History of the Coca Plant 0
( From the book: Cocaine the Legend by Jorge Hurtado )
Coca is a plant whose historic significance dates back to before the conquest of the Incas, in Andean prehistoric times. Small groups of nomad tribes which habited the Andes during the immediate post-glacial period used the coca leaf. The coca leaf was used by the Incas, Quechuas and many other Andean cultures.
The earliest coca leaves were discovered in the Huaca Prieta settlement c. 2500 – 1800 BC in the northern coast of Peru, positive proof that the natives of South America were using coca for a series of purposes for more than our thousand, five hundred years
All pre-Columbian cultures in the Andes have left evidence of usage of these leaves. Similarly, there is ample evidence that coca was one of the oldest domestic use plants in the New World. Its use extends over an area which includes Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, Colombia, Chile, Argentina, Paraguay, and Brazil. The first mention found on the leaf, was one made by Father Tomas Ortiz, and later on many more chroniclers will mention the leaf starting with the cartographer and explorer Americo Vespucci.
Cieza de Leon also devoted extensive paragraphs of his writingsto the Coca plant. In 1558, Acosta asserted in this respect: “To speak truthfully, I cannot be convinced that this is all afigment of the imagination. I am rather inclined to believe that there is, in fact, another force and spirit in the natives because there are no effects that can be attributed to imagination, which is how, with the help of a handful of coca leaves, they can walk for days without food, at times other such things and other similar works.”Further ahead in his work, the chronicler adds: “The Lords used coca as a royal object and a gift, and during their sacrifices, it was the one thing they most often offered, burning it in honor of their idols.” This same author notes that the leaf was used by the fortune teller (yatiri), by the magician (paco) and the native doctor (callawaya).
The chroniclers also busied themselves in recording the powers and uses attributed to coca by the natives: to forecast coming events, to cure several ailments and its function as a mediator with the Andean Pantheon through offerings. Such offerings were carried out during disasters, (drought, flooding, frost, and hail), or during the cycles of regular life, particularly related to MotherEarth (Pacha Mama), and fertility. It is because of this that the coca was considered (and still is), a sacred plant endowed with magical powers, representing the intermediary to make contact with supernatural forces through especial rituals.
The economic transformation generated during the Colonial period changed the value of coca leaves as a barter value.Many researchers indicate that at a given time during the Colony, the price of coca leaves was such that they were used instead of gold and silver. Poma de Ayala maintains that the Spanish conquerors changed it into a form of payment. During this period, the usage of coca leaves by the natives is somewhat contradictory.
On the one hand, the Catholic Church perceives the use of coca as a major obstacle inpenetrating and capturing the indigenous soul and culture, to such an extent that the Church Council of 1569 decreed the eradication of coca plantings because they believed that the plant had satanic powers. This marked the start of the Narco-Inquisition. In spite of this, the chronicles indicate that the coca crops increased considerably given the social importance the plant had, and still has, for the native population.It was used by the Spaniards for exploitation. They are the ones who distributed the leaf, and in exchange the Indians had to serve, work more, etc., thereby increasing the economic importance of the plant, particularly in silver mining of Greater Potosi. Subsequently, King Philip II of Spain declared coca a product for the welfare of theAndean natives. The Church lifted its prohibition and established a ten per cent tax on coca. During the Colony, the importance and commerce of coca”…supplied a regional market, centered in Potosi, which ranged from Northern Peru, Bolivia, part of Chile, and the north of Argentina, a market which survived until the beginning of this century, due to coca…”
