ORIGIN AND EARLY HISTORY OF THE PEANUT 23 



supporting the contention that Arachis hypogaea was indigenous in 

 Africa, and concluded that there is absolutely no proof of the presence of 

 this plant in Africa in pre-Columbian times. Continuing, he says that 

 after 1502 communication between the west coast of Africa and Brazil 



'was frequent. Portuguese ships going to Brazil always touched the 

 African coast to take on fresh water and food, and the return trip was 

 made by the same route. Naturally, having established colonies and trad- 

 ing posts on both coasts, the products of each were introduced to the 

 other country. They introduced the African Voandzeia subterranea into 

 Brazil wh^re it was grown to some extent under the name "Mandubi de 

 Angola." Pedro Alvares Calval, sailing for India with a large fleet, swung 

 too far west and touched the Brazilian coast on April 22, 1500. He took 

 possession of the land in the name of Portugal, then sailed on around the 

 Cape of Good Hope to the East Indies. After this time, the Portuguese 

 were very active in exploration and establishment of trading posts in 

 Brazil, in Africa, and in the East Indies. Apparently they introduced 

 maize, cassava, tobacco, and peanuts to the coasts of Africa. All four 

 spread so rapidly that travelers in Africa a hundred years later thought 

 all indigenous to Africa. It seems likely that the Portuguese introduced 

 the plants at many points along the African coast, since they had already 

 established small colonies and trading posts even along the east coast of 

 Africa prior to 1522, when Juan Sebastian del Cano, in command of the 

 "Vittoria" in the final lap of Magellan's voyage around the world, feared 

 to put in a:t any point along the African coast, although many men of his 

 crew were dying of starvation; because he feared interception by 

 Portuguese. 



Both Portuguese and Spaniards probably carried peanuts to the East 

 Indies during the early years of the sixteenth century. Waldron (23) and 

 others have suggested that the peanut was carried to the Philippines and 

 the Moluccas by Magellan on his circumnavigation trip, but this seems 

 hardly probable. According to Pigafetta's (18) account, Magellan's fleet 

 wintered at Port St. Julian, southern Patagonia, and the following spring 

 passed through the Strait of Magellan and then sailed west-northwest 

 for 3 months and 20 days without seeing land. He did not touch Peru as 

 suggested by Badami (3). Since his crew was reduced to eating rats, 

 sawdust, and leather from the ship's rigging, they certainly would have 

 eaten any peanuts that were aboard. Furthermore, Pigafetta does not 

 mention any seed or any agricultural products among the articles traded 

 or presented to the islanders. He did mention that Chinese trading vessels 



\ visited the islands during Magellan's stay. After Spanish colonization of 



