bananas

[claire susan]

where did the banana originate from

[jennymac]

Bananas are native to parts of Asia and Africa and the original bananas were hard and bitter with many seeds. By selectively cross breeding them, new varieties were developed that helped make bananas one of the most widely grown crops in the world. The supermarket variety is called Cavendish, named after the Duke of Devonshire's family name. The Duke, living in the early 1800's in England became quite well known for growing bananas in his hothouse. You have to remember that there were no bananas in the stores in the 1800's. Bananas were first brought to the western hemisphere in 1516 and quickly were spread throughout all the tropical areas of the Carribeans, Mexico, Central America and South America. Ecuador, in South America now produces about 30% of the world's bananas