We've had plenty of comments related to agriculture and the productions of crops (or products) via cultural landscapes such as wine vineyards, coffee plantations, sugar production, tea plantations, banana plantations, the productions of salt, and much more. Perhaps that conversation can continue here, but it also got me thinking about which seminal agricultural products or goods that are NOT represented.

#1 Potato - undeniable impact on world culture and key item of the Columbian Exchange (Peru, Ireland)
"History of the Potato"

#2 Tobacco and Cotton - Cash crops of the American South (USA)

#3 Green Tea Plantations (China, Korea)

#4 Banana Plantations (Columbia, Guatemala)

Other ideas?

I'm intrigued by this crop, and am trying to figure out how it could best be represented, given the banana-fueled corporate colonialism that tainted the politics of so many countries in Central and South America during the 20th century (and led to the "Banana massacre" at Ciénaga in Colombia).

I see Colombia has put "United Fruit Company Infrastructure" on their tentative list, so that might be a way to represent banana production. I haven't seen any nominations from Central American countries (and perhaps the 20th century is still too recent to approach any banana-related nominations for former "banana republics").

As for cotton, I'm intrigued by the history of muslin around Dhaka, Bangladesh. In the 17th and 18th centuries, this fine cotton fabric was extremely popular in Europe; unfortunately, British rule effectively ended the muslin trade. I don't see any nominations for sites related to muslin on Bangladesh's tentative list, but perhaps an area like Panam Nagar in Sonargaon could fit.

A quick summary of sites mentioned here and other posts in our forum.

Tea
Ancient Tea Plantations of Jingmai Mountain in Pu'er (China) TWHS
The Thousands Miles Tea Road (China) Aspiring nomination
Ceylon Tea plantations - Dambatenne estates and Loolkadura (Sri Lanka) Aspiring nomination
Boseong Green Tea Plantation (Korea)

Cotton Plantation or Production
Historic Charleston (USA) *38 components (seeking a place on the US Tentative List)
Panam Nagar (Bangladesh)

Banana Plantation
United Fruit Company Infrastructure (Columbia) TWHS
- Potential for a serial nomination with other countries in Latin America

In regards to Tea related nominations, China mentions several sites in their "comparison with other similar properties" including: "The famous Assam tea plantation in India, tea plantations in Sri Lanka, and Shizuoka tea plantation in Japan.

Rubber is another agricultural product that is tangentially, but not directly, represented on the World Heritage Site list. Rubber seeds were controversially shipped from Brazil to Kew Gardens in the 19th century, and seedlings were then shipped to the Singapore Botanic Gardens, where research for the cultivation of rubber plantations in Southeast Asia was conducted.

On the tentative list, Brazil has listed the Amazonia Theaters in Manaus and Belem that were constructed as a result of the Brazilian rubber boom. Still missing on the list would be any examples of rubber plantations in Brazil, southeast Asia, or Africa.

I wish I had more enthusiasm for this crop, but I can't say I'm particularly moved when I see vast potato fields (sorry southern Idaho and Aroostook County, Maine). Nor am I enthused about the mass production or marketing of potato-related products, as could be represented by the J.R. Simplot company in Declo, Idaho, which is the world's largest potato processing factory, or by the world's oldest extant McDonalds restaurant in Downey, California.

If anything were to be nominated from a historic aspect, I suppose it should be a site from around southern Peru or northwest Bolivia. I just am not sure what the best site would be to represent potato cultivation.

Potato crop was actually quite scenic on my 12 mile hike starting from Tambomachay to Saqsaywaman, before returning back to Cuzco. I have no idea if this particular section has any historical significance for Potato cultivation, but it was as pleasing to the eye as most vineyards.

Tambomachay to Saqsaywaman

The recent idea of olive plantation of Spain is actually quite interesting as olive is one of the most important crop of Mediterranean cuisine and many Europeans one.


Tea is a very interesting in terms of WHS, there is no direct WHS that inscribe by the sole reason of tea plantation but looking deeply many famous green tea plantation are already include in WHS. For example Chinese's No.1 tea - Longjing Tea of Hangzhou is included in West Lake WHS, the pricy Da Hong Pao Tea is inside Wuyishan NP.

Another interesting crop is pepper, the recent idea of Cambodia to nominate Kampot pepper plantation is the one I hope to see its success.

Good terrain certainly livens up a landscape! Those were some nice pictures.


I'll be curious to see how this one does. Olives are already represented directly via Battir in Palestine (Land of Olives and Vines), and indirectly via the Val d'Orcia cultural landscape in Italy and the Stari Grad Plain in Croatia. Not that pre-existing sites have had any impact on vineyard nominations in Europe...


That Cambodia nomination looks interesting. I wonder if India will ever nominate anything related to the spice trade on the Malabar Coast. I'm not sure how much is left that would show OUV, but there is certainly a historical angle to the region. One site that looks interesting is the Anjarakkandy Cinnamon Estate, reputedly the largest in Asia, which was founded by the East India Company in 1767 and is still operational. Another site that looks interesting in Mattancherry, which has an old spice market that used to be pretty large. From another cultural perspective, Mattancherry also is home to a Paradesi Jewish community in India, which became greatly involved in the spice trade after arriving in India during the 15th and 16th centuries.

In regards to Olive based World Heritage Sites, I remember hearing an interview with Carol Drinkwater where she propossed the idea of an "Olive Route" WHS, similar to the Silk Route. She wrote a book about it which you can read the start of here.

Czechia (still not sure on that usage) has two agricultural sites on its t-list:

Žatec -the Hops town as the name suggests is about the most important Czech crop Hops! For those that know their brewing well Žatec hops (as well as many other Czech beer products) are known more widely by its German name Saaz. It is also the primary flavouring in one of the world's greatest products Pilsner Urquell.

Fishpond Network in the Třeboň Basin is actually an agricultural site, focused on the rearing of fish.

Neither are exceptional to my mind, but probably the match of any old wine region that is flinging itself at the list in order to up it's premium brand positioning.

I think the idea of Keralan sites associated with spice would certainly get my backing, I didn't realise that the Mattancherry Spice Market Colvin spoke of was the same one I knew as the Cochin Spice Market, being British I can attest to the influence of the Indian Spice trade.

In fact there is an exisiting site which is noteworthy for the development and growing of the potato - the Cultural Landscape of Quebrada de Humahuaca.
Amazingly, the Nomination file makes almost no mention of the specific crop, referring mostly to general aspects such as "agriculture" and "fields" together with the transport of crops such as "potatoes". Conversely it goes into great detail about the remains of early 20th C railway which ran through the valley and a lot of other pretty "marginal" stuff! Yet it claims importance for Andean crops (including potato) as part of the justification.
Perhaps these quotes are the most relevant (my "bolds")-
"The early settlements are an example of the empirical knowledge gained by the settlers, who achieved an extraordinary level in the development of aboriginal American agriculture, even in areas which are considered marginal with respect to the large centers of cultural development of the Central Andes or Mesoamerica. The agricultural complex of Coctaca has no paragon in the whole of the continent, and has great technical and original value"
and
"Criterion iii
Throughout the millennia of human work, the Quebrada de Humahuaca has meant different things to the different societies that have inhabited it, ....... a symbolic and productive space for resident farmers; ........ In this intercultural space, numerous domesticated species have come to be cultivated and grown in the Andes, and the Quebrada de Humahuaca has thus become the southernmost area to contain a group of varieties belonging to Andean agriculture."

Web searches on "Humahuaca", "Potatoes", "Coctaca" etc return a fair number of articles showing the importance of the potato in the area as an economic crop, a cultural item and as a source of multiple and early varieties e.g
http://www.fondazioneslowfood.com/en/slow-food-presidia/quebrada-de-humahuaca-andean- potatoes/
http://www.condesan.org/e-foros/insitu99/choque.htm (English version at the end)

I hadn't even thought of looking into whether Quebrada de Humahuaca had any ties to the humble potato; I'd been looking at inscribed and tentative sites in Peru and Bolivia. Thanks for the reminder that there is a South American potato-related WHS already on the list!