Introduction of cassava in Central Africa
Introducción de la yuca en África central
- Date
- c. 1560 · confidence medium
- Place
- M'banza Kongo, Zaire, Angola
- Credited to
- Portuguese traders and farmers of the Kingdom of Kongo
- Field
- Life & health
What it is
The Portuguese brought cassava from Brazil to the Kongo coast in the 16th century. African farmers adopted it rapidly, learned to detoxify the bitter variety and made it one of the continent's staple foods.
According to Jones (1959), cassava arrived at the mouth of the Congo around 1558; its spread inland took centuries and accelerated in the 18th and 19th centuries.
What it led to
- high-yield tuber crops on poor soils of central and West Africa
- derived foods such as chikwangue, fufu and gari
- denser populations in forest areas, at the cost of dependence on a single crop