QuickCheck: Are chilli plants native to Malaysia?

TO say chillies are popular in Malaysia is an understatement. Malaysian cuisine more or less revolves around the use of this spicy and piquant berry (yes it's a berry).

But is it true that chillies are native to Malaysia?

Verdict:

FALSE

Unlike bananas, the humble chilli does not come from our region, in fact if anything, its history here goes back to only a few hundred years ago.

Like many other members of its family (Nightshades), the chilli originated in the Americas and was part of the Columbian Exchange after Europeans first reached the two continents of the Americas.

As a side note, the Columbian Exchange was the widespread transfer of plants, animals, precious metals, commodities, culture, human populations, technology, diseases, and ideas between the Americas and Afro-Eurasia.

It is named after Italian explorer Christopher Columbus who sailed under the Spanish flag and reached the New World in 1492. This “exchange” wasn't a one-off affair and actually took place over several hundred years and considering the current Covid-19 pandemic, it is still technically ongoing.

The story of chillies conquering the world, however, does not follow the Spanish, but the Portuguese.

In 1493, Pope Alexander VI arbitrarily divided the world into two hemispheres to prevent further hostilities between the Spanish and Portuguese.

Both sides were rising powers with colonial aspirations and the Pope wanted to prevent the two Catholic nations from warring with each other over the New World. This papal dictate was eventually turned into an official treaty between the two nations in 1494 (the Treaty of Tordesillas).

Essentially, the Pope affirmed the Spanish’s right to “conquer” the New World by putting the dividing line 370 leagues west of Portugal's Cape Verde islands off the west coast of Africa.

However, unknown to both the Pope and Spain, a big chunk of the future country of Brazil lies east of that line which the Portuguese eventually discovered and colonised.

The treaty did two things - It gave access to Portugal to the New World (and chillies) and forced them to head east to Asia, making them the first European nation to find and set up shop in the markets of Africa, India and of course South-East Asia.

Almost 20 years later, King Manuel I of Portugal heard of a nascent trading power in South Asia called Melaka that was apparently hugely wealthy so he decided that it would be a good idea to make a trade compact with its Ruler.

He then sent Admiral Diogo Lopes de Sequeira to Melaka as his representative east of India.

Admiral de Sequeira reached Melaka in 1509 and was initially well received by Sultan Mahmud Shah but trouble eventually started that eventually ended with an invasion led by Admiral de Sequeira's countryman, Afonso de Albuquerque in 1511.

However, being originally a trade delegation, it can be assumed that de Sequeira would have presented the humble chilli to the Sultan as one of the various goods the Portuguese would be able to trade in Melaka.

This would be the earliest that chillies could have reached our shores as Admiral de Sequeira was the first European in South-East Asia, and at that time, it was only the Europeans who had access to both the New World and Asia.

So all in all, Malaysia has had chillies for just over 500 years, however, the spice has had an astounding impact on our culture and cuisine that it is almost impossible to imagine a time when we didn't have access to it.

References:

1. https://chili-plant.com/interesting-facts/chili-history-origin-distribution/

2. https://www.worldhistory.org/Portuguese_Malacca/