The banana as a key to early American and Polynesian history∗
1993; Routledge; Volume: 28; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês
10.1080/00223349308572723
ISSN1469-9605
Autores Tópico(s)Livestock and Poultry Management
Resumohave become so commonplace in temperate countries that there can be few people in the world today who do not know what a banana is.l Yet 500 years ago when Columbus blundered on the Americas, the banana was almost completely unknown to the people of Europe and there was no single word to describe it in any European language. Thus, when Antonio Pigafetta, chief chronicler of the Magellan expedition, referred to the banana in writing of the foods of Guam in 1521, he used the expression 'figs a span long' to overcome the vocabulary problem.2 This was the first account of the banana in the Pacific Islands. Two centuries later when Jacob Roggeveen chanced upon Easter Island, bananas were much better known to Europeans, but few apart from those who had visited tropical countries would have tasted them. Roggeveen was certainly familiar with them for he had no hesitation in buying 30 bunches.3 His com panion, Carl Friedrich Behrens, knew something of bananas too, and later aired his knowledge in a book. He referred to Easter Island's bananas both as 'Indian figs' and as pisang, the generic Malayan term, explaining that they were as large as cucumbers, a span long, proportionately thick, and with a green rind. He added:
Referência(s)