The Spanish, who had already put a foothold in the larger islands, knew, before Columbus even sailed, that they could exploit a labor force in Africa to build agrarian empires to the west. That's why Columbus - perceiving this empire, included in his shipload, a quantity of fine sugar cane cuttings.
This plant alone would begin the transformation of a region found by the quest for nutmeg. It is an ancient grass that probably evolved in New Guinea, but was grown in India as the main source of molasses, brown sugar and white sugar to the Central Asians and Europeans. Columbus reasoned that he could use the production of cane to build empires. When farmers in the Antilles would learn how to turn sugar cane into rum, they would figure out a way to corner the European alcohol market, fueling that other commodity - slaves - into the new world.
Jane and I had made a habit of walking through the gardens, picking mangos, and eating things off trees. "There is no way," she said, "that everybody can eat all those mangos.". They - the mangos, being everywhere. She pointed to an orchid plant. A long vine with pods that look like unripe chilis. A vanilla bean. I ate it. I developed a rash. My mouth hurt like hell. I had just unwittingly contracted vanillism.
See also: Itching eruption of the skin, nasal catarrh, headache and muscular pain.
We met the summer chef of St. Lucia's most distinguished restaurant. His name is Nigel, he is known, even in New York, for having risen through the ranks of St. Lucian obscurity, to become a master of Antillean cuisine. He offered me a cacao fruit, to look at it. I ate it. It tastes more like unripe rhubarb than chocolate.
See also: dog food.
"No, you have to roast it to make the chocolate" he said. He showed us how to cook a plantain. He explained how to distinguish it from a banana. He fed us breadfruit. Jane called this the worst food ever invented. She is not the first to say that. The fact that she is not the first to say that is significant. And the others too - the vanilla, the chocolate, the sugar cane, and the banana. To understand them, to understand how their evolution determined this vast region's fate, we need to hop on a plane.
We need to go to Puerto Rico.
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