The Transplantation of Wheat in Sixteenth-Century Hispaniola

Royal Institutions, Colonization, and Agronomic Testing

Bibliographic Data

ID2824176
AuthorsAntoine Duranton (0009-0009-3635-0794, corresponding author)
Year2025
Volume105
Issue3
Pages439-469
Publication date2025-08-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessNo
TypeARTICLE
VenueHispanic American Historical Review (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0018-2168 • E-ISSN: 1527-1900
PublisherDuke University Press (PUBLISHER • US)
DOI10.1215/00182168-11834408
OpenAlexW4409957340
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited23

This article describes the attempts to adapt wheat in Hispaniola in the sixteenth century. Based on existing practices and the emerging field of agronomy, transatlantic agricultural tests called experiencias were organized by the Council of the Indies and the House of Trade. The repeated attempts to transplant wheat to Hispaniola entailed significant resources, which suggests a strong connection between plants and colonization in the settlements there. Despite evidence that wheat could not grow well in Hispaniola, policies to transplant wheat in the island continued across the century. This was due to the difficulty of circulating information within the Spanish Empire: the crown regularly received inaccurate reports claiming the success of such transplants, as royal officers often invoked experiencias as a means of career promotion. This article offers thus a new perspective on both agricultural practices in the early Spanish Empire and the transatlantic circulation of knowledge

Biology · Colonization · Geography · Colonialism, slavery, and trade · Cuban History and Society · Ecology · Internal Medicine · Medicine · Transplantation

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