ESHS/HSS Annual Meeting

“Necessary to human life:” Plants of Castile and food scarcity in the early colonial Spanish Empire

• In Event: Food, Scarcity and Knowledge in Colonial and Atlantic Worlds (1500-1800). Panel N. 1

English Abstract

During the early phases of conquest and settlement in the Americas, Spaniards faced persistent difficulties in securing reliable food supplies. Although most conquistadors experienced hunger and while early colonial foundations depended heavily on Indigenous staples, Spanish settlers nevertheless prioritized access to the “plants of Castile” – primarily Mediterranean species that were often difficult to grow in American environments. This paper studies the choices made by Spaniards when they established themselves in the West Indies and in New Spain (Mexico). I argue that their concerns about scarcity and subsistence were not limited to caloric needs or to purely pragmatic considerations. Rather, settlers shared the conviction that cultivating and consuming the plants of Castile, frequently described as “necessary to human life”, was essential to their survival. These preferences shaped the development of early settlements, often jeopardizing them and undermining their food security. Drawing on previous scholarship, especially the work of Rebecca Earle and Gregorio Saldarriaga, I show that the relationship to the plants of Castile played a critical role in European ideas of “subsistence” in the New World.

Author

• Antoine Duranton, EHESS, Paris