Variability and dynamics of Nordic rye
In the late medieval period, cereal cultivation and consumption in Scandinavia changed. After almost 2000 years of having barley (Hordeum vulgare) as the primary grain crop, the use of rye (Secale cereale) increased fast. The reasons for this shift are not fully...
The Botany Archive of the University of Coimbra: a complex and fascinating puzzle
In 1772, a garden became part of Coimbra’s landscape. A botanical garden that was not intended for princes, but rather a venue for learning and leisure, a meeting place between nature and knowledge. It was organised to enable the study of plants from the country and...
Friedrich Haberlandt and the soybean
In the course of the 19th century, natural scientists in Europe took notice of a “miraculous stranger”, a nutritious cultivated plant rich in fats and protein - the soybean. One of the most renowned soy pioneers was Friedrich Haberlandt, a 46-year-old botanist and...
“Inconita et non peiu visto”: American flora in the Museo del Prado collections
The first impression that Europeans had upon arriving in America was that of exuberant nature, plenty of plants and animals whose forms were hardly comparable to those of known nature. Christopher Columbus himself demonstrated this with the peculiar selection of...
Oranges from Portugal
In the 19th century, the development of chemical medicine determined the end of the bitter orange, which will remain just as a rootstock or a decoration tree. The sweet orange tree starts to earn real protagonism and turns out to be an ingredient of several recipes....
Food, history and cultural heritage: the grass pea consumption in central Portugal (19th century)
In the District of Leiria, central Portugal region, some festivities revive gastronomic and rural traditions, as a way of reclaiming its intangible cultural heritage. Some of these celebrations praise the chícharo, a grain legume consumed mainly by the country's rural...
Fieldwork: meeting the living sources of agricultural knowledge and experience
The ReSEED Project’s research travels along a path that unfolds over several centuries, backwards but also forwards. What we see in the 21st century is its last stretch. We are facing the result of how historical processes, scientific advances, economic interests,...
Improve iodine and other human micronutrient content in crops
The World is facing drastic, rapid, and unpredictable challenges. To set an example, in just the past few years we have faced a global pandemic, worsening climate conditions, an energetic crisis, war conflicts, and terrorism. Such conditions impose serious constrains...
Modelling agricultural land changes: mobilise historical sources to gather past knowledge with geographic evidence
The agricultural land changes we observe today are the direct result of a combination of social, economic, and environmental factors, varying at a range of spatial and temporal scales. Thus, many land-change models based on geographic theory and reconstructions of...
Between dryland and irrigation in Alentejo: agriculture and population development in the long term
Located in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula, the Alentejo is the largest of the Portuguese regions with more than 28 thousand square kilometres stretching from the coast to the Spanish border. This region lies within the dry Iberia being subjected to a...
