History of the Banana

History of the Banana
 

The Banana has been around for thousands of years, but exactly how many years? Archeologists have foudn evidence of banana domestication as early as around 8,000 BCE in the Kuk valley of New Guinea. From there the Banana travelled to the Phillipines and then was further distributed around the world.

The banana became important during the colonial era, where it was used as an intercropping crop. The banana plant, with its towering leaves, offered the perfect crop to shade the valuable commodities. it was also used as a food source for slaves that worked on the plantations. Bananas provided a non-labor intensive crop for plantation workers, the fruit’s easy digestibility and high energy content provided the perfect source of calories for the brutal manual labor of the cane fields in South America .  Ecuador, Costa Rica, the Philippine Islands, and Colombia account for two-thirds of the exported banana crops.  Of the bananas grown for export, almost all are desert bananas grown for markets in the United States and Europe, of which the “Cavendish” banana varietal is of supreme importance.

The banana’s development into a major worldwide trade commodity has its roots in the nineteenth century. It first started showing up in the european and north american markets, specifaclly new york in 1804, but it remained difficult to transport. In the 1820s and 1830s, British botanists in the United Kingdom’s overseas colonies became fascinated with the banana plant and fruit.   In 1829, Englishman Charles Telfair shipped a couple of banana plants to an acquaintance in England, where they eventually passed into the hands of the 7th Duke of Devonshire, William Cavendish,.  Cavendish was able to cultivate the plants, and the Cavendish banana was formally recognized as a cultivar in 1836. These Bananas where sent back to the developing world, and this is the most common cultivar of the bananas that are eaten in the 21st century.  In 1871, banana exports into the United States were valued at around $250,000.  By the first year of the twentieth century, the banana trade had exponentially ballooned to $6,400,000.  Ten years later, it had effectively doubled again.

Classification of Bananas

Dicots vs Monocots

Almost all flowering plants fall into two categories, monocots or dicots.  Bananas are large, perennial, monocotyledonous herbs which grow 2–9 m (6.6–30 ft) in height. They also fall under the classification of a C3 plant. Some key differences are listed in the comparison chart below.





fact: There are about 65,000 species of monocots. Some examples include grains, sugarcane, banana, palm, rice, corn and onions. There are about 250,000 species of dicots. Examples include daisies, mint, pea, and mango.


Species and family

Bananas and Plantains are two important members of the Musaceae family. According to encyclopedia Britannica, "the banana family of plants (order Zingiberales), consisting of 2 genera, Musa and Ensete, with about 50 species native to Africa, Asia, and Australia. The common banana (M. sapientum) is a subspecies of the plantain (M. paradisiaca). Both are important food plants". 

Genetics

Musa species are grouped according to “ploidy,” the numberof chromosome sets they contain, and the relative proportion of Musa acuminata (A) and Musa balbisiana (B) in their genome. Most familiar, seedless, cultivated varieties (cultivars) of banana are triploid hybrids (AAA, AAB, ABB). the AAA cultivar is the Cavendish banana as well as the Bike Mike banana. The Cavendish banana is the dwarf plant of the Big Mike plant that survived the strain of the Panama disease that wiped out the Big Mike banana variety.

Ideal Conditions for Growth - Soil

Ideal Conditions for Growth - Soil

Another important factor for Banana growth would be soil. Bananas Require very rich soil that drains well. This means that the soil that is ideal for banana growth would be  loamy, sandy soil -- not fine sand that clings together, but larger grains that drain easily. Poor drainage results in lower yield and quality of the bananas that are being produced because it results in soil that is water logged and does not allow plant roots to access oxygen which stunts or kills them.

Banana trees tend to prefer soils with higher acidity, such as a pH of 5.5 to 7. The acidity levels help the trees absorb potassium, which they pass on to their fruit. 

Fact: Bananas have around 422 milligrams, or 9 percent of the recommended dietary allowance (RDA)

When looking at the region South America, we can see that a lot of tropical forests exist there. This is an indication of rich fertile soils. In South America, there is a a trend of cutting down forests to build larger and larger plantations.