Asian Agri-History

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Early History of Crop Presence/Introduction in India:III. Anacardium occidentale L., Cashew Nut


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The record of cashew nut among compression fossils in Europe away from its present distribution in South and Central America, indicates origin of Anacardium before humans, calculated around 45 million year ago. Northern South America and Central America being the main centre of diversity of wild Anacardium species, remains centre of origin, including that of cashew nut, A. occidentale. About the presence of cashew in India, literature commonly mentions Portuguese introduction of cashew nut into India from Brazil in 16th century. However, archaeological depiction of cashew fruit and plant in ancient monuments of India and its mention in ancient writings indicate its ancient pre-Columbian presence, negating common belief about Portuguese introduction. These evidences suggest that cashew was either domesticated parallelly in India after phyto-geographic spread in the early phases of geological and geographical evolution of earth from super continental times onwards; similar to that proposed for its presence in Europe, or got introduced from the East coast of Africa through biogeographic links between South America, Africa, and Asia.

Keywords

Anacardium, Cashew Nut, Centre of Origin, Centre of Diversity, Domestication, Introduction.
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  • Early History of Crop Presence/Introduction in India:III. Anacardium occidentale L., Cashew Nut

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Authors

Anurudh K. Singh
2924, Sector-23, Gurugram – 122017, Haryana, India

Abstract


The record of cashew nut among compression fossils in Europe away from its present distribution in South and Central America, indicates origin of Anacardium before humans, calculated around 45 million year ago. Northern South America and Central America being the main centre of diversity of wild Anacardium species, remains centre of origin, including that of cashew nut, A. occidentale. About the presence of cashew in India, literature commonly mentions Portuguese introduction of cashew nut into India from Brazil in 16th century. However, archaeological depiction of cashew fruit and plant in ancient monuments of India and its mention in ancient writings indicate its ancient pre-Columbian presence, negating common belief about Portuguese introduction. These evidences suggest that cashew was either domesticated parallelly in India after phyto-geographic spread in the early phases of geological and geographical evolution of earth from super continental times onwards; similar to that proposed for its presence in Europe, or got introduced from the East coast of Africa through biogeographic links between South America, Africa, and Asia.

Keywords


Anacardium, Cashew Nut, Centre of Origin, Centre of Diversity, Domestication, Introduction.

References