DVD 3: Native North American Influence

When Money Grew on Trees (The Story of Chocolate)
During his final voyage in 1502, the Mayans introduced Columbus to the cacao bean, which was an integral part of their diet. This program follows the history of chocolate from its importance to the Mayan culture, to its arrival in Spain and eventual development by the Europeans into what chocolate is today.

This Spud’s for You (How the Potato Changed the World)
First cultivated in the Andean Mountains of South America about 7,000 years ago, the potato fed the great Inca Empire and their Spanish conquerors. The potato became a staple of the sailors’ diet because it prevented scurvy. Germany and the British Isles eventually incorporated potatoes into their diet. This program looks at how the potato fed an expanding population that provided workers for the Industrial Revolution, how it caused a population explosion in Ireland and then killed a million Irish when the crop failed, and follows the resulting immigration of a million Irish to America.

The Seed of Life (The Story of Corn)
When Columbus came ashore on Cuba, on November 4, 1492, the Natives gave him corn. The cultivation of corn quickly spread around the world because it grows almost everywhere and can be eaten by man or animal. We learn how Native Americans planted and fertilized their crops and how corn depends totally on human beings for its own survival. The oldest variety of corn is popcorn, but today we use corn in more ways than could ever be imagined.