Americans while those "heathenous/barbaric/hedonistic" Dutch prefer the quasi-psychadelic qualities of special K.

 

[Dathi THorfinnsson]

I'd kind of wondered that myself. Is Kunduri very much cheaper to grow/cure/distribute than tobacco? I'd assume the opposite, and that tobac will be the "poor man's Kunduri". That and/or be popular with the Spanish and English and *Americans while those "heathenous/barbaric/hedonistic" Dutch prefer the quasi-psychadelic qualities of special K.

Special K. Hmmm... good street name!

[4 oz of milk and 1 oz of Special K is not only a good dietary source protein, but a great way to get high....]

 

[Jared]

How different will the domesticated quolls of this TL look

Domesticated quolls are a lot like cats in some respects. That is, in their general shape they don't look too different from their wild ancestors.

Domesticated quolls are larger than their wild counterparts; about the size of a medium-to-large housecat. They have been bred for a variety of colours and patterns in their fur, and have some short and long furred versions, but other than that, they're still recognisably quollish.

I don't know that kunduri would totally displace tobacco, or even mostly displace it, any more than coffee or tea displaced each other. The very qualities that make kunduri interesting also mean that some people won't like it, compared to tobacco. What you might instead end up with is something...more like tea or coffee, where cultures with easy access to the one (eg., the Dutch and mainland Europeans for kunduri) use that, while cultures with easy access to the other (eg., the British and tobacco) use that, instead.

'Tis an interesting question. And also not one with a definitive answer, since we don't have a domesticated version of kunduri to compare to tobacco.

However, given what is known about wild kunduri [pituri], I suspect that it will be very competitive with tobacco, to the point where it will leave tobacco only as a specialty crop.

This is for a variety of reasons. Kunduri and tobacco, although different plants, have much more in common with each other than, say, tea and coffee. The most active ingredient is the same (nicotine), and while kunduri has a few other trace compounds which give it an extra boost, it's still similar in its effects. (By comparison, tea and coffee do have some caffeine in common, but the most active ingredients in tea are others.)

There's also what we do know about comparison between domesticated tobacco and kunduri in OTL. Australia has a wide variety of native tobacco species of its own, as well as kunduri. In OTL, when Aboriginal peoples were exposed to domesticated tobacco (from the Americas), they quickly dropped the native tobacco in favour of domesticated tobacco - except where kunduri [pituri] was around. When they could get kunduri, they stuck with that over tobacco. Kunduri was only abandoned when the people who lived in the area of its growth were decimated by Eurasian diseases and colonisation.

Kunduri will also be cheaper to grow than tobacco (see below), which I think will be an additional reason for it to out-compete tobacco.

So while tobacco certainly won't disappear entirely, I think it will be relegated to secondary status. Some people will still prefer it, but I think they'll be a minority. The profits for tobacco will be much smaller and not of the scale which will allow widespread importation of indentured labour or provide a surefire cash crop for export.

I'd kind of wondered that myself. Is Kunduri very much cheaper to grow/cure/distribute than tobacco? I'd assume the opposite, and that tobac will be the "poor man's Kunduri".

Kunduri will be cheaper to grow than tobacco, for a couple of reasons. The tobacco plant is one of the most labour-intensive crops to plant, cultivate, water, tend etc. The plant is finicky, and the work is difficult.

Kunduri is less labour intensive than tobacco - still a significant workload, but not so severe as tobacco. It's a perennial plant, which means in the right areas (ie warm enough) it will be easier to grow than tobacco, since you don't need to replant it every year. The leaves also stay on the tree for longer in a usable form, which means that you can get by with a smaller workforce to harvest it, since you can spread the work out over a longer period. It also doesn't exhaust the soil as much, which is another bonus.

Curing effort would be about the same.

Distribution won't be that much harder. By equal weight, kunduri would be worth more than tobacco (higher nicotine levels). Conversely, tobacco has the advantage of growing right across the Atlantic, while kunduri is originally all the way from Aururia. That will change starting in the early 1640s, though, when the Dutch establish the first kunduri plantations in South Africa. After that, it will be grown in other places.

That and/or be popular with the Spanish and English and *Americans while those "heathenous/barbaric/hedonistic" Dutch prefer the quasi-psychadelic qualities of special K.

I wouldn't be surprised if the English and Spanish have relatively more consumption of tobacco than other European countries, since those two have the best access to colonies which can grow tobacco. Still, even within those countries I'd expect that kunduri would be the preferred crop for the majority of people, if they can get their hands on it.

 

[Valdemar II]

One comment to the kunduri dominance, a lot depend on how well it can be grown in cold climates, while tobacco are a warm climate plant, it can be grown in colder climate, by being grown indoor at first and later in the summer being moved outside. While this was expensive in a mercantilistic economy it make sense to do so unless kunduri are extremely cheap or can be grown in the same way.

 

[Jared]

One comment to the kunduri dominance, a lot depend on how well it can be grown in cold climates, while tobacco are a warm climate plant, it can be grown in colder climate, by being grown indoor at first and later in the summer being moved outside. While this was expensive in a mercantilistic economy it make sense to do so unless kunduri are extremely cheap or can be grown in the same way.

Hmm. Was this practice done with tobacco in OTL colonial Virginia (or elsewhere in North America)? I don't recall ever hearing anything about it, but my knowledge of that period is hardly extensive.

On a broader note, the handy thing about the kunduri plant is that it is more versatile than tobacco in a lot of ways. Less need for watering and irrigation, less labour intensive, handy being a perennial, and notably, does not exhaust the soil anywhere near as quickly.

It's even somewhat frost tolerant, according to the cultivation information I've found. I don't know to what temperature - being buried in snow for months would probably be too much - but the plant is native to an environment where there are cold nights as well as hot days.

The one thing which kunduri definitely has a problem with, though, is excessive humidity. It is native to semiarid regions where rainfall is sporadic but humidity is next to none. With too much humidity, it's likely to come down with fungal diseases and so forth.

This actually means that kunduri can be grown in a fairly wide swathe around much of the tropical and subtropical parts of the globe - but only the drier regions. The east coast of North America is pretty much right out - but the west coast (California or Sinaloa, say) would be ideal with a little irrigation. Much of the Med would do pretty well, too, as would South Africa, and significant portions of Australia. If the summers are really hot, though, the plants will need to be well-spaced or receive a little irrigation - they can put down deep roots to take advantage of subsoil water, but that won't work if the plants are too close together.

 

[Valdemar II]

Hmm. Was this practice done with tobacco in OTL colonial Virginia (or elsewhere in North America)? I don't recall ever hearing anything about it, but my knowledge of that period is hardly extensive.

It was done in Denmark (so in a lot colder place than Virginia), the Huguenot population in Fredericia produce tobacco this way, of course it was quite expensive but it fit well into the mercantile ideas of the time. I haven't heard about it elsewhere but if it was done in Denmark, it has likely happen elsewhere in Europe too.

On a broader note, the handy thing about the kunduri plant is that it is more versatile than tobacco in a lot of ways. Less need for watering and irrigation, less labour intensive, handy being a perennial, and notably, does not exhaust the soil anywhere near as quickly.

It's even somewhat frost tolerant, according to the cultivation information I've found. I don't know to what temperature - being buried in snow for months would probably be too much - but the plant is native to an environment where there are cold nights as well as hot days.

If it can take frost and doesn't have too deep roots (or aren't damaged by the root being kept short artificial), it can be place inside in the winter (something also done with cucumber beside tobacco). In that case it will likely outcompete tobacco completely.

The one thing which kunduri definitely has a problem with, though, is excessive humidity. It is native to semiarid regions where rainfall is sporadic but humidity is next to none. With too much humidity, it's likely to come down with fungal diseases and so forth.

This actually means that kunduri can be grown in a fairly wide swathe around much of the tropical and subtropical parts of the globe - but only the drier regions. The east coast of North America is pretty much right out - but the west coast (California or Sinaloa, say) would be ideal with a little irrigation. Much of the Med would do pretty well, too, as would South Africa, and significant portions of Australia. If the summers are really hot, though, the plants will need to be well-spaced or receive a little irrigation - they can put down deep roots to take advantage of subsoil water, but that won't work if the plants are too close together.

It still sound better than tobacco, where a sudden frost could kill them. It sounds like Spain, the Ottomans, Persia and Ethiopia are the ones most likely to benefit from this. You could easily imagine the Portugeese or Dutch introduce this to Ethiopia to keep Spain from dominate the market. Of course that will mean that the coastal areas of the Horn need to be placed under Ethiopian or European control (or a mix domination Europeans forts and Ethiopian hinterland) this will also mean a earlier introduction of coffee to European traders.

Interesting we could see a East Africa as a major production centre rather than just a source of slaves to the Middle East, a major Ethiopian Empire dominating Africas Horn down to Kenya and up to southen Sudan, with European trading posts and forts spreading down the coast, while at the same time the Arab slave trading network breaks down due to the demographic collapse, giving native states room to establish a less slave trade based economy.

 

[mojojojo]

Interesting we could see a East Africa as a major production centre rather than just a source of slaves to the Middle East, a major Ethiopian Empire dominating Africas Horn down to Kenya and up to southen Sudan, with European trading posts and forts spreading down the coast, while at the same time the Arab slave trading network breaks down due to the demographic collapse, giving native states room to establish a less slave trade based economy.

I bet there would be all sorts of interesting butterflies from this

 

[Jared]

If it can take frost and doesn't have too deep roots (or aren't damaged by the root being kept short artificial), it can be place inside in the winter (something also done with cucumber beside tobacco). In that case it will likely outcompete tobacco completely.

Its roots probably could be kept short, but this is a perennial shrub which is closer to tea in its cultivation than tobacco, ie best grown over a number of years. There will probably still be a market for tobacco in places where it can be grown (eg Virginia)... just probably not one which is profitable enough to allow the wide-scale importation of indentured labour (or slaves, later).

It still sound better than tobacco, where a sudden frost could kill them. It sounds like Spain, the Ottomans, Persia and Ethiopia are the ones most likely to benefit from this. You could easily imagine the Portugeese or Dutch introduce this to Ethiopia to keep Spain from dominate the market. Of course that will mean that the coastal areas of the Horn need to be placed under Ethiopian or European control (or a mix domination Europeans forts and Ethiopian hinterland) this will also mean a earlier introduction of coffee to European traders.

Interesting thought! I hadn't considered East Africa as a major production area - it would depend on the disease environment, but otherwise should be manageable. It will also grow in a lot of North Africa, Iberia, etc, too. Lots of target areas where it's suitable.

The earlier introduction of coffee could also be considered a bonus, too. (If you're the sort of person who can drink it, that is.)

Interesting we could see a East Africa as a major production centre rather than just a source of slaves to the Middle East, a major Ethiopian Empire dominating Africas Horn down to Kenya and up to southen Sudan, with European trading posts and forts spreading down the coast, while at the same time the Arab slave trading network breaks down due to the demographic collapse, giving native states room to establish a less slave trade based economy.

More and more interesting possibilities. The East African slave trade is going to take a hit for a while, although whether it recovers is another question.

Ethiopia... hmm. There's already going to be butterflies when certain other Aururian crops reach Ethiopia (most notably wattles). Add kunduri to the mix and things get very interesting indeed. Although the sort of bigger Ethiopia which is produced may not be a nice one if it's based on a quasi-fuedal production of cash crops...

I bet there would be all sorts of interesting butterflies from this

Oh, yes. Another way to make the future more difficult to extrapolate. Fun, though.

 

[Valdemar II]

Ethiopia... hmm. There's already going to be butterflies when certain other Aururian crops reach Ethiopia (most notably wattles). Add kunduri to the mix and things get very interesting indeed. Although the sort of bigger Ethiopia which is produced may not be a nice one if it's based on a quasi-fuedal production of cash crops...

It dependt on whether the cash crops are part of colonial network or a latifundia economy as in the Americas or whether it's based on small independent farmer producing it. If it's the later we would see the development of local farmer petit-bourgeois whom will serve to create a need of native proto-industry and the creation of a strong taxbase creating the incentiment for the development of a unitarian state. I could see it go both ways in East Africa the ease which it's harvested would lean toward the creation of large latifundias, but the lack of labourers and the need for long term planning in growing the plants would lean toward small freeholders. Of course we may also see sdomething like pre-modern East Prussia the local Somali population enserfed by Ethiopian landowner, but with a significant class of wealthy freeholders based on Ethiopian settlers whom serves as yeoman-militia and a urban enclaves of European settlers serving as a mechant minority and as connection to wider Christian civilisation. Fundamental the east Baltic in OTL was based on cash crops and we still saw the development of a strong burgher and yeoman (in East Prussia) class, it was only in the late 17th century the nobility succed in breaking their power, and still to introduction of communism East Prussia stayed until 1918 the areas east of the Elb with the smallest estates (a sign which usual show the power of the rural middle class).

 

[mojojojo]

Oh, yes. Another way to make the future more difficult to extrapolate. Fun, though.

If anyone is up to the task, you are

 

[Jared]

Lands of Red and Gold #38: The Portuguese Yam

It has been rather longer than I’d planned since the last instalment of LRG. Life gets in the way, sometimes... and I still haven’t had a chance to complete the next post about the Yadji and their would-be Dutch conquistadors

In the meantime, though, I can offer this rather different insight into the LRG world...

* * *

Taken from Intellipedia.

Red Yam

The red yam is a starchy, tuberous crop from the perennial Dioscorea chelidonius of the Dioscoreaceae family (also known as the bread vines) [1]. The name red yam can refer to the plant itself, as well as the edible tuber. The name is also sometimes misleadingly used to refer to the related crop Dioscorea angustus, properly known as the lesser yam. However, in Portuguese, no such ambiguity arises, since the same name, inhame vermelho, is used to refer to both species. [citation needed]

In southern and eastern Aururia, there are other closely-related wild yam species, none of which are cultivated. However, the warran yam (Dioscorea hastifolia), native to the south-west of the Third World [this phrase has been reported as offensive: discuss] has been cultivated [2]. Despite having first been introduced outside of Aururia four centuries ago [dubious: Aotearoa is not in Aururia!], red yams have today become a fundamental component of much of the world’s cuisine. Today, the red yam is the world’s fifth-largest food crop, after rice, wheat, potato and maize [3].

Related Dioscorea (yam) species are distributed through tropics of the globe, and a few extend into temperate latitudes. However, domesticated yams are derived only from the Old World and Aururia; no yam crops have been domesticated from the Americas. [citation needed] The red yam (and lesser yam) is by far the most widespread and commercially significant domesticated Dioscorea crop. However, other yam crops are equally important to the peoples who cultivate them, particularly white and yellow yams in West Africa [irrelevant addition: discuss].

Based on historical records, local tradition, and genetic analysis, the red yam is known to have been first domesticated in the Nyalananga basin. Although the precise location has not been identified. Archaeological evidence has clearly demonstrated that domesticated red yams were grown by 2500 BC [4]. However, the red yam was cultivated as long ago as 10,000 years ago [5] [unreliable source].

Introduced to the world by the Netherlands after 1619, the red yam was then distributed by European and Nangu mariners to territories and ports throughout the globe. Hundreds of varieties remain in Aururia, where a single agricultural household may grow half a dozen cultivars. Once established across the globe, the red yam soon became an important staple crop, particularly in the Mediterranean littoral and the subtropical Americas.

Characteristics

Red yam plants are herbaceous perennial vines that grow up to 6 m long (depending on variety), with the yam stems dying back in late autumn. They bear purple, white, pink or yellow flowers [1]. Red yams are cross-pollinated mostly by insects, including bees and moths, which carry pollen from other red yam plants, although a few cultivars are capable of self-fertilisation. Tubers form in response to decreasing day length, although a few commercial cultivars start forming their tuber earlier than the summer solstice.

After red yam plants flower, some cultivars produce small fruits, although these are toxic. All new red yam cultivars are grown from seed. Any domesticated red yam variety can also be propagated vegetatively by planting the tuber, or the uppermost portion (called the head) [citation needed]. Red yams can also be bred from cuttings, which are most commonly used in greenhouses. A few commercial cultivars cannot produce seeds, and are cultivated only from cuttings or tuber heads [1]. However, the “Sombra” cultivars of red yams, bred in Portugal, are grown for ornamental purposes. Sombra yam vine stalks grow year-round, and are much-favoured for decorating buildings in Lisbon and the Algarve, but do not form viable tubers.

Genetics

The major species grown worldwide is Dioscorea chelidonius (a tetraploid with 160 chromosomes), and modern varieties of this species are the most widely-cultivated worldwide. There are also three hexaploid species, most notably the lesser yam D. hastifolia, and the less widespread D. stenotomum and D. siliqua [6].

Including the hexaploid subspecies, there are about a thousand genetically distinct varieties of red yams globewide [7]. Seven hundred or so are confined to Aururia and Aotearoa, and about six hundred of those are exclusively found within the Nyalananga basin. No truly wild form of Dioscorea chelidonius survives today; genetic pollution and habitat destruction has meant that all surviving wild varieties of red yam contain some introgression of domesticated genes. Archaeological digs have recovered the genome of apparently wild forms, and Hani Tarun, a genetic pioneer, is actively leading research into identifying genes from preserved varieties of wild red yams which can be used to enhance cultivated forms for better growth or resistance to disease and pests [this appears to be a personal advertisement: flagged for removal: discuss].

History

Red yams yield abundantly with little effort, and with appropriate care and replanting after harvest an individual plant can be made to yield tubers for up to a decade. They are best suited to moderately dry climates, and together with cornnarts are the most water-efficient of staple food crops. Red yams are vulnerable to moulds and rotting if stored in damp or humid conditions, although their thick skins mean that they are less vulnerable than other major root crops such as potatoes or sweet potatoes. Red yams can rarely be stored for more than a year except in specialised conditions, in contrast to cereal crops which can be safely stored for several years.

Aururia

The red yam originated in south-eastern Aururia, somewhere on or near the Nyalananga, although the precise location remains disputed. Red yams were first domesticated sometime between 3500 and 2500 BC, and spread over the southern half of the continent before 1 AD. They formed the basis of native Aururian agriculture, providing the principal energy source for the Atjuntja, Yadji and Tjibarr states, and their predecessors and successors. Even today, red yams provide the single largest source of food energy for Aururia [1].

Aotearoa

Red yams spread to Aotearoa, together with other Aururian crops, sometime before 1350 AD. Its properties were so respected by Maori farmers, and its cultivation so widespread, that it completely displaced the Polynesian crop package which the Maori had brought with them. Sweet potatoes, taro and Asian yams were cultivated during the early days of Maori settlement, but were abandoned before first European contact in 1627. They survived only in archaeology and where they were imported into Aururia. However, some have argued [who?] that without the Maori bringing sweet potatoes to Aururia, the northern half of the continent would have been largely empty until European invasion [this term has been flagged as offensive: discuss].

Africa

Red yams were introduced to southern Africa in 1640, with the first Cape Maddirs who were forcibly deported from their homelands [citation needed]. Plirite missionaries carried red yams along with their faith beyond the borders of Dutch control, until the missionaries reached the Tropic of Capricorn. The missionaries progresses further, but the red yam did not [1]. However, the D. chelidonius ssp. hastifolia varieties of red yam spread along the eastern coast of Africa, until by the mid-eighteenth century they were being grown as far north as the Habeshan highlands...

Europe

Dutch East India Company sailors brought red yams with them back to the Netherlands in the 1620s, but the crop did not grow well at such northerly latitudes [8]. The red yam was first introduced into Europe in 1648 by the Portuguese sailor Miguel Ferreira do Amaral, who successfully replanted red yam tubers which he had taken on as food at the Cape. Mastering the cultivation of this native Aururian crop would have been impossible without the help of Yadilli farmers who willingly shared their knowledge with the Portuguese despite being forcibly brought to Europe.

The red yam spread to Spain and then to Spain’s dominions in Sicily and elsewhere in Italy, and from there to Venice and the Turks. During the later seventeenth century and the early eighteenth century, the red yam became integrated into Mediterranean farming, particularly given its ability to give good yields even on poor, parched soils in southern Italy. Sicily grew so many red yams that even today, many Mediterranean countries call the plant the Sicilian yam. Historians believe (Kant, 1987) that the red yam-fed population boom in Sicily led to social tension over land tenure and inheritance, and ultimately to the Advent Revolt which replaced Spanish rule with the native Piazzi dynasty...

Elsewhere

Historical records of red yams in South America date to the late seventeenth century. Contact is presumed to have been via the Cape, where some Portuguese ships resupplied, or Spanish ships during times of peace with the Dutch. Buenos Aires is noted as an early centre of New World red yam cultivation, and from there the red yam spread throughout the Spanish Americas [citation needed].

Role in World Food Supply

The Food and Agricultural Bureau reports that the red yam plays a vital role in maintaining and expanding the global food supply in subsistence economies. Although mechanised farming of the red yam remains problematic, its qualities as a perennial, low water demand crop mean that is suitable for low-capital agriculture and intensive dryland farming...

[1] “Red Yams: Notes”. Jessup University Department of Landscape Architecture.

[2] Tjula, D.S. “100 Recipes for Warrans”.

[3] FABSTAT.

[4] Hylla S.A., Dusel F (eds). “Aururia in Prehistory”

[5] Meyer, J.B., personal communication.

[6] Burani, K. “Molecular description and similarity relationships among native yams”

[7] Schultz, K.G., Thiele, A.M. et al “Dioscorea Taxonomy Reconsidered: Insights from Genetic Similarity Testing”

[8] Boniface, A.E. “The United East India Company: Reflections on the Golden Age”

* * *

Thoughts?

 

[Geekhis Khan]

Awesome! Gotta love that ever-accurate Intellipedia!

Very entertaining way of sharing the "dry facts" of Red Yam cultivation, thanks, Jared.

 

[mojojojo]

Can we expect another Intellipedia article on emus?quolls?

 

[Julius Vogel]

Love the format of the recent update

Do you really think that the yam would totally substitute for the Kumara? So much so that it dies out?

 

[Jared]

It dependt on whether the cash crops are part of colonial network or a latifundia economy as in the Americas or whether it's based on small independent farmer producing it.

Well, to grow cash crops as cash crops presumes that they're plugged into some sort of trade network. Independent farmers can of course grow some for their own use, or for local use, but for them to be really valuable as cash crops, they would require a better trade network... which is where the potential for indentured labour comes in.

If it's the later we would see the development of local farmer petit-bourgeois whom will serve to create a need of native proto-industry and the creation of a strong taxbase creating the incentiment for the development of a unitarian state.

I think the key factors would be

(i) whether a viable export network exists;
(ii) whether there is a general labour shortage;
(iii) whether indentured labourers are available or can be made available (serfdom, prisoners of war as slaves, etc)
(iv) whether the rules of land ownership allow more successful small farmers to swallow their neighbours (which would lead to plantations) or whether land ownership tends to be communal and/or inheritances are subdivided amongst sons.

If all of those conditions exist, then the rise of some sort of manorialism or plantation system is highly likely. That was what led to the rise of plantations in the New World and elsewhere, and it may or may not do the same in East Africa.

Incidentally, whether this sort of farming leads to proto-industry depends much more on the nature of the crop. Wheat required grain mills etc (and in time, mechanised harvesting), while corn and cotton were more suitable for hand cultivation. Tobacco in OTL was mostly a hand-grown crop and hand-rolled (cigars) until cigarettes came along. Kunduri will be... hmm, probably somewhere in the middle.

I could see it go both ways in East Africa the ease which it's harvested would lean toward the creation of large latifundias, but the lack of labourers and the need for long term planning in growing the plants would lean toward small freeholders.

The growth of large latifundias doesn't prevent them preparing for long-term planning, although it would be likely to encourage them to grow more cash crops and rely on food imports. Such as from small farmer neighbours, for instance, as happened in much of the Old South. Or, for different reasons, in sugar-growing Brazil. (In Brazil, the sugar planters owned the refineries; the small farmers had to come to the sugar refineries to process the sugar).

That would lead to an intriguing combination; a few wealthy landowners holding much of the land (and indentured labour), with some small farmer neighbours, who would be a meaningful political class (but not a wealthy one). Hmm...

Of course we may also see sdomething like pre-modern East Prussia the local Somali population enserfed by Ethiopian landowner, but with a significant class of wealthy freeholders based on Ethiopian settlers whom serves as yeoman-militia and a urban enclaves of European settlers serving as a mechant minority and as connection to wider Christian civilisation.

Sounds plausible, but I don't know enough about seventeenth-century Ethiopia and Somalia to be sure.

Fundamental the east Baltic in OTL was based on cash crops and we still saw the development of a strong burgher and yeoman (in East Prussia) class, it was only in the late 17th century the nobility succed in breaking their power, and still to introduction of communism East Prussia stayed until 1918 the areas east of the Elb with the smallest estates (a sign which usual show the power of the rural middle class).

True, although there were historical factors and attitudes to be considered there, too. It also makes me think that I need to look more into the power of the Ethiopian nobility in this period...

If anyone is up to the task, you are

Thanks... It is a challenge, that's for sure.

Awesome! Gotta love that ever-accurate Intellipedia!

Some things never change...

Very entertaining way of sharing the "dry facts" of Red Yam cultivation, thanks, Jared.

Glad to hear you liked it. I did try to throw in a few miscellaneous hints about the future of the LRG world which didn't really relate to red yams, either. (Or at least only indirectly.)

Can we expect another Intellipedia article on emus?quolls?

At this stage, I'm not planning on it. Quolls don't make that much of an impression on the wider world (mostly) - fun pets, and become invasive species in a couple of places, but not as significant as red yams. Emus are only really game-changing on one other continent.

Love the format of the recent update

Glad you like it. I felt like a bit of variety from the usual instalments.

Do you really think that the yam would totally substitute for the Kumara? So much so that it dies out?

Yes, I do, given the historical context in which it occurred.

There are several factors at play here. One is that it's not just red yam displacing kumara, it's a whole package of Aururian crops well-suited to New Zealand's climate displacing a whole package of Polynesian tropical crops which were very poorly-suited to New Zealand's climate.

The Maori brought with them a whole host of Polynesian crops - kumara, taro, yams, pandanus, etc. Some of those crops didn't grow at all in NZ (pandanus, for instance), some were very marginal and mostly grown in Northland (yams, taro).

Kumara was the best of a rather ill-suited bunch. Even then, it didn't grow very well, particularly in the South Island. Worse, the cultivars of kumara which the Maori had available were the tropical varieties imported via Polynesia, which mostly grew to the size of a thumb in NZ's climate.

In ATL New Zealand, the Maori have a choice of digging a lot to plant a kumara which will grow to the size of a thumb... or digging a bit more and planting a red yam which will grow to the size of a forearm. If I were a Maori farmer, I know which way I'd bet. Kumara tastes nice, but it isn't that great...

It's also rather more than just red yams displacing kumara. It isn't really covered in an article which focuses on red yams, but wattles are quite important too. So is murnong. Kumara just wasn't competitive in those circumstances, and so it was gradually displaced.

There's also the general point that Maori kumara agriculture was not even really established in the time in which Aururian crops spread. For the first few generations of Maori settlement in OTL, they were mostly a coastal people. They relied as much on seafood and fishing as agriculture, supplemented by moa hunting until the moa were mostly gone. It was only slowly, as seafaring was abandoned and , that the Maori started clearing the forests, moving inland, and setting up large-scale farming.

ITTL, the red yam and wattles make a better dietary supplement than the kumara, and so are largely taken up. When the moa are gone, emus are imported from Aururia to cover the shortfall, and copper tools allow faster clearing of the forest (and easier digging, too). The Maori who spread inland ITTL are already mostly accomplished red yam and wattle farmers, with kumara already relegated to a minor crop.

Over the next couple of centuries, kumara goes the way of little barley and other native domesticates in North America when Mesoamerican crops arrived. Or, for that matter, the way the kumara was going in New Zealand in OTL after the potato was introduced, until New Zealand got some better cold-climate suited cultivars from the Americas.

 

[Julius Vogel]

Thanks for the explanation. I hadn't realised that we had changed varieties of Kumera. Very interesting - I had wondered why it had suddenly become popular in recent years.

When I was growing up back in the day in North Otago Kumara was known but not available, but by the time I left NZ in 07 it was easily available in supermarkets in Oamaru and anywhere else I cared to shop.

 

[mojojojo]

Emus are only really game-changing on one other continent.

It's Africa isn't it

Over the next couple of centuries, kumara goes the way of little barley and other native domesticates in North America when Mesoamerican crops arrived. Or, for that matter, the way the kumara was going in New Zealand in OTL after the potato was introduced, until New Zealand got some better cold-climate suited cultivars from the Americas.

Can't wait to see what changes are in store for Maori culture/society when you do a post devoted to New Zealand (I hope it's soon)