People often talk about how human beings have changed food over time, but we also need to look at how food has changed the course of history. Given that it is a central focus of human livelihood, there is no question that it had a significant role in many revolutions.
Impact of Food on Civilization
The most dominant one was civilization. It all started when human beings got tired of moving about, especially in search of food. They realized that if they could domesticate animals and plant a few crops, they could settle down. The food was right there where they wanted, and accessed it whenever they needed it.
This settling down opened humanity to communal living, and soon they required some form of civilization. To date, people make decisions based on food accessibility. Hence, the impact of food on trade. However, when it comes to trade, the story gets more about taste and preferences. The Portuguese got to Africa as they looked for ways to break the spice trade dominance of the Ottoman Empire.
Christopher Columbus, Sugarcane and The Slave Trade
Later, we see Christopher Columbus going in the opposite direction and finding the Bahamas. What struck him about the place was that the climate was good for planting sugarcane. If it was not for his sweet tooth, the story might have been different. But this also led to a very dark time, especially for Africans. Two doors had opened at the same time that would serve each other.
Since sugar was a rare commodity back then, discovering such fertile land meant more sugar, but there were no people to work on the plantations until Africans were traded as slaves to fill the gap. The story of food and human activities is diverse, including how armies battled for food zones during the cold war.
