7.1 Plant Domestication in the Spice Islands
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a laboratory, an expensive alternative, is now available but, of course, till the late
20th century, this was never a possibility.
Even intensive human-assisted natural selection can lead to the loss of genetic
diversity. Though the domesticated clove tree could still reproduce naturally,
because it had become so attuned to the unique microclimates of the five tiny islands
lying off the west coast of Halmahera in which it was exclusively cultivated, it could
not be persuaded to grow elsewhere, as we have noted, till the 16th century. In the
20th century the clove’s lack of genetic diversity, the result of prehistoric intense natural selection, has made it vulnerable in places outside the Spice Islands to viruses
to which it is not exposed in its homeland. Its ability to acquire resistance has been
curtailed by its lack of genetic diversity.
The culture and long-term genetic enhancement of cloves and other spices in
the Spice Islands provided a basis for Spice Island local, regional and eventually
international trade. This practice of plant domestication, however, was not limited
to spices. There is evidence of a long indigenous history of plant and animal domestication in the Spice Islands and in Wallacea. The breadfruit and the coconut, for
example, are said to be indigenous to Sulawesi in Wallacea. Their domesticates
were spread from there throughout Island Southeast Asia and carried into the Pacific
as staple foods. The banana was spread to Africa via the Cinnamon Route and to
America conceivably by Spice Island traders following the Kuro Shio Current (see
Chapter 8).
Both animal and plant domestication in the Spice Islands and Wallacea represent
persistent efforts by generations of individuals over long spans of time. They reveal
a persisting cultural attunement to the possibilities of improvements, through what
is effectively genetic engineering, to spices grown for trade and to staple foods. And
they reveal a cultural attunement to the development and introduction of new plants
and animals and to their successful translocation to new environments.
In both tropical Polynesia and New Zealand there is evidence for plant improvements by both human-assisted natural selection and by hybridization. A sacred fern
in tropical Polynesia, improved by hybridization, could no longer be spread by
seed but had to be divided and planted by hand. A superior fern for eating was
taken to the Chatham Islands by an early migrant, Kahu, in about 360 BC (see
Chapter 20). Even when crop plants could only be vegetally reproduced, as was
the case in New Zealand for most of the varieties of kumara brought there after
AD 1200, the horticultural sophistication of the Polynesian descendants of Spice
Islanders was still evident. Seventy-seven names for various varieties of kumara
are listed by Elsdon Best [1], though he notes that “it is probable that the list contains a number of synonyms or duplicate names”. Two varieties, the puatahoe and
waiha, were said to flower (which means that hybridization may still have been possible). All other varieties could only be vegetally reproduced. In tropical Polynesia
most of the varieties brought to New Zealand bloomed and annually produced seed
and could be improved by hybridization. In New Zealand where, certainly after
the beginning of the Little Ice Age in about AD 1400, it was too cold for most
kumara plants to flower, improvement through human-assisted natural selection of
tubers was the only means of improving adaptation to New Zealand conditions. The
121
a laboratory, an expensive alternative, is now available but, of course, till the late
20th century, this was never a possibility.
Even intensive human-assisted natural selection can lead to the loss of genetic
diversity. Though the domesticated clove tree could still reproduce naturally,
because it had become so attuned to the unique microclimates of the five tiny islands
lying off the west coast of Halmahera in which it was exclusively cultivated, it could
not be persuaded to grow elsewhere, as we have noted, till the 16th century. In the
20th century the clove’s lack of genetic diversity, the result of prehistoric intense natural selection, has made it vulnerable in places outside the Spice Islands to viruses
to which it is not exposed in its homeland. Its ability to acquire resistance has been
curtailed by its lack of genetic diversity.
The culture and long-term genetic enhancement of cloves and other spices in
the Spice Islands provided a basis for Spice Island local, regional and eventually
international trade. This practice of plant domestication, however, was not limited
to spices. There is evidence of a long indigenous history of plant and animal domestication in the Spice Islands and in Wallacea. The breadfruit and the coconut, for
example, are said to be indigenous to Sulawesi in Wallacea. Their domesticates
were spread from there throughout Island Southeast Asia and carried into the Pacific
as staple foods. The banana was spread to Africa via the Cinnamon Route and to
America conceivably by Spice Island traders following the Kuro Shio Current (see
Chapter 8).
Both animal and plant domestication in the Spice Islands and Wallacea represent
persistent efforts by generations of individuals over long spans of time. They reveal
a persisting cultural attunement to the possibilities of improvements, through what
is effectively genetic engineering, to spices grown for trade and to staple foods. And
they reveal a cultural attunement to the development and introduction of new plants
and animals and to their successful translocation to new environments.
In both tropical Polynesia and New Zealand there is evidence for plant improvements by both human-assisted natural selection and by hybridization. A sacred fern
in tropical Polynesia, improved by hybridization, could no longer be spread by
seed but had to be divided and planted by hand. A superior fern for eating was
taken to the Chatham Islands by an early migrant, Kahu, in about 360 BC (see
Chapter 20). Even when crop plants could only be vegetally reproduced, as was
the case in New Zealand for most of the varieties of kumara brought there after
AD 1200, the horticultural sophistication of the Polynesian descendants of Spice
Islanders was still evident. Seventy-seven names for various varieties of kumara
are listed by Elsdon Best [1], though he notes that “it is probable that the list contains a number of synonyms or duplicate names”. Two varieties, the puatahoe and
waiha, were said to flower (which means that hybridization may still have been possible). All other varieties could only be vegetally reproduced. In tropical Polynesia
most of the varieties brought to New Zealand bloomed and annually produced seed
and could be improved by hybridization. In New Zealand where, certainly after
the beginning of the Little Ice Age in about AD 1400, it was too cold for most
kumara plants to flower, improvement through human-assisted natural selection of
tubers was the only means of improving adaptation to New Zealand conditions. The