Cultivated plants as indicators in the reconstruction of the progression of settlement in Oceania, The example of the sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas)

Auteur :
KREISEL, W.

Description :
The origin of the inhabitants of Oceania, has as yet remained a partially unsolved problem. A methodological approach is to draw conclusions about the origin of the population from the origin and migration routes of the most important cultivated plants. The present article deals with the sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas). A close examination proves that the sweet potato was transferred from America to Oceania. But the plant first appears in Oceania considerably after the first period of settlement: it was added later to the cultivated plants already present. These can only have been the tuber crops taro and yam which come from Asia, and this clearly indicates that the origin of the inhabitants of Oceania is in Assia. Nevertheless, the transfer of the sweet potato does establish the existence of contacts between Oceania and South America in the pre-European period. (Revue).


Type de document :
Article de périodique

Source :
Tijdschrift voor economische en sociale geografie Rotterdam, 1981, vol. 72, n°. 5, p. 266-278, Références bibliographiques : 25 réf.

Date :
1981