European bees in America II

HONEY AND WAX FROM EUROPEAN BEES IN FRANCISCAINE MISSIONS OF NUEVA ESPAÑA AND MEXICO. APPROACH TO A PROBLEM

Jose Maria de Jaime Lorén

University CEU-Cardenal Herrera. Moncada (Valencia, Spain)

As long as we have been studying the History of the Spanish Beekeeping, especially about the medicinal uses of honey, wax and other bee products, we consider of great importance the analysis of the first deliveries of Apis mellifera to the New World.

In spite of the importance of honey as pharmaceutical product, the most profitable beekeeping business was providing illumination to churches for the religious ceremonies. For this reason, delivering bees to America became a vital matter.

Crane and some authors have demonstrated some beehives had been sent to America already in 1617. As a product of our research in Archivo de Indias we have found a 1543 R.O. asking for the Casa de Contratación to send bees to Cuba. Brand and more Beekeeping History experts consider possible deliveries of hives to the New World on 1520.

We need to wait until 1717 to find new records in Archivo de Indias about Apiculture in Cuba, with inventories of beekeepers, hives, productions, etc.

Recent studies about the wild bees phenotype that inhabit near the ports where the Spanish boats arrived from the Peninsula, have shown evident similarities with the European bees. This seems to confirm the early presence of these insects in those places.

The work of some of the first Cronistas de Indias, like the P. Cobo, corroborate this theories.

In addition, some authors attribute to the first Franciscaines Missions in today's state of Texas the primacy in the beekeeping business in North America, which evidences the huge importance of studying these archives to tackle this question. Finally we strongly recommend to aim researching this interesting subject.