A brief history of cannibalism

In the 15th century, Europeans believed they had discovered a miracle cure for a wide range of ailments, including epilepsy, hemorrhage, bruising, and nausea. This cure was a brown powder known as mumia, made by grinding up mummified human flesh. It could be mixed into drinks, made into salves, or eaten directly.

The word "cannibal" dates back to the time of Christopher Columbus, who might have even coined it himself. When Columbus arrived on the island of Guadaloupe, his initial reports to the Queen of Spain described the indigenous people as friendly and peaceful. However, he mentioned rumors of a group called the Caribs, who allegedly made violent raids and consumed their prisoners. In response, Queen Isabella granted permission to capture and enslave anyone who ate human flesh. When the island did not produce the gold Columbus sought, he labeled anyone who resisted his plundering as a Caribe. Over time, the word "Carib" evolved into "Canibe" and eventually "Cannibal."

Initially used by colonizers to dehumanize indigenous people, "cannibal" has since been applied to anyone who eats human flesh. While the term originated from unsubstantiated accounts, cannibalism has a real and complex history, taking diverse forms and serving various purposes. Sometimes, as with mumia, it did not involve recognizable parts of the human body.

Cannibalism has occurred across cultures and time periods for different reasons. Survival cannibalism happened when people facing famine, siege, or disastrous expeditions had to eat the dead to avoid starvation. Some cultures normalized eating human flesh under ordinary circumstances. Due to false accounts like Columbus's, it is challenging to determine the prevalence of cultural cannibalism. However, there are examples of accepted cannibalistic practices within certain cultures.

In Europe during Columbus's time, medicinal cannibalism was common. Starting in the 15th century, the demand for mumia increased. Initially, stolen mummies from Egypt supplied the craze, but the demand soon outstripped the supply, leading to the theft of bodies from European cemeteries. The use of mumia continued for hundreds of years and was listed in the Merck Index, a popular medical encyclopedia, into the 20th century. Ground-up mummies were not the only human-derived remedies in Europe; blood, human liver, gallstones, oil distilled from human brains, and pulverized hearts were also used to treat various ailments.

In China, the written record of socially accepted cannibalism goes back almost 2,000 years. A common form was filial cannibalism, where adult children would offer a piece of their own flesh to their sick parents, typically from the thigh or, less often, a finger. This act was seen as a last-ditch effort to cure the parent and was not fatal to the offspring.

Cannibalistic funerary rites were another form of culturally sanctioned cannibalism. The Fore people of New Guinea practiced this through the mid-20th century. Community members would sometimes request that family members consume their body after death. While these rituals honored the deceased, they tragically spread a deadly disease known as kuru through the community.

Between fictionalized stories, verifiable practices, and gaps in our knowledge, there's no single history of cannibalism. However, it is clear that people have been eating each other, offering themselves to be eaten, and accusing others of cannibalism for millennia.