Without supplements, where did early vegans get their vitamin B12, vitamin D, calcium, and iron?!

B12 as far as I know is the only nutrient that must be obtained through fortification or supplementation on a vegan diet.

Vitamin D, however, is found in mushrooms, Calcium in soy, Iron in MANY MANY foods, including lentils, leafy vegetables, and peas.

Actually, Torx, "vegetarian" USED TO mean what "vegan" does today- until people started eating animal products and calling themselves "vegetarian", leading to Donald Watson coining the term "vegan".

There were no vegans before supplements, especially B12 supplements.

Daniel is flat out wrong. There is NO source of B12 in plants. From the VEGAN dietitian who runs VeganHealth:

"B12 is generally found in all animal foods (except honey). Contrary to rumors, there are no reliable, unfortified plant sources of vitamin B12, including tempeh, seaweeds, and organic produce. The overwhelming consensus in the mainstream nutrition community, as well as among vegan health professionals, is that plant foods do not provide vitamin B12, and fortified foods or supplements are necessary for the optimal health of vegans, and even vegetarians in many cases...."

http://www.veganhealth.org/articles/vita…

B12 can be found in mushrooms, soy, and various types of seaweed and blue green algea.
Vitamin D can be found in mushrooms and from sunlight.
Calcium can be found in dates, berries, oranges, kale, almonds, oats, parsnips, turnips, celery, and bok choy, among other sources.
Iron can be found in raisins, beans, dark green leaf vegetables, nuts, whole grains, dates, berries, watermelon, avocados, and potatoes, among other sources.

All these nutrients are available from non-animal sources, although not necessarily in the traditional western diet.

Despite what some people will tell you, B12 is available in Nori (the seaweed used in sushi rolls) and this is perfectly usable by humans. Seaweed is not a plant, so it is true that there are no plant sources of bioavailable B12.

"The results presented here indicate that the dried green and purple lavers (nori) are the most excellent source of vitamin B12 among edible seaweeds, especially for strict vegetarians."
-Watanabe et al (1999). Dried green and purple lavers (Nori) contain substantial amounts of biologically active vitamin B12 but less of dietary iodine relative to other edible seaweeds. J. Agric. Food Chem. 47 : 2341-2343.

http://pubs.acs.org/doi/abs/10.1021/jf98…

From the same supplements that exist today. Veganism has only existed, at least as a label, since the 1940's. It is a relatively new thing. Vegetarianism has been around for a very long time. Most long term vegetarians get it from being ovo-lacto-vegetarins. Although the vast majority of them in the world do not call themselves that. They are vegetarians for religious or social reasons.

Plants contain Vitamin D, calcium and iron naturally. B12 was prob actually higher then in non supplemented vegans than now because of the fertilization methods which carried B12 to them. Farmer puts manure on veggies. Fresh organic veggies picked, rinsed and cooked but left traces of the B12.

Calcium is in brocoli and vitamin d is in oranges ,iron can be found in grains and cereals