I agree with Jared Diamond's main argument that diffusion of plant crops was much faster along the Eurasian east/west axis than along the American north/south axis, because crop varieties are adapted to the climate and day length of a specific latitude. It's pretty easy to transplant a crop from Europe to the same latitude in China, but not from Mexico to North Dakota. However I thought perhaps he was a bit too dismissive of the available domesticated plants in the Americas. Someday I'd like to spend a month or two on a 100% New World diet to get a better feel for it.
I doubt the bison, sheep, and goats of the Americas would have ever been domesticated. But the llama had reached Tenochtitlan by the time Cortez arrived, and it is a very useful beast. Given time I can imagine the llama spreading throughout North America, with specialized breeds developed for light packing, heavy drafting, chariot racing, meat, milk and fleece, etc. The alpaca and turkey had been domesticated, and ducks, geese, and rabbits could have been easily added.
It's kind of fun to speculate on the progress if there had been 5,000 more years before the Europeans turned up.
|
