Agriculture of the American Indian: A Select Bibliography

Excerpts from the Preface: This work brings up to date the Bibliography on the Agriculture of the American Indians by Everett E. Edwards and Wayne B. Rasmussen, published in 1941 as USDA Miscellaneous Publication 447. The update was done because of a growing interest in the American Indians, a greater ethnic awareness among minority people, and a need for Americans in general to know of the contributions these people have made to the Nation and the world. While this is not a large collection, the subject matter is fairly broad in scope, embodying two continents and about 7,000 years. Various aspects of Indian technology, settlement patterns, economics, family organization, and religious ritual are discussed as they relate to agriculture. The first intention was to limit the material to the United States proper. However, due to cultural diffusion, trade routes, and the fact that native Americans did not have the same borders or political boundaries as did the European settlers, this list of references also contains studies about Mexico, Canada, and Peru. The studies about Mexico and Peru are especially significant because these two countries are the birthplaces of New World agriculture. They also became the most important agricultural centers in the Americas, and perhaps the world, prior to European settlement in the New World. Many of the crops that make up the world's diet were developed in these two countries. The writings, for the most part, discuss research on agriculture when native American cultures were strong and healthy. During this time, Indians developed as much as 60 percent of the crops used in today's diet. Important foods such as potatoes, chocolate, corn, squash, beans, and turkeys are just a small part of their contribution. Their farms ranged from garden size to the size of plantations. Indians also had well developed pharmaceuticals from roots and herbs. The Americas at that time were amazingly abundant in foods that grew wild and the development of agriculture was not really needed by all Indian societies. This bibliography includes references on Indian foods that once grew wild and that are now in the mainstream of contemporary agriculture. Tobacco, tomatoes, and cranberries are examples of these crops.