Author(s)

I. M. Madaleno

Abstract

The first list containing the Indian spices traded by the Portuguese navigators was written in 1516, in Kochi. However Pires, an herb-pharmacist, had already authored an extensive report about landscapes visited in India and the Extreme Orient in 1515. Several other sixteenth century manuscripts provide us with impressive images of India, where Europeans traded Malabar Coast spices by the sea route Vasco da Gama discovered in 1498. In this research the Portuguese Tropical Research Institute (IICT) explored Kochi, searching for the same herb species mentioned in the manuscripts, as well as other nutritious plants, gardened within city limits or in rural farms elsewhere in Kerala state. This paper uses a comparative method that puts localism at the service of abstraction. The research hypothesis is that gardening contributes to generate more sustainable agglomerations, providing income and health for the poor and spaces that can regulate water cycles and produce oxygen.

Keywords

sustainable cities, Indian gardens, landscapes