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Rice as Commodity and Anti-Commodity

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Local Subversions of Colonial Cultures

Part of the book series: Cambridge Imperial and Post-Colonial Studies Series ((CIPCSS))

Abstract

On the Upper West Africa coast rice belongs to two species — African rice (Oryza glaberrima Steud.) and Asian rice (Oryza sativa L.). African rice was domesticated in the region, perhaps three millennia ago, from a presumed wild ancestor, O. barthii. Asian rice was introduced via trans-Saharan and/or Atlantic trade routes, and belongs to one of two subspecies — japonica and indica. Temperate japonicas are grown widely in the Mediterranean basin, but West African japonicas are tropical types and so are more likely to have been introduced from South East Asia by Portuguese or other European maritime trading activity. A more recent family of West African japonicas, to be discussed in this chapter, may derive from Carolina in the late 18th century.

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Notes

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Authors
  1. Paul Richards
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Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. The Open University, UK

    Sandip Hazareesingh (Research Fellow) (Research Fellow)

  2. Wageningen University, The Netherlands

    Harro Maat (Lecturer) (Lecturer)

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© 2016 Paul Richards

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Richards, P. (2016). Rice as Commodity and Anti-Commodity. In: Hazareesingh, S., Maat, H. (eds) Local Subversions of Colonial Cultures. Cambridge Imperial and Post-Colonial Studies Series. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137381101_2

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137381101_2

  • Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London

  • Print ISBN: 978-1-349-56529-0

  • Online ISBN: 978-1-137-38110-1

  • eBook Packages: HistoryHistory (R0)

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