How chilli reached Europe: Columbus, Spain and Portugal
On 15 January 1493 Columbus wrote that the Caribbean ají 'is their pepper, which is more valuable than pepper'. A year later the fleet physician Chanca recorded it as a spice for fish and birds. Spanish gardeners took the plant up, and Portuguese and Spanish ships carried it on to Africa and Asia within the century.
Checked October 20, 2026 · How we source facts
Timeline
- 15 January 1493
Columbus's journal (Las Casas abstract): 'plenty of aji, which is their pepper, which is more valuable than pepper... Fifty caravels might be annually loaded with it from Española.' [1]
- 1494
Dr Diego Álvarez Chanca, physician to the second voyage, writes to Seville that the islanders season their food with 'a spice called agi', which they also eat with fish and birds. [2]
- Mid-1500s
Chillies are a common garden plant in Spain. They are recorded in Italy by 1526, Germany by 1543 and the Balkans by 1569. [3]
- 16th century
Portuguese traders take chillies to Africa and Arabia, then to Goa, Sri Lanka and Malacca. Spanish galleons take them to the Philippines. [3]
- 16th century
Historian Brian Dott says chilli was not a trade commodity. Ship crews carried it for their own food and it spread from port to port. [4]
Customs and words
- Naming: Columbus called ají a 'pepper' while saying it differed from black pepper and was worth more. [1]
- Sailors’ seasoning: Brian Dott argues that because chilli grows from a few seeds in temperate climates, it spread through gardens rather than through the spice trade. [4]
- Piri-piri: the Dictionary of South African English says the etymology is obscure, perhaps Swahili pilipili ('pepper') or Mozambican Portuguese, with forms like 'pil-pil' found in Spain and West Africa. [5]
Questions
What did Columbus say about chillies?
His journal for 15 January 1493 records ají as "their pepper, which is more valuable than pepper", adding that fifty caravels a year could be loaded with it.
How did chillies spread from Spain and Portugal?
Portuguese and Spanish ships carried them to Africa, India and Southeast Asia in the 16th century, mostly as food for the crews rather than as trade goods, according to historian Brian Dott.
More chilli history
- Chilli in Mexico: where it began, and what the Aztecs did with it
- Chilli in Peru: 7,500 years of uchu
- Chilli in India: from Portuguese ships to 40% of the world’s dried chillies
- Chilli in Korea: why kimchi wasn’t always red
- Chilli in China: a garden ornament that won Sichuan and Hunan
- Chilli in Thailand: the heat came from pepper first
- Paprika in Hungary: from Turkish pepper to a Nobel Prize
- Chilli in Africa: berbere, melegueta and the Mombasa chilli
- Chilli in the USA: Tabasco, the Scoville test and New Mexico
- Chilli history myths, checked
Sources
- The Journal of Christopher Columbus (Hakluyt Society, trans. C. R. Markham, 1893), p. 164, entry for Tuesday 15 January 1493: Aji 'is their pepper, which is more valuable than pepper'; fifty caravels a year
- Select Letters of Christopher Columbus (Hakluyt Society, trans. R. H. Major, 1847), pp. 65-66: Letter of Dr Chanca to the Chapter of Seville: Islanders season food with a spice called agi, eaten with fish and birds (second voyage, 1494)
- Wikipedia (citing Sauer 2017; Raghavan 2006; Wallin 2004; DeWitt 2020): Spain garden plant mid-1500s; Italy 1526, Germany 1543, Balkans 1569; Portuguese spread to Africa, Arabia, Goa, Sri Lanka, Malacca; Spanish to Philippines (secondary source)
- Eat This Podcast (Jeremy Cherfas) interview transcript with historian Brian R. Dott, 2020: Portuguese and Spanish crews carried chilli for their own food; not a trade commodity because it grows in temperate climates (secondary source)
- Dictionary of South African English (DSAE): Piri-piri etymology obscure; possibly Swahili pilipili or Mozambican Portuguese; pil-pil forms in Spain and West Africa (secondary source)