FOOD FROM THE HILLS

Besides flooding Spain with looted wealth-nearly 200 tons of gold and 20,000 tons of silver by 1650- the conquistadores introduced  several new foods to Europe.These included maize, tomatoes, gourds, manioc (cassava), guavas, and potatoes. The potato had been cultivated by Andean farmers since at least  A.D.200. Its English name is derived from the Taino word for the sweet potato, batata.

The potato was so important to the Inca diet that they invented a method of freeze-drying to preserve it. Potatoes were  left out to freeze for several nights (they thawed by day). Softened by repeated freezing and thawing, the vegetables were then squeezed by hand to remove msot of their moisture and put out in the sun to dry completely. Finally, they reached a stage known as chuno, in which they could be kept indefinitely. Andean Indians still use this technique.

THE GOLDEN ROOM

The Inca ruler Atahualpa, backed by thousand of warriors, came face to face with Francisco Pizarro, backed by 180 men and 37 horses, for the first time at Cajamarca in Peru. The encounter was a disaster for the Indians. Pizarro kidnapped Atahualpa, and the demoralized  warriors were put to flight by their first experience of firearms and cavalry.

After the kidnapping, Atahualpa offered to ransom himself by giving the Spaniards enough gold to fill his 23-by 16 -foot cell as high as he could reach. He was a tall man and standing on tiptoe could reach to 9 feet.Atahualpa also offered to fill a smaller toom twice over with silver. The Spaniards accepted, but then changed their minds, realizing that Atahualpa could become the focus of rebellion if he were released. Instead, they tried the king on several trumped-up charges -such as murdering a former Inca king, Huascar, and plotting against the Spanish forces – and sentenced  him to death. He was garrotted in 1533.

CEREMONIAL KNIFE

Gold inlaid with turquoise forms the image of a god sacred to the pre-Inca Chimu civilization of northwestern Peru. Knife handle probably dates from 12 th century.

INSTANT GALOSHES

Amazonian Indians invented rubber boots many centuries before they were known in Europe. The Indians dipped their  feet and  legs in latex, the raw liquid of the rubber tree. It formed a tough extra skin, or boot, that protected against insects and thorns