A Brief History Of The Banana

2024 Author: Jasmine Walkman | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 08:29

The word banana is also used for the elongated fruits of the tree. The history of the banana begins with prehistoric peoples - they were the first to cultivate it. This has happened in Southeast Asia and Western Oceania.

Bananas are mainly grown in the tropics, but can grow in another 107 countries. Bananas are grown mainly for food, but also for fodder and ornamental plants. This fruit has a different color when ripe - most often yellow, but can also be pink and red, depending on the genus and variety.

In cooking, bananas can be used both for desserts when they are yellow and for cooking when they remain green. Almost all bananas that are traded are of the dessert type, with only 10-15 percent of world production being escorted. America and the European Union are the main importers of bananas.

The genus of bananas belongs to the Banana family. According to the system that classifies APG plants, bananas belong to the order Zingiberales from the group of monocotyledonous plants. There are sources that point to the doctor of Emperor Augustus - Antonio Musa, as the man after whom the whole family was named. Other sources make it clear that Carl Linnaeus used the Arabic word for banana mauz as the basis for the genus's name. The word banana comes from the Arabic banan, which means finger.

The genus of bananas contains many species, some of which produce a fruit that is edible, other species of this genus are grown for decorative purposes or for purely technical interest. All plants of the banana genus have a very strong root system, a short underground stem and 6 to 20 leaves. Flowering of the plant occurs after 8-10 months of active growth. The inflorescence of the banana is bisexual, resembling a huge pink bud with a purple color.

The history of the banana is one of the most ancient. It is, as we said above, the most ancient cultivated plant. The homeland of the banana is considered to be the Malay Archipelago, where the locals use it for food that complements their fish diet. Many species of wild bananas can be found in Papua New Guinea, as well as in Malaysia and the Philippines.

Archaeological evidence from Papua shows that bananas were cultivated from about 5000 BC, and possibly long before that - from about 8000 BC. Banana-like species are likely to have been cultivated later and independently in other parts of Southeast Asia. However, it is believed that Southeast Asia is the true homeland of bananas. Bananas have also been found in Africa, where bananas also have a long history, but that's another matter.

Linguistic evidence shows that the late 6th century marked the beginning of banana cultivation in Africa. However, it is likely that bananas were brought from Madagascar around the year 400. There are scientists who claim that bananas were known in South America in the period before the arrival of Europeans.

In 650, Islamic invaders brought bananas to Palestine and the east coast of Africa. The banana can be grown in the same conditions as in the tropics - between approximately 30 degrees north latitude and 30 degrees south latitude and from a height of over 2000 meters above sea level. Favorable conditions for the growth of this plant are temperatures from 26 to 35 degrees during the day and from 22 to 28 at night.