The United States Department of Agriculture was officially established in 1889. Currently, it is led by Secretary Sonny Perdue, a former state legislator and Governor of Georgia.
As the name might suggest, the department is tasked with matters relating to agriculture concerns. This can include trading agricultural products with foreign countries. Recently, this brought the department some extra attention as they listed Wakanda as a US trading partner.
Listed 'Wakanda' as a US trading partner
On the Agriculture Department's website, users can look up trading partners of the United States.
They can also look up what types of products are traded. And for a brief time, the nation of Wakanda was listed as a trading partner with the United States.
Some might not think much about it. But Wakanda doesn't actually exist. It's a creation from Marvel Comics, the home country of T'Challa, better known as Black Panther. The fictional country was removed from the website on December 18. But it had apparently been on the website for roughly six months.
NBC reports that the blame for the matter was placed on website testing. Foreign Agriculture Service staff members had apparently been checking on things. A spokesman for the Department of Agriculture said the testing had been completed and that Wakanda shouldn't have been listed anymore.
It was also claimed that it was a simple accident that the fictional country remained on the official website. But it was also speculated that it could have been the result of someone trying to play some sort of prank.
Wakanda was debuted during the 1960s
Wakanda was introduced in an issue of "Fantastic Four". Also first appearing in that same issue was the character, Black Panther.
His alter ego, T'Challa is Wakanda's ruler. The character would turn out to be an icon for Marvel Comics.
In 2018, many people were made aware of Wakanda for the first time. It was the primary setting for Marvel Studios' "Black Panther". The movie was one of the most successful of the year, both financially and critically. It was nominated for seven Academy Awards, including Best Picture, and would win three.
The implied location of Wakanda within Africa has changed over the years. In recent comic books, it apparently bordered Lake Victoria. But cinematically, it was implied to border Lake Turkana.
According to Marvel lore, Wakanda's driving economic force is vibranium. A fictional metal, it was supposedly used to create, among other things, Captain America's shield. As CBS noted, this led to further jokes after the Agriculture Department's flub was noticed. Because of all of the items listed that the United States supposedly traded for, vibranium was not one of them.