A mixture of spices shown in bowls that feature in this guide.
Welcome to the FabulousFusionFood page for the history of the spread of chillies from South America to the remainder of the world. Here you will how chillies bucked the trend of the prevalent spice trade and traversed the globe from West to East. You will also learn why chillies were so readily adapted by a whole range of cultures and why this food traversed the continents of Europe, Africa and Asia within less than fifty years of their first introduction in Spain.
Please not that this recipe page (and all the other recipe pages on this site) are brought to you in association with the 'One Million People' campaign, which attempts to make available a number of ancient texts (particularly those relating to recipes) available for free on this site.
This page is presented as part of my 'History of the Spice Trade' section of the FabulousFusionFood Recipes site. You can use the table below to navigate the various sections of this history:
Migration of Chillies from the New World to the Old
This page examines the means by which chillies were brought from the New World to the Old World and the means by which chillies spread like wildfire across the European, Asian and African continents in less than 50 years betwen 1498 to 1549. We examine how this fruit became an important spice and became accepted by so many cultures. So much so that Europeans believed chillies to be derived from India and many, even today, believe the Piri-Piri chilli to be a native of Africa.
Thus far, the history of spices presented on this site has been the history of the Old World, focusing on black pepper sourced from India and cloves, nutmeg and mace sourced from the Moluccas or spice Islands, with some spices, at least for a time, sourced from Africa. But the real economic driving force in the spice trade was the sourcing of the 'big four' spices.
What's been ignored thus far in this history of the spice trade is the history of the one truly important spice to be derived from the New World — chilli peppers. Partly this is because chillies never truly reached the economic importance of the other spices. Indeed, chillies are ridiculously easy to grow, almost anywhere. So the history of chilli is the history of the spread of the spice world-wide from South America, its native home. The amazing thing is that chilli spread world-wide in only 50 years! All this taking place between the early 1500s and about 1549.
In many ways, the global spread of chillies represents the history of the Portuguese voyages of discovery and their quest to corner the Old World spice trade. But the tale itself starts with Columbus' voyages. Christopher Columbus encountered chillies on his first voyage to the Carribean in 1492 and though he did not bring any back on that voyage (they were taken to Spain on his second voyage in 1495) he does wirte of "a 'pepper' that the natives called Ají which was better in taste and nature that ordinary peppers". Wanting to prove that he had opened a new easterly route to the Indes Columbus was keen to associate Ají with Asian 'pepper'.
During these early years, of the exploitation of the Americas Spain cornered the chilli growing market, centred around Mexico, but it was the Portuguese who spread the chilli pepper world-wide. At the time, Portugal was the dominant maritime power and Spain had the political power through the Christian Church. In an attempt as staving-off a costly war, in 1494 the two powers signed a treaty, the Treaty of Tordesillas that effectively split the newly-discovered lands outside Europe in two between them. This was done along a north-south meridian 370 leagues west of the Cape Verde islands (off the west coast of Africa). This was about halfway between the Cape Verde Islands (already Portuguese) and the islands discovered by Christopher Columbus on his first voyage (claimed for Spain), named in the treaty as Cipangu and Antilia (Cuba and Hispaniola). The lands to the east would belong to Portugal and the lands to the west to Spain. Effectively Portugal had Brazil (which they discovered in 1494) and points East and Spain had the remainder of the Americas.
Fig 1: Map showing the routes by which chillies travelled from the Americas to Africa and Eurasia. The tale starts with Columbus' voyage of 1495 (green line), but the true spread of chillies occurred concurrent with the Portuguese voyages (red lines) from 1498 to 1549 as they traversed the globe from Africa through Arabia, India, the Spice Islands, China and Japan. Also shown (blue lines) are the ancient overland routes from India to China, the Spice route from Arabia to China and the trade route from Arabia to Central Europe. In yellow is a slightly more speculative voyage, made prior to 1549 from Japan to Mexico in Spanish-designed ships.
The Portuguese took the chilli pepper (most notably the piri-piri chilli) back to Portugal and the Cape Verde islands. But as they sought to exploit their foothold in the Americas they brought chillies to West Africa and African slaves to Brazil. Chillies, most notably, the piri-piri did so well in West Africa that they became wild and naturalized and now the piri-piri grows wild in West Africa (which is why, even to this day it's often mistaken as an African native). It's also true that the chilli was quickly incorporated into the African diet. Partly it displaced native spices such as Senegal Pepper and grains of paradise but chillies are also an important source of vitamin C which, otherwise, was deficient in the African diet. Indeed, chillies so quickly became an integral part of the West African diet that slavers brought huge quantities with them on later trans-atlantic voyages and this is why all species of chillies can be found growing in Africa today.
By the 1500s the Portuguese were regularly exporting chillies from Brazil and their voyages around Cape Horn brought chillies to Mozambique and then to India. Indeed, by 1512 chillies had a firm hold in Portugal's Indian colonies and from there they spread throughout the entire continent. Between 1510 and 1512 the Portuguese drove inexorably Eastwards, firstly with a campaign against Calicut (modern Kozhikode in India) in January 1510 and then against Goa, which Afonso de Albuquerque captured and held in November of the same year. This was the springboard for a campaign against he Sultanate of Malacca (Modern Malaysia), which de Albuquerque subdued on August 24th 1511, thus securing this important trading port for the Protuguese. This led to the Portuguese discovery of the Moluccas (the Spice Islands) and their effective domination of the Spice Trade. But, just as the Portuguese brought Asian spices Westwards to Europe they also took chillies Eastwards with them and by the 1520s chillies had spread to Indonesia.
During this time Spain sought to establish trading routes westwards from South America across the Pacific ocean, culminating in the epic voyage of the Victoria in 1521/1522. The strife between Spain and Portugal over control of the spice islands was settled in 1529 by the Treaty of Saragossa which defined the extent of Portuguese jurisdiction as the Spice Islands (Moluccas) and Spain received points West of this. In the early 1530 Portuguese navigators crossed the Pacific from Brazil, opening a new trade route for them.
By the 1540s the Portuguese were trading in Indonesia and by 1542 they were navigating to China. It's undeniable that they brought chillies with them, but it's unclear whether it was the Portuguese who actually introduced chillies to China. Evidence suggests that the two regions of China to adopt chillies first were Szechuan and Hunan provinces. But these regions are landlocked and not easily accessible from the ports where the Portuguese made landfall. However, these two regions were important stopping-off points on the silk road. It its, therefore, possible that chillies may have made their way to China via Arabic or Indian traders across the Silk Road.
By 1549 the Portuguese reached Japan. But, again, it's uncertain whether they introduced chillies there as the Japanese had ventured to Mexico in the 1530s using Spanish-designed ships. By the 1550s Africa, India, Arabia, South-East and Eastern Asia had all readily adopted chillies into their cuisines. Yet Europe, where the chilli was first introduced seemed much more recalcitrant in the use of this new spice.
Despite being introduced to Spain in 1495 (where mild paprika chillies were quickly grown and used) it wasn't until 1526 that the first chillies made their way to Italy and it wasn't until 1548 that chillies found their way to England where they remained a curiosity rather than a staple element of the cuisine. Partly this may be due to the spice trade which fed from the Muslim world through Italy and to the remainder of Europe (or which went by ship to the Netherlands and thence to Northern Europe so there was no easy way for chillies to spread throughout Europe.
Indeed, the chilli did not reach Eastern Europe via the remainder of Europe, but by other means. How chillies actually reached Eastern Europe (particularly Hungary, the home of Paprika) remains something of a mystery. They may have come via the Silk Road trade routes from India through the Persian Gulf to Alexandria and from there to Eastern Europe.
Alternatively they could have come with the Turks from Asia Minor and were brought with them as they conquered Greece, the Balkans and Eastern Europe (they captured Hungary in 1526). It's also possible that the Portuguese, after bringing chillies to Hormuz (a colony of theirs on the Persian Gulf) used this port as a springboard to export chillies to Eastern Europe as a cheaper alternative to black pepper (just as was done to Northern Europe with Senegal Pepper).
Indeed, for centuries most Europeans believed that chillies were sourced originally form India and it wasn't until 1868 that Europeans learnt that chillies did not originate from India, but rather came from South America. Indeed, the species of chillies Capsicum chinense was so-called by Nikolaus Joseph von Jacquin, a Dutch botanist in 1176 because he believed, erroneously, that they originated in China. This confusion remains to this day, with the belief that piri-piri chillies (also known as piri-piri, African Red Devil and African Birds' Eye) are native to Africa.
What is amazing is just how quickly chilli peppers spread across the Old World.From Christopher Columbus' first revelation of this new spice in Spain during 1495 to the appearance of chillies in china (probably prior to 1542) took less that 50 years! Considering that small sailing vessels and over-land caravans of pack animals were the only means of travel and communication this is a truly amazing achievement.
But why was the spread of chillies so sudden and so rapid? As a family, the capsicums are quite diverse and various species can survive and thrive in a range of environments from the tropics to temperate zones. More importantly, however, are chillies' sensory qualities. Chillies offer pure heat without any trace of bitterness and chillies can be dried and ground without losing this 'heat' quality. It's hardly surprising, therefore, that cultures which prized this quality in other ingredients in their food (most notably West Africa, India, South-East Asia and certain provinces of China) very rapidly accepted and adapted chillies into their diet.
When discussing the ready acceptance of chillies world-wide what is often also forgotten is that chillies are a fruit as well as a spice. Today we are so used to the ready availability of citrus fruit that we forget just how rare readily-available sources of vitamin C were in the past. Chillies, like all capsicums pack a lot of vitamin C into the fruit and if the fresh pepper is dropped into stews or foods they provide lots of vitamin C for the diet (this is why they remain so important in West Africa to this day). Simply put, chillies prevented scurvy and people soon found out that they were healthier with these peppers in their diet
Please not that this recipe page (and all the other recipe pages on this site) are brought to you in association with the 'One Million People' campaign, which attempts to make available a number of ancient texts (particularly those relating to recipes) available for free on this site.
This page is presented as part of my 'History of the Spice Trade' section of the FabulousFusionFood Recipes site. You can use the table below to navigate the various sections of this history:
FabulousFusionFood History of the Global Adoption of Chillies/Chilis
Migration of Chillies from the New World to the Old
This page examines the means by which chillies were brought from the New World to the Old World and the means by which chillies spread like wildfire across the European, Asian and African continents in less than 50 years betwen 1498 to 1549. We examine how this fruit became an important spice and became accepted by so many cultures. So much so that Europeans believed chillies to be derived from India and many, even today, believe the Piri-Piri chilli to be a native of Africa.
Thus far, the history of spices presented on this site has been the history of the Old World, focusing on black pepper sourced from India and cloves, nutmeg and mace sourced from the Moluccas or spice Islands, with some spices, at least for a time, sourced from Africa. But the real economic driving force in the spice trade was the sourcing of the 'big four' spices.
What's been ignored thus far in this history of the spice trade is the history of the one truly important spice to be derived from the New World — chilli peppers. Partly this is because chillies never truly reached the economic importance of the other spices. Indeed, chillies are ridiculously easy to grow, almost anywhere. So the history of chilli is the history of the spread of the spice world-wide from South America, its native home. The amazing thing is that chilli spread world-wide in only 50 years! All this taking place between the early 1500s and about 1549.
In many ways, the global spread of chillies represents the history of the Portuguese voyages of discovery and their quest to corner the Old World spice trade. But the tale itself starts with Columbus' voyages. Christopher Columbus encountered chillies on his first voyage to the Carribean in 1492 and though he did not bring any back on that voyage (they were taken to Spain on his second voyage in 1495) he does wirte of "a 'pepper' that the natives called Ají which was better in taste and nature that ordinary peppers". Wanting to prove that he had opened a new easterly route to the Indes Columbus was keen to associate Ají with Asian 'pepper'.
During these early years, of the exploitation of the Americas Spain cornered the chilli growing market, centred around Mexico, but it was the Portuguese who spread the chilli pepper world-wide. At the time, Portugal was the dominant maritime power and Spain had the political power through the Christian Church. In an attempt as staving-off a costly war, in 1494 the two powers signed a treaty, the Treaty of Tordesillas that effectively split the newly-discovered lands outside Europe in two between them. This was done along a north-south meridian 370 leagues west of the Cape Verde islands (off the west coast of Africa). This was about halfway between the Cape Verde Islands (already Portuguese) and the islands discovered by Christopher Columbus on his first voyage (claimed for Spain), named in the treaty as Cipangu and Antilia (Cuba and Hispaniola). The lands to the east would belong to Portugal and the lands to the west to Spain. Effectively Portugal had Brazil (which they discovered in 1494) and points East and Spain had the remainder of the Americas.
Fig 1: Map showing the routes by which chillies travelled from the Americas to Africa and Eurasia. The tale starts with Columbus' voyage of 1495 (green line), but the true spread of chillies occurred concurrent with the Portuguese voyages (red lines) from 1498 to 1549 as they traversed the globe from Africa through Arabia, India, the Spice Islands, China and Japan. Also shown (blue lines) are the ancient overland routes from India to China, the Spice route from Arabia to China and the trade route from Arabia to Central Europe. In yellow is a slightly more speculative voyage, made prior to 1549 from Japan to Mexico in Spanish-designed ships.
The Portuguese took the chilli pepper (most notably the piri-piri chilli) back to Portugal and the Cape Verde islands. But as they sought to exploit their foothold in the Americas they brought chillies to West Africa and African slaves to Brazil. Chillies, most notably, the piri-piri did so well in West Africa that they became wild and naturalized and now the piri-piri grows wild in West Africa (which is why, even to this day it's often mistaken as an African native). It's also true that the chilli was quickly incorporated into the African diet. Partly it displaced native spices such as Senegal Pepper and grains of paradise but chillies are also an important source of vitamin C which, otherwise, was deficient in the African diet. Indeed, chillies so quickly became an integral part of the West African diet that slavers brought huge quantities with them on later trans-atlantic voyages and this is why all species of chillies can be found growing in Africa today.
By the 1500s the Portuguese were regularly exporting chillies from Brazil and their voyages around Cape Horn brought chillies to Mozambique and then to India. Indeed, by 1512 chillies had a firm hold in Portugal's Indian colonies and from there they spread throughout the entire continent. Between 1510 and 1512 the Portuguese drove inexorably Eastwards, firstly with a campaign against Calicut (modern Kozhikode in India) in January 1510 and then against Goa, which Afonso de Albuquerque captured and held in November of the same year. This was the springboard for a campaign against he Sultanate of Malacca (Modern Malaysia), which de Albuquerque subdued on August 24th 1511, thus securing this important trading port for the Protuguese. This led to the Portuguese discovery of the Moluccas (the Spice Islands) and their effective domination of the Spice Trade. But, just as the Portuguese brought Asian spices Westwards to Europe they also took chillies Eastwards with them and by the 1520s chillies had spread to Indonesia.
During this time Spain sought to establish trading routes westwards from South America across the Pacific ocean, culminating in the epic voyage of the Victoria in 1521/1522. The strife between Spain and Portugal over control of the spice islands was settled in 1529 by the Treaty of Saragossa which defined the extent of Portuguese jurisdiction as the Spice Islands (Moluccas) and Spain received points West of this. In the early 1530 Portuguese navigators crossed the Pacific from Brazil, opening a new trade route for them.
By the 1540s the Portuguese were trading in Indonesia and by 1542 they were navigating to China. It's undeniable that they brought chillies with them, but it's unclear whether it was the Portuguese who actually introduced chillies to China. Evidence suggests that the two regions of China to adopt chillies first were Szechuan and Hunan provinces. But these regions are landlocked and not easily accessible from the ports where the Portuguese made landfall. However, these two regions were important stopping-off points on the silk road. It its, therefore, possible that chillies may have made their way to China via Arabic or Indian traders across the Silk Road.
By 1549 the Portuguese reached Japan. But, again, it's uncertain whether they introduced chillies there as the Japanese had ventured to Mexico in the 1530s using Spanish-designed ships. By the 1550s Africa, India, Arabia, South-East and Eastern Asia had all readily adopted chillies into their cuisines. Yet Europe, where the chilli was first introduced seemed much more recalcitrant in the use of this new spice.
Despite being introduced to Spain in 1495 (where mild paprika chillies were quickly grown and used) it wasn't until 1526 that the first chillies made their way to Italy and it wasn't until 1548 that chillies found their way to England where they remained a curiosity rather than a staple element of the cuisine. Partly this may be due to the spice trade which fed from the Muslim world through Italy and to the remainder of Europe (or which went by ship to the Netherlands and thence to Northern Europe so there was no easy way for chillies to spread throughout Europe.
Indeed, the chilli did not reach Eastern Europe via the remainder of Europe, but by other means. How chillies actually reached Eastern Europe (particularly Hungary, the home of Paprika) remains something of a mystery. They may have come via the Silk Road trade routes from India through the Persian Gulf to Alexandria and from there to Eastern Europe.
Alternatively they could have come with the Turks from Asia Minor and were brought with them as they conquered Greece, the Balkans and Eastern Europe (they captured Hungary in 1526). It's also possible that the Portuguese, after bringing chillies to Hormuz (a colony of theirs on the Persian Gulf) used this port as a springboard to export chillies to Eastern Europe as a cheaper alternative to black pepper (just as was done to Northern Europe with Senegal Pepper).
Indeed, for centuries most Europeans believed that chillies were sourced originally form India and it wasn't until 1868 that Europeans learnt that chillies did not originate from India, but rather came from South America. Indeed, the species of chillies Capsicum chinense was so-called by Nikolaus Joseph von Jacquin, a Dutch botanist in 1176 because he believed, erroneously, that they originated in China. This confusion remains to this day, with the belief that piri-piri chillies (also known as piri-piri, African Red Devil and African Birds' Eye) are native to Africa.
What is amazing is just how quickly chilli peppers spread across the Old World.From Christopher Columbus' first revelation of this new spice in Spain during 1495 to the appearance of chillies in china (probably prior to 1542) took less that 50 years! Considering that small sailing vessels and over-land caravans of pack animals were the only means of travel and communication this is a truly amazing achievement.
But why was the spread of chillies so sudden and so rapid? As a family, the capsicums are quite diverse and various species can survive and thrive in a range of environments from the tropics to temperate zones. More importantly, however, are chillies' sensory qualities. Chillies offer pure heat without any trace of bitterness and chillies can be dried and ground without losing this 'heat' quality. It's hardly surprising, therefore, that cultures which prized this quality in other ingredients in their food (most notably West Africa, India, South-East Asia and certain provinces of China) very rapidly accepted and adapted chillies into their diet.
When discussing the ready acceptance of chillies world-wide what is often also forgotten is that chillies are a fruit as well as a spice. Today we are so used to the ready availability of citrus fruit that we forget just how rare readily-available sources of vitamin C were in the past. Chillies, like all capsicums pack a lot of vitamin C into the fruit and if the fresh pepper is dropped into stews or foods they provide lots of vitamin C for the diet (this is why they remain so important in West Africa to this day). Simply put, chillies prevented scurvy and people soon found out that they were healthier with these peppers in their diet