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.