ABSTRACT
Rice (Oryza sativa) was not part of the diet of the indigenous Americans during pre-Colombian times, with the exception of some Amazonian tribes that collected rice for consumption from native populations of Oryza grandiglumis and Oryza glumaepatula (called by local people abati-uaupé, which means water-maize). The utilization of these species did not lead to domestication as in Asia and Africa (52). With the rediscovery of America by Columbus in 1492 and the conquest of different territories, food supply was a critical issue. The massive utilization of indigenous people for gold and silver extraction during colonial times produced food shortages, creating the need for planting European staple crops like wheat and rice (Asian origin) in the Caribbean island La Española (now Dominican Republic and Haiti) that had begun in 1495. Several attempts were made at rice cropping but without success. The first reference to a successful harvest of rice is from Puerto Rico in 1535 and since then, rice cultivation has been disseminated to the Caribbean, in particular to Cuba and Jamaica. The Spanish colonizers introduced the crop into Mexico and Peru after the conquest of the Aztec and Inca empires around 1549, about 100 years prior to its introduction to southern U.S. in 1646 and 1685 (10). Since then, rice was distributed to other colonies and became part of the diet in many Latin American countries (9).
