Tomas, Dr. Crane dropped the 16th century reference in subsequent
contributions to The Hive and the Honey Bee. I have a letter from her
explaining she couldn't recall where she had the original information
from but no longer had confidence in that first date. The 1963 reference
simply reads "they were taken from Portugal to Brasil around 1530". In
1975 she relied upon Nogueira-Neto when she wrote "We now know that
honeybees were not introduced to Brazil until 1839". Bob Gulliford,
editor of the eminent journal The Australasian Beekeeper, has no
confidence in these later dates and relies upon common sense that early
Catholic missionaries must have managed to ship bees to Brazil in the
16th or 17th century. Peter
>
> trevor's and peter's postings have rekindled my curiosity on the date(s)
> of  early introductions to the new world...does anyone know if the
> vikings were beekeepers at the time of their vinland settlement in
> Newfoundland (about a millenium ago)?
> I too have heard of a date in the 1530's for a presumed (Spanish)
> introduction, but have not been able to find documentation for this...my
> 2 editions of "the hive and the honeybee"(1975&1992) do not  have the
> 1963 e.crane reference previously mentioned, could you post it more fully
> (peter)?
> (trevor, what  response(s) did you get from beebrazil-list, you mentioned
> something from Portugal?)
> any further info would bee appreciated, thanks!