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Europeans in the new world were fairly clueless about agriculture, particularly in the tropics
they depended on native Americans and slaves to learn how to survive
they were also greedy, interested in cash crops and not in food
slaves often did not get adequate food to survive
South Carolina grew rice to feed the slaves in the Caribbean

Portuguese thought of manioc as slave food, but it was too much work to prepare
slaves preferred to grow yams, plantains...

Africans brought an agricultural system based on the hoe rather than the plow
Agriculture was therefore women's work

Caribbean emphasis on tubers rather than grain because they survived hurricanes