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Herbs & Cultures

History and today

Cultures and traditions

How communities around the world built up and passed on knowledge of plants, from Ayurveda to Rongoā Māori, and how that knowledge lives on today.

AfricaNorth AmericaCentral America and the CaribbeanSouth AmericaAsiaEuropeOceania

Dates refer to surviving sources or written records where possible. Much orally transmitted knowledge predates its first written record.

Cultures and traditions

Africa

Explore region →
Africa: map of the areas of the traditions
Areas are approximate. Indigenous homelands were often larger and shrank under colonisation; the map shows where the knowledge described here comes from.
  1. Ancient Egyptian medicineNile valley, Egypt · 35 herbs
  2. Khoi and San knowledge of rooibosCederberg and Western Cape, South Africa · 7 herbs
  3. Traditional healers of Southern AfricaSouthern Africa · 9 herbs
  4. Kola nut: hospitality and ritual in West AfricaWest Africa · 2 herbs
  5. Local African healing traditionsAcross Africa · 26 herbs

Cultures and traditions

North America

Explore region →
North America: map of the areas of the traditions
Areas are approximate. Indigenous homelands were often larger and shrank under colonisation; the map shows where the knowledge described here comes from.
  1. Cherokee medicineSouthern Appalachians · 68 herbs
  2. Haudenosaunee medicineUpstate New York and southern Ontario · 89 herbs
  3. Lakota medicineNorthern Plains, the Dakotas · 15 herbs
  4. Anishinaabe medicineAround the Great Lakes · 16 herbs
  5. Kwakwaka'wakw medicineNorthern Vancouver Island, British Columbia · 12 herbs
  6. Hupa medicineHoopa Valley, northern California · 8 herbs
  7. Eclectic medicineUnited States, centred on Cincinnati · 25 herbs
  8. Indigenous healing traditions of North AmericaAcross North America · 63 herbs

Cultures and traditions

Central America and the Caribbean

Explore region →
Central America and the Caribbean: map of the areas of the traditions
Areas are approximate. Indigenous homelands were often larger and shrank under colonisation; the map shows where the knowledge described here comes from.
  1. Maya healing knowledgeYucatán, Guatemala and Belize · 13 herbs
  2. CuranderismoMexico and the US Southwest · 22 herbs
  3. Cacao in MesoamericaMesoamerica, from southern Mexico to Honduras · 8 herbs
  4. Herbal knowledge of the CaribbeanThe Antilles · 13 herbs

Cultures and traditions

South America

Explore region →
South America: map of the areas of the traditions
Areas are approximate. Indigenous homelands were often larger and shrank under colonisation; the map shows where the knowledge described here comes from.
  1. Kallawaya healing knowledgeAround Charazani, Bolivia · 59 herbs
  2. The Guaraní and the mate traditionParaguay, northeastern Argentina and southern Brazil · 3 herbs
  3. Mapuche medicineSouthern Chile and Argentina · 27 herbs
  4. Herbal knowledge of the AmazonThe Amazon basin · 15 herbs
  5. Curanderismo of northern PeruCoast and highlands of northern Peru · 48 herbs
  6. Kamëntšá and Inga medicineSibundoy Valley, southern Colombia · 6 herbs
  7. Tukano medicineVaupés, Colombia and Brazil · 9 herbs

Cultures and traditions

Asia

Explore region →
Asia: map of the areas of the traditions
Areas are approximate. Indigenous homelands were often larger and shrank under colonisation; the map shows where the knowledge described here comes from.
  1. AyurvedaIndian subcontinent · 278 herbs
  2. Chinese medical traditionsChina · 329 herbs
  3. Korean hanbang and the DonguibogamKorea · 57 herbs
  4. Jamu in IndonesiaJava, Indonesia · 48 herbs
  5. Sowa Rigpa: Tibetan medicineTibetan Plateau and the Himalaya · 31 herbs
  6. Kampo: Japanese herbal medicineJapan · 82 herbs
  7. Unani medicineFrom Persia to South Asia · 97 herbs

Cultures and traditions

Europe

Explore region →
Europe: map of the areas of the traditions
Areas are approximate. Indigenous homelands were often larger and shrank under colonisation; the map shows where the knowledge described here comes from.
  1. Greco-Roman medicineGreece and the Roman Empire · 43 herbs
  2. Monastic and folk knowledgeMonasteries of Western and Central Europe · 36 herbs
  3. Hildegard of BingenBingen am Rhein, Germany · 9 herbs
  4. Avicenna's Canon in European universitiesUniversities of Paris, Montpellier, Padua and Bologna · 13 herbs
  5. Anglo-Saxon medicineEngland · 13 herbs
  6. Western herbal medicineAcross Europe and beyond · 290 herbs
  7. Folk magic and herbal magicAcross Europe · 161 herbs

Cultures and traditions

Oceania

Explore region →
Oceania: map of the areas of the traditions
Areas are approximate. Indigenous homelands were often larger and shrank under colonisation; the map shows where the knowledge described here comes from.
  1. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledgeAustralia and the Torres Strait · 11 herbs
  2. Rongoā MāoriAotearoa New Zealand · 9 herbs
  3. Kava in Pacific island traditionsFiji, Tonga, Samoa and Vanuatu · 1 herb
  4. Lāʻau lapaʻau in HawaiʻiHawaiʻi · 7 herbs
  5. Mānuka as taongaAotearoa New Zealand, mainly the North Island · 4 herbs