Larry E. Tise, Wilbur & Orville Wright Distinguished Professor of History at East Carolina University, tells a complicated and fascinating story about why the American bird we eat on Thanksgiving came to be called a turkey.
At the time Columbus sailed to America, Turkey was the seat of the Ottoman Empire, the largest and most powerful political realm the western world has known since the decline and fall of Rome. Spain sought to challenge the hegemony of Turkey, but they couldn’t repress the desire for goods that came from the Ottoman Empire. Contraband still moved regularly between the two countries.
The early names for turkeys in the Americas were the Aztec word “huexoloti” and the Mexican word “guajolote.” Columbus brought some of these back to Spain with him, and some of the birds were traded to Turkey. As Tise reports:
“But these birds were skinny runts compared to the majestic huexoloti. Making use of sophisticated growing and seeding techniques, savvy Turkish farmers in the space of just twenty years had a surplus of both birds and plants for export across Europe.”
Meanwhile, back in America, English settlers decided that the sleek huexoloti from home couldn’t compare to the plump tasty birds from Turkey, and started importing them. Plus, the birds from Turkey had a unique appetite for the pests that preyed on tobacco plants. As Professor Tise notes: “English turkeys deriving from Turkey arrived in Jamestown in 1614 and in Massachusetts prior to 1629. As European settlements spread, so did their herds of domestic turkeys. The wild cousins of the huexoloti that once inhabited most of North America retreated to more congenial frontiers–as did their native names.”
Professor Tise concludes:
“Thus, this Thanksgiving when we gather to partake in this most hallowed and quintessential of America’s holidays, we should remember as we look toward the big bird in the middle of our table that it is after all a turkey that came to us from Turkey; that it was brought into our culture by European forbears deeply influenced by their connections to Islamic commerce and culture in the Middle East; and that we have been a part of a shared planet for a very long time. And, then, let us say our thanksgiving prayers to Yahweh, Allah, or by whatever name might be known the God of these shared faiths.”
Read the entire history here. Also note, there are other theories on how the word “turkey” got adopted. See for example, this article from “The Atlantic Monthly.”
Wild Turkey
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Why Is a Thanksgiving Turkey Called a “Turkey”?
Larry E. Tise, Wilbur & Orville Wright Distinguished Professor of History at East Carolina University, tells a complicated and fascinating story about why the American bird we eat on Thanksgiving came to be called a turkey.
At the time Columbus sailed to America, Turkey was the seat of the Ottoman Empire, the largest and most powerful political realm the western world has known since the decline and fall of Rome. Spain sought to challenge the hegemony of Turkey, but they couldn’t repress the desire for goods that came from the Ottoman Empire. Contraband still moved regularly between the two countries.
The early names for turkeys in the Americas were the Aztec word “huexoloti” and the Mexican word “guajolote.” Columbus brought some of these back to Spain with him, and some of the birds were traded to Turkey. As Tise reports:
Meanwhile, back in America, English settlers decided that the sleek huexoloti from home couldn’t compare to the plump tasty birds from Turkey, and started importing them. Plus, the birds from Turkey had a unique appetite for the pests that preyed on tobacco plants. As Professor Tise notes: “English turkeys deriving from Turkey arrived in Jamestown in 1614 and in Massachusetts prior to 1629. As European settlements spread, so did their herds of domestic turkeys. The wild cousins of the huexoloti that once inhabited most of North America retreated to more congenial frontiers–as did their native names.”
Professor Tise concludes:
Read the entire history here. Also note, there are other theories on how the word “turkey” got adopted. See for example, this article from “The Atlantic Monthly.”
Wild Turkey
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About rhapsodyinbooks
We're into reading, politics, and intellectual exchanges.