Melva and I had a fascinating conversation this afternoon. We were totting up the contributions that sundry cultures have made to the state of human life on Earth.
From the Greeks came the foundations of philosophy, medicine, and science. The Arabians gave us algebra. The Romans invented paved roads, the water wheel, and big government; and later their Italian offspring came up with the corporation. The Chinese gave us the noodle and (maybe) gunpowder. The Polynesians showed us fascinating alternative cultures. The Scots contributed modern engineering, the modern warrior code, and the bagpipes. (Not to mention haggis.
Please don't mention haggis!) The Scandinavians came up with deep-sea fishing. Aboriginal Australians invented some boffo musical instruments. We needn't go on about contributions of the British and their rowdy offspring, the Americans; they invented everything from waxed paper to the airplane.
But when we came to the indigenous tribes of the Americas--those stone-age tribes often irrationally called "native" Americans--we got stumped. Fertilizers? Nope; nothing original there though it makes for a good story. Horses? Naw, those were imported by Europeans. How about tobacco? Well yeah, but out of fashion these days. Maybe Mexican food? Uh uh; that was the Spanish. OK, says I, how about syphilis? True, but not exactly something a culture wants to be credited for.
Finally, after considerable frustrating discussion, we found it! From at least one of the indigenous tribes of Americas comes perhaps the greatest contribution to modern culture since the invention of writing:
chocolate! 