Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Chapter1
Going Bananas
GeorgeBush,purseroftheS.S. Chase wasarrestedbyanocer
actingas Comandante inconsequenceofadisputewithsome
negrosaboutthepaymentofsomerejectedfruit.Consuldeposited
theamountindisputetogetBushoutofprison.
william burchard, u.s. consul, roatán, july 15, 1881
In the mid-1840s, Thomas Young, Deputy Superintendent of the British
Central American Land Company, traveled along the Río Negro, one of
many rivers that cut through the narrowcoastal plain that stretches along
Honduras's Caribbean coastline. Paddling upstream with a group of Mis-
kito Indians, Young observed ''thousands of banana trees growing spon-
taneously, the fruit of which is so much sought after by the natives, who
come from very distant parts to Black River, to gather it.'' He noted the
easewithwhichtheplantcouldbecultivatedandaddedthat''theripefruit
is highly esteemed, although it is apt to disagree with Europeans if eaten
shortly before or after taking spirits. The green fruit is cut into slices by
the Spaniards, and exposed to the sun, and when rubbed, forms a kind of
flour of which they are fond.''
1
When Young visited the Río Negro region, bananas were a novelty
item in Europe and the United States, and little export-oriented agricul-
ture of any kind took place in the Caribbean lowlands of Honduras. Most
of the region's nineteenth-century exports, including mahogany, fustic (a
dyewood), deer skins, sarsaparilla, and rubber, were extracts from for-
ested ecosystems and wetlands. As late as 1859, a traveler journeying by
canoe from Omoa to Puerto Cortés described forests that extended from
hillsidesdowntotheedgeofnarrowsandybeachesalongthecoast.Alarge
lagoon near Puerto Cortés featured an ''incredible'' number of sea nettles
and ''large shoals'' of fish.
2
Most of the indigenous people in the region
forged livelihoods based on forestry, fishing, foraging, hunting, and live-
