Andeans and Coca
In ancient colonial times, the peoples of the Andes Mountain range worked hard in the mountains to cultivate and produce agriculture that would provide the meal and food items to trade with. However, during this process the Andeans’ bodies would react to the high altitudes of the Andes Mountains. Symptoms of altitude sickness develop around 9,000 feet: cough, paint in the chest, headache, nausea, and vomiting. One common solution to the symptoms of altitude sickness was chewing coca leaves and this is what the Andeans did.
Archaeologists say that coca leaves were found in three mylilus-shell containers after researchers excavated two burials in Culebras, Engel. The site of the burial was said to be dated near 2000 b.c. Researchers have also said that coca leaves were not present until the Pre-ceramic period. A coca-production zone of the Andes had a storage structure that had a stock pile of maize, coca, and marine shell. Coca leaf was also found at a costal site and this is proof that from the mid-valley plantations, the coca leaf was traded to the highlands and the coast.
In South America coca has been used for medicinal purposes for thousands of years and still continues to be one of the most common medicines in Peru and Bolivia today. Coca extract and cocaine became more popular as remedies in the 19th century. Cocaine became the first effective anesthetic and products that contained it also popular, such as prescription drugs and soda drinks. However, when the dangers of cocaine became apparent, substitutes were created and became available and its medical use started to decline. Drugs like amphetamine also began to replace some of the medical purposes of cocaine.
Today the use of cocaine for medical purposes outside of South America is not very popular. But both coca and cocaine are still used for a wider variety of medicinal purposes. Just like opiates, alcohol, amphetamines, and other drugs that affect the central nervous system, cocaine seemed to relieve symptoms of different illnesses and functional disturbances. Cocaine was used for stimulant purposes in medicine when it was introduced to Europe and the United States but this stopped happening after a couple generations and now has few accepted medical uses.
There are many things that I have learned in my Andean History class that directly coincide with my topic, “Andeans and Coca”. It was not easy for the Andean peoples to survive in the precolonial era because of the harsh weather and it was not so easy to find prominent sources of food. However, eventually the Andeans adapted to the harsh conditions of the Andes and multitudes of climates they had to endure. Coca leaves are an example of how they adapted to the tough altitude sickness that came along with cultivating on various altitudes of the mountains. Coca leaves were a commodity to the precolonial Andeans. The Andeans would also offer coca leaves to the gods when they worshipped them. They offered things that were treasured on earth to the gods hoping they would treasure them like they did.