Bananas are indigenous to Asia and The Middle East. They were brought to the New World in the 15th and 16th centuries. Banana plantations started to pop up in Latin America and The Caribbean. It was after the Civil War in America from 1861 to 1865 that Americans started to have a taste for Bananas.
It was in 1870 that the first company dedicated to the importation of bananas was started in America. Lorenzo Dow Baker was the first to import from the fields from Jamaica to Boston, selling them on the docks. Born in 1840, Baker started the modern banana production and importation industry. He created the Boston Fruit Company with a local grocery wholesaler. The steamship’s invention cut the travel time for bananas from the Caribbean in half. Giving the people of North America a much fresher product in 1870.
Alexander Graham Bell stole the show at the World’s Fair in 1876. His invention of the telephone brought visitors from around the world. It was the start of a new age. Somewhat forgotten to time has been another World’s Fair display. A few hundred feet from the telephone presentation, it is in the Horticultural Hall. It was a banana tree. For most people, the tree was the first time they had seen a banana in North America. The exotic fruits that the tree produced were sold for 10 cents a bushel.
The Tropical Trading And Transport Company had been set up a few years after Baker began his banana-importing business. In due time, the two companies began fighting for control of the American banana market. This competition led Tropical Trading to build plantations in Costa Rica. There was a project in the 1890s to connect Costa Rica to North America using a railway to cut down the time from shipping on boats. Specifically, the Costa Rican government had failed to continue financing the projected railway. The land and ownership were given to the Tropical Trading And Transport Company if they finished the railroad tracks. With this deal, the railroad was able to be finished. A history of bananas shows that as more of this product came by train to New Orleans the entire city would grow with it.
As a result, the project left the company so in debt that the Tropical Trading And Transport Company and the Boston Fruit Company merged into the United Fruit Company.
The United Fruit Company began to acquire huge amounts of land in Central and South America during the 20th Century. Creating huge banana plantations that required massive amounts of labor and farmers. Specifically Honduras, Guatemala, and Columbia. In 1900, The United Fruit Company controlled 80% of the American market. Bananas were then and are still cheaper in America than fruit grown locally in North America, like apples and oranges.
The term ‘Banana Republic’ was coined during this era. The United Fruit Company would use its influence with the United States government to pressure the South American countries that did not cooperate. The United Fruit Company would get involved in local and national elections. This came to a head in 1954 when the CIA conducted a covert operation to remove the democratically elected, left-wing government of President Jacobo Árbenz.
In brief, the platform of the Jacobo Árbenz election was to begin to charge the banana exporter, which owned 40 percent of the Guatemalan farmland, to pay an equal amount in taxes. United Fruit’s efforts to back a military coup were successful. Provided that challenging history, the dictatorship lasted in Guatemala until 1991. As a result, similar stories can be told in a more detailed telling of the history of bananas from the countries of Costa Rica and Honduras.
In conclusion, today’s banana laborers are somewhat less heavily exploited, but the costs of the required labor in the developing world are still low. In reality, these American companies still have intact political influence and the infrastructure networks they began building a century ago. Given those core reasons, bananas are inexpensive compared with homegrown crops.
Today, United Fruit sells these bananas in America and worldwide under Chiquita. They are selling the best-selling fruit and the fourth most valuable crop behind rice, wheat, and corn. Chiquita sells customers the banana variety called the Cavendish. Undoubtedly, the Cavendish is prized for keeping its freshness, looking appealing, and being resistant to many diseases that commonly strike banana crops. Undeniably, disease resistance is key since Cavendish bananas are grown worldwide. A history of bananas could not be told without mentioning the ubiquity of the Chiquita sticker on most bananas purchased in American supermarkets.
As we sell for the Importers of bananas, we sell a Cavendish banana that has been peeled, sliced, and dried. In fact, the bananas are sourced from Asia, where the number one and two exporters of bananas are India and China, respectively. We sell both a sweetened banana chip and an unsweetened banana chip. Certainly, the low prices mean that bananas will continue to be popular in American supermarkets for their nutrition and value.
Read the Nutritional Benefits of Bananas next.
