Cannibalism: Our man-eating past

U.N. observers have reported evidence of cannibalism in Congo’s civil war, with warring tribesmen making meals of their enemies’ hearts, livers, and testicles. It’s shocking—but not as unusual as we’d like to think.

Where did cannibalism begin?

There have been reports of cannibalism throughout history, but perhaps the most influential came from Christopher Columbus, after his second voyage to the New World, in 1495. He claimed that on the island of Guadeloupe he had discovered a recently abandoned feast of human limbs simmering in cauldrons and roasting on spits. It was, he said, the work of the “Canib” tribe—a mispronunciation of “Carib”—which gave rise to the Spanish word canibales. Other explorers told of cannibalism among tribes in the Amazon basin, Africa, Australia, Fiji, Sumatra, New Guinea, and Polynesia. In Polynesia, humans are still sometimes known as “long pig,” on account of their similarity to pork.

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