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DID YOU KNOW?
FACTS & FICTION WITH A MEXICAN TWIST
APRIL 2008Did you know that...
...the introduction of sheep to Mexico had serious environmental consequences? By Tony Burton Copyright © 2008
After the Conquest, Spanish settlers introduced numerous Old World species into the New World. The most pernicious introductions were human-borne diseases, which led to the rapid and tragic decimation of the indigenous population. However, most of the introductions were deliberate, made with the intention of increasing the diversity of available food and resources. Among the non-native (exotic) plants and animals introduced were sheep, pigs, chickens, goats, cattle, wheat, barley, figs, grapevines, olives, peaches, quinces, pomegranates, cabbages, lettuces and radishes, as well as many flowers.This month, we'll take a closer look at what happened following the introduction of sheep into Mexico.
In the Old World, wool had been a major item of trade in Spain for several centuries before the New World was settled. The first conquistadores were quick to recognize the potential that the new territories held for large-scale sheep farming.
The development of sheep farming and its consequences in one area of central Mexico (the Valle de Mezquital in Hidalgo) are analyzed in some detail by Elinor Melville in A plague of Sheep. Environmental consequences of the Conquest of Mexico.
Melville divides the development of sheep farming in the Valle of Mezquital into several distinct phases. Sheep farming took off during Phase I (Expansion; 1530-1565). During this phase, the growth in numbers of sheep in the region was so rapid that...
...
... By the 1620s, the serious collapse in sheep numbers in the Valle de Mezquital was over; sheep farming never fully recovered. The landscape had been changed for ever.
Read the complete article, with a picture...
Did You Know Index
Text © Copyright 2008 by Tony Burton. All rights reserved.
- - - Sombrero Books Page
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