 One of the oddest things about pumpkins is that they're actually classified as a fruit. In fact, the whole squash family is classified as fruits. Fruits, vegetables, can't we just all get along? No one knows exactly when pumpkins first arrived on the scene, but paleobotanists have found pumpkin seeds dating to 8750 BC in the Oaxaca Valley and 7,000 BC caves in the Tamolipus Mountains in Mexico. Some say it was only 5,500 BC, but either way, it was a long freaking time ago. And you know what this means? Pumpkins are one of the oldest cultivated crops in the world, along with big names like chili peppers, beans, barley, and corn. Did you know that ancient Mexicans used to trade four cacao beans for one pumpkin? And at one point, a Mexican slave could be bought for 25 pumpkins. But there is pumpkin controversy. Do pumpkins really come from the Americas? Some say nay, they do not. Let's explore this controversial pumpkin today on eccentric nature. And now the history of pumpkins. Where are pumpkins from? The Gourd family is humongous. And it includes things like squashes, watermelon, cucumbers, and zucchinis. And other types of gourds date even further back than pumpkins, possibly to 10,000 BC. Now some people say that pumpkins didn't really make it over to Europe until the first Spanish explorers brought them back with them during the early to mid 1500s. After that, French explorers brought them to France. And soon after this, they were introduced to England, though apparently there's some argument over this theory. Alfred Crosby in his books, ecological imperialism, and the Colombian exchange, claims that the old world already had pumpkins. While Mexico just had other types of squash. Now part of what makes this so difficult is that pumpkin and squash are very similar in many respects. Not only that, but ancient pumpkins were actually a quite bit different than what we see these days. And pumpkins spread so quickly that their exact origins are very difficult to discern. And according to many historians, indigenous Americans actually started farming pumpkins before they started beans or corn. And so really, it was the Americas that helped the pumpkin begin on its road to notoriety. Pumpkin etymology. Now for most herbs and spices, you're gonna find either a Greek, Latin, or even Arabic root to its name. The pumpkin, however, is a little different. And yes, there is a Greek word attached to pumpkin's etymology, which is pipon, which means large melon. And some people say that the French just turned pipon into pompon. Which doesn't make a lot of sense because that's actually what the French call pumpkins now. But then they say the English turned pompon into pompion, which the American colonists finally turned into pumpkin. However, here's where the evolution gets a little bit odd. Some people believe that French explorer Jacques Cartier ended up reporting on his findings of gross melon. Fun fact, Jacques Cartier is also responsible for messing up the Iroquois word, canata, and created the word that would be used for the Northern Territories, Canada. Now the Cartier version is a little bit flimsy. Actually, it's a lot flimsy. First, because the English supposedly translated gross melon into pompion, because they sure didn't arrive to pompion from the actual French word for pumpkins, which is citrouille. Next, most internet sources, including history.com, say that he reported this in 1584, which must've happened because of Cartier's ghost, because he died in 1557. Yeah, not exactly reliable. This account is even more flimsy when you consider the fact that the Wampanoag tribe had already been calling pumpkins popacon well before this time. And this was the same tribe that introduced pumpkins to the English settlers who created the initial Plymouth Colony in Massachusetts. Pumpkins travel the world! Sadly, we have that lame old explorer Christopher Columbus to thank for the pumpkin's initial exposure to Europe. As Columbus came into contact with them when he landed in Cuba on December 3rd, 1492, and ended up bringing some back with him on his return voyage. Many people believe that the first evidence and print of pumpkins is thanks to the prayer book of Anne de Breton, Duchess of Brittany, in the early 1500s. But actually, the drawing in question is from another member of the Gord family. Whoever that guy is. But the first actual use of the word pumpkin in print comes from the early translations of the French version of Cinderella. Despite all this razzmatazz it was from Spain, the pumpkins became more popularized throughout Europe. Pumpkin facts and evolution. In the early 1600s, pumpkins were so plentiful in Massachusetts that at one point the city of Boston was affectionately called pumpkin shire. People back then also found lots of fun ways to eat pumpkins too. In England, they used to make a mixture of apples, herbs, spices, and of course pumpkins, cooked in coffins. What? It's not quite as bizarre as it sounds as coffins, spelt with a Y, are what they used to call crusts. Back then, the crusts were meant to just contain the animals and not to be eaten themselves. It should be no surprise that the indigenous Americans utilized pumpkins in a variety of ways. They weaved dried pumpkin flesh into mats, and they would also dry pumpkin shells to be used as bowls for things like grains, beans, and seeds. Medicinally, they were the forerunners for using pumpkin sap and pulp for burns and snake bites. The colonial Americans were also monster fans of pumpkins. As early pilgrim settlers had to use pumpkins as a big part of their diet. And during the American Revolutionary War, they made pumpkin sugar, fed cattle with pumpkins, and even made pumpkin beer, which they also likely learned from the indigenous Americans. As they had been making fermented drinks out of pumpkins long before the colonists had arrived. In a weird turn, early New England Puritan blue laws decreed that every man had to have his hair cut round by a cap. Kinda like the old Beatles bull cut, and if a bull cap wasn't available, they used a pumpkin. Pumpkins, Thanksgiving, and abolition. Many people think that the Puritans who first settled in America were saved because the indigenous Americans taught them how to grow corn, and they all shared a turkey on Thanksgiving. Oh, history, how you easily get distorted. The fact is that Thanksgiving came much later, and that pumpkins were involved much earlier. Now some sources say that Puritans weren't very enamored with pumpkins initially, but this quickly changed as winter came. And when faced with pumpkins or starvation, they chose the pumpkins. There's even a 1630s Puritan rhyme that shows just how far things turned around for the pumpkin and the pilgrims. For potage and pumpkins and custards and pies, our pumpkins and parsnips are common supplies. We have pumpkins at morning and pumpkins at noon. And if it were not for pumpkins, we would be undone. Hey, that doesn't even rhyme. Now during that first three-day meeting between the English Puritans and the Wampanoag tribe, which many people refer to as the first Thanksgiving, pumpkins were likely included in that feast, but pumpkin pies, not so much. The closest thing they had to pumpkin pie at the time was a hollowed out pumpkin filled with milk, honey, and spices that made a custard while slow roasting. While it was good old Abraham Lincoln, who was finally responsible for the federal recognition of Thanksgiving as we know it, it's really thanks to Sarah Joseph Ahale that pumpkins became a national symbol, not only of Thanksgiving, but for the abolitionist movement as well. And pumpkins and pumpkin pie were a big part of that campaign. She even wrote multiple letters to Lincoln petitioning for the holiday. Lincoln initially declared two days of thanks, one on July 15th, 1863, after the Union's victory at Gettysburg, and then the official one, which was declared in October 1863 to be on the last Thursday in November, and thanks to lots of bad education. The Wampanoags actually started protesting Thanksgiving in the 1970s in order to set the record straight about the origins of Thanksgiving and those initial meetings between the Pilgrims and the indigenous Americans. And that's not the end of the history of pumpkins. I've got even more pumpkin facts in history coming your way. But if you haven't seen them yet, check out one of these pleasant pumpkin videos first. Please be kind, take care of each other. And the next time you have some pumpkin, you're gonna have some fun pumpkin history to tell people.