Why wasn't pepper grown in Africa?

I'm trying to understand why the Portuguese start pepper plantations all over India and Ceylon without trying to do it nearer home in West Africa. Was there some reason the African tropics were unsuitable for black pepper? Even today it's not grown there in any quantity that I can find.
 
There was pepper in Africa, it was called malaguetta pepper. I don't think it was the same, but it was part of early Portuguese trade. I would think that in terms of economics east asian pepper had more advantages over african.
 
Black Pepper likes constantly wet but still well-drained soils, the only bits of Africa that fit that bill are considerably inland and weren't available to the portuguese. South and South East asian soils are generally much richer than african ones to boot (as the only nicely volcanic parts of africa are dry) and on average African soils are slightly more alkaline than the Black Peppers acidic preferences.

Plus they take constant intensive care to give commercial yields, its much easier to pay some East and South Asians who already know the basics to work on your plantation than set up something de novo in africa.

One place they could have grow pepper but didn't is brazil, but it was more lucrative to grow sugar and again you had the cultivation knowledge problem.
 

Thande

Donor
One place they could have grow pepper but didn't is brazil, but it was more lucrative to grow sugar and again you had the cultivation knowledge problem.

Hmm, but they could have brought experts there from the Indies if there had been the incentive to cultivate there, e.g. losing some of their East Indian possessions to another power or to native rebellions, yes?
 
Yeah maybe, but you'd make more money from your land with sugar in Brazil whilst slavery is still going.
 
Hmm, but they could have brought experts there from the Indies if there had been the incentive to cultivate there, e.g. losing some of their East Indian possessions to another power or to native rebellions, yes?

Well, they did lose most of their colonies as IOTL, but it didn't make them planting spices here. As Nugax said, the Portuguese were more merchants than farmers, when they first planned to start Brazilian plantation of some Asian plants they discovered they didn't have neither the right knowledge to do it neither have access to most of the seeds (as now they Dutch were firmly controlling most of the areas where they were produced).

Actually, since the second half of the 16th century the Portuguese actually tought about introducing in Brazil the cultivation of cinnamon trees, cloves, pepper, ginger and nutmegs. However, the monopolist groups that controlled the commerce with the Indies not only made the government avoid such transfer as manage to make the Crown declare any plantation of these products illegal outside Asia. Some seeds were brought illegally, but never developed large plantations. When the Asian colonies were lost, they finnaly reverted that policy, but then the problems explained above avoided it to happen.

The only Asian spice that that actually grew well in Brazil (to the point of becoming a pest in some areas) and that allowed farmers to have some profit out of it was ginger. In 1671 finally the king published a decree stating that the Brazilian colonists could finally send ginger to Portugal (recognizing the large presence of the forbidden plant in South America). when the news arrived to Rio de Janeiro, the governor and the Municipal Chamber went to principal church of the city to asked for a thanksgiving mass.

Finally, most of these plans were abbandoned when gold was discovered, as it gave the Portuguese much higher profits than any spice could give.
 

MrP

Banned
How is Madagascar for black pepper? I ask because some relative sent us a few months ago some grown by a priest over there.
 
How is Madagascar for black pepper? I ask because some relative sent us a few months ago some grown by a priest over there.

I would guess pretty shit, its not an exporter and has an unsuitable climate based on the above. Probably small well kept gardens grow it (with constant watering), just like greenhouses in Britain, but it might be larger than that.
 

MrP

Banned
I would guess pretty shit, its not an exporter and has an unsuitable climate based on the above. Probably small well kept gardens grow it (with constant watering), just like greenhouses in Britain, but it might be larger than that.

Cheers, old boy!
 

MrP

Banned
Thats shit on quantity, not quality of course, I would hate to impune your realtives taste.

No, no, I quite understood! Besides, given it was replacing whatever we normally use, you'd be impugning mine, too. ;)
 
They tried, and while the climate it, the death rate among the White adminstrators was to big, and it was to easy for the slaves to escape.

From what I understand sugarcane is too carbon intensive for African soils. Heck it was basically too intensive for the much more fertile Carribean soils. The problems of easy escape for slaves, and a high deathrate among whites was basically true for early Carribbean and Brazilian attempts.
 
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