Thousands of Years Ago
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First Chile Peppers
The first chiles probably grew in the Amazon jungle of South
America, thousands of years ago. They grew on vines and were much
smaller than the ones we know today. The plants spread and prospered
in South America. Before discovery by humans, chile pepper seeds were
spread by birds and the wind.
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8,000 - 10,000 years ago
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Chile peppers discovered.
While it is fairly certain that chile peppers originated in South
America, there is considerable debate over the precise location. They
spread through South America, and north into Central America, along the
the trade routes. Some say the
peppers may have spread into parts of North America this way, while
others maintain that peppers were not introduced to North America
until much later, brought by English traders carrying them to
Virginia from Bermuda.
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8,000 - 10,000 years ago to ?
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Use of chile peppers spreads along trade routes, through Central
America, South America, and the West Indies.
Chiles were used as a
spice in the food of the Olmecs, Toltecs, Mayans, Incas, and Aztecs.
Mayans may have cultivated as many as 30 different types of hot
peppers. Recent evidence indicates that Aztecs used chile
peppers in much of their cooking.
In addition to its use as a foodstuff, the chile pepper played
a role in warfare. By burning chile peppers, the Mayans created screens
of choking smoke to drive off their enemies. They also threw gourds
filled with hot pepper sauces at the enemy.
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7,000 BCE
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Seeds found in the Mexico City region date the use of chile peppers
in that region back to about 7,000 BCE.
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6,200 BCE - 4,000 BCE
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Chile peppers were one of the 1st crops cultivated in the
Americas. Traces of seeds around a burial sight in Peru, may be evidence
for cultivation of chile peppers in that region as early as 6,200 BCE.
When a plant was first cultivated can be difficult to determine and
contoversial. Others place the date for the first cultivation of chile
peppers as late as 4,000 BCE.
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2,500 BCE
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Use of peppers in Peru.Archaeological evidence dates use of peppers in
Peru back to 2,500 BC.
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1,000 years ago
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Ancestors of the Pueblo Indians
cultivated chile peppers.
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New Year's Day, 1493 CE
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Chile peppers introduced in Spain.Christopher Columbus introduced to
chile peppers at La Navidad (on
what is now Haiti). After his 2nd trip to the New World, Columbus brings
New World crops, including chile peppers, back to Spain. Europeans
found chiles peppers to be a good substitute for black pepper,
which was a highly popular and very expensive seasoning. Where
black pepper had to be imported, chile peppers could be grown in
Europe, and thus were potentially a much less expensive seasoning.
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early 1500's CE
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Use of chile peppers spreads to new continents.Spanish and Portugese
traders carried chile peppers and other
New World crops such as maize, sugar, and potatoes, along the
trading routes to North Africa, the West African coast, Madagascar,
and India. In the 1520's, Portugese traders bring New Worlds crops, including
chile peppers, to Java, while Eastern and Middle Eastern traders bring chiles to
New Guinea,
Indonesia, Melanesia, Southeast Asia, and China.
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1535 CE
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Chile peppers widely used in Carribean.
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1542 CE
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Chile peppers are known and used in Spain, Italy, and Germany.
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1550's CE
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By the 1550's, chiles had reached western China, Southeast Asia,
and the East Indies.
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late 1500's
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Chile pepper used around the globe.Within 100 years of Columbus' first
encounter with the chile
pepper on New Year's Day, 1493, use of the chile pepper had spread
around the world.
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1621 CE
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English traders bring chile peppers from Bermuda to the eastern
coast of Virginia. This is the introduction of chile peppers into
North America.
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1912 CE
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Scale for describing heat of chile peppers developed.Working for Davis &
Co. (now part of Warner-Lambert Co.), in
Detroit, pharmacist Wilbur L. Scoville develops a scale for measuring
the "heat" or "pungency" of hot peppers. The scale is based on a measure
of how far the flavor of a pepper can be diluted before there is no more
heat or bite to it.
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1937 CE
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Nutritional value of peppers discovered. Hungarian scientist Albert
Szent-Gyorgyi wins Nobel Prize for
discovering that peppers are a rich source of Vitamin C and
isolating Vitamin C found in peppers.
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