Connections

The old adage "a picture is worth a thousand words" always kind of irritated me. But, after using a picture as my primary source for the history engine episode, I guess I will give in to the saying. When sifting through the archive, I impetuously chose a picture of an orange grove, mainly just satisfied with the fact that I finally found something from the nineteenth century. I didn't think much of this picture at the time, but after researching a bit, it seems to be connected to a lot of topics we have covered in class and our reading. Turns out this picture of a frozen orange grove is a resulting action of a mass citrus culture that defined the settling of Florida stretching from the late seventeenth century until the late nineteenth century. The history includes many characters we have touched upon: Native Indians, Spanish inhabitors, and English planters. And while we think of oranges as a distinctly Florida commodity, it all spurred as a bi-product of the Columbian Exchange. I guess there is always more than meets the eye.