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94-722: The Quijos are an indigenous culture group of the territory in the banks of the River Napo, in Ecuador. From them the Napo-runa are derived. The modern Quijos are Quichua speaking, but the inhabitants of the region indicate that their original language was Shillipanu. This language has become almost extinct due to the expansion of the Quichua language through the Inca empire: first due to the inter-Andean commercial relations; and then with

188-423: A banana plant is mature, the corm stops producing new leaves and begins to form a flower spike or inflorescence . A stem develops which grows up inside the pseudostem, carrying the immature inflorescence until eventually it emerges at the top. Each pseudostem normally produces a single inflorescence, also known as the "banana heart". After fruiting, the pseudostem dies, but offshoots will normally have developed from

282-477: A few days, the fruit begins to ripen and is distributed for final sale. Ripe bananas can be held for a few days at home. If bananas are too green, they can be put in a brown paper bag with an apple or tomato overnight to speed up the ripening process. The excessive use of fertilizers contributes greatly to eutrophication in streams and lakes, harming aquatic life, while expanding banana production has led to deforestation. As soil nutrients are depleted, more forest

376-461: A hybrid- polyploid complex; hybrids can be diploid, triploid, tetraploid, or pentaploid, i.e. they may have 2, 3, 4, or 5 sets of chromosomes . This makes them difficult to breed as hybrids are often sterile, in addition to the challenge of breeding seedless (parthenocarpic) varieties. The Honduran Foundation for Agricultural Research has bred a seedless banana that is resistant to both Panama disease and black Sigatoka disease. The team made use of

470-498: A lesser extent to make banana paper and textiles , while some are grown as ornamental plants . The world's largest producers of bananas in 2022 were India and China, which together accounted for approximately 26% of total production. Bananas are eaten raw or cooked in recipes varying from curries to banana chips , fritters , fruit preserves, or simply baked or steamed. Worldwide, there is no sharp distinction between dessert "bananas" and cooking "plantains": this works well enough in

564-550: A much wider range of cultivars than large commercial plantations do, and in Southeast Asia—the center of diversity for bananas, both wild and cultivated—the distinction between "bananas" and "plantains" does not work. Many bananas are used both raw and cooked. There are starchy cooking bananas which are smaller than those eaten raw. The range of colors, sizes and shapes is far wider than in those grown or sold in Africa, Europe or

658-461: A problematic issue for taxonomists. Linnaeus originally placed bananas into two species based only on their uses as food: Musa sapientum for dessert bananas and Musa paradisiaca for plantains . More species names were added, but this approach proved to be inadequate for the number of cultivars in the primary center of diversity of the genus, Southeast Asia. Many of these cultivars were given names that were later discovered to be synonyms . In

752-567: A project to preserve the Amazonian rainforest. The Yasuni initiative for the ruling of oil companies to keep their reserves underground and take measures to reduce pollution of the Amazonian rainforest, especially indigenous communities at the bank of the river. The indigenous conception of spiritual life within the forest pushed for the Rights of Nature in the Ecuadorian constitution. In 2012

846-470: A series of papers published from 1947 onward, Ernest Cheesman showed that Linnaeus's Musa sapientum and Musa paradisiaca were cultivars and descendants of two wild seed-producing species, Musa acuminata and Musa balbisiana , both first described by Luigi Aloysius Colla . Cheesman recommended the abolition of Linnaeus's species in favor of reclassifying bananas according to three morphologically distinct groups of cultivars – those primarily exhibiting

940-416: A soul called animas and that soul allows the vegetation to remain diverse and healthy. When deforestation happens, the forest loses part of its soul and it has bad consequences on the villages of that area. The souls of the tree is gone when the vegetation dies and the inhabitants of the land are not protected by the spirit of the forest. It is believed that deforestation and the recent increase in oil pollution

1034-415: A wide variety of soils, as long as it is at least 60 centimetres (2.0 ft) deep, has good drainage and is not compacted. They are fast-growing plants, with a growth rate of up to 1.6 metres (5.2 ft) per day. The leaves of banana plants are composed of a stalk ( petiole ) and a blade ( lamina ). The base of the petiole widens to form a sheath; the tightly packed sheaths make up the pseudostem, which

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1128-752: A wild banana of Arunachal Pradesh , India Musa balbisiana , Plantain of South, East, and Southeast Asia Musa x troglodytarum , Fe'i banana of French Polynesia Musa maclayi of Papua New Guinea and Solomon Islands Musa textilis , Abacá or Manila hemp of the Philippines Musa beccarii , a wild banana of Sabah Musa coccinea , Scarlet banana of China and Vietnam Musella lasiocarpa , Golden lotus banana of China Ensete ventricosum , Enset or false banana of Africa Work by Li and colleagues in 2024 identifies three subspecies of M. acuminata , namely sspp. banksii , malaccensis , and zebrina , as contributing substantially to

1222-439: Is a natural energiser and is considered a sacred plant that chases snakes away. In ancient times, the benefits of this plant remained a legacy. Wanto: A medicinal plant that helps to reduce swelling and muscle pain. Pineapple : A fruit plant that serves for stomach pain and helps to eliminate the bacteria inside the organism. Dunduma: A plant whose root is chewed and relieves stomach pain. Papaya: A medicinal plant applied in

1316-664: Is a plant that contains poisonous chemical compounds that have been used for fishing by indigenous populations of the Americas. Men and women wanted precious jewels on their chest, arms and nose. A typical ornament were dowels, objects that were embedded in the lower lips. In addition, they had gold ornaments on their nose. In Baeza and Archidona, gold earrings were worn on the chest and on the arms. The main ornament used by men at parties were necklaces that were worn across their shoulders and across their chest. Women, and girls, wore necklaces and bracelets made with crystal beads, both around

1410-567: Is all that supports the plant. The edges of the sheath meet when it is first produced, making it tubular. As new growth occurs in the centre of the pseudostem, the edges are forced apart. Cultivated banana plants vary in height depending on the variety and growing conditions. Most are around 5 m (16 ft) tall, with a range from ' Dwarf Cavendish ' plants at around 3 m (10 ft) to ' Gros Michel ' at 7 m (23 ft) or more. Leaves are spirally arranged and may grow 2.7 metres (8.9 ft) long and 60 cm (2.0 ft) wide. When

1504-410: Is allowed to produce two shoots at a time; a larger one for immediate fruiting and a smaller "sucker" or "follower" to produce fruit in 6–8 months. As a non-seasonal crop, bananas are available fresh year-round. They are grown in some 135 countries. In global commerce in 2009, by far the most important cultivars belonged to the triploid Musa acuminata AAA group of Cavendish group bananas. Disease

1598-840: Is also applied to wounds. Verbena and Python: Used to cure yellow fever and malaria since the arrival of the Spanish. Traditionally in these communities, the women went out to work in the chacras and the men went to hunt and fish. Their days would start by drinking chicha or guayusa . Both of these are plants that are dried and brewed as tea. Traditional cuisine from these communities (Quijos- Quichua) do not use salt. They replace salt with ash from certain plants. Some food products in their diet include: sweet potato , plantain (and/or banana ), yuca , corn ( maize ), rice , beans , chonta , heart of palm , chili , honey , meat and fish. They also cultivated granadillas , chirimoya , logmas, barbasco , ayahuasca and tobacco . The above produce

1692-452: Is also known as a peripheral Quechuan dialect in contrast to the central Quechua spoken in Peru. [Spanish one]The use of Quechua as a lingua franca was the result of Spanish conquest that linked different groups of indigenous people from Peru, Bolivia, Ecuador, and Bolivia and classified the language as one. Linguists believe that Amazonian Kichwas did not derive from the "central" Quechua from

1786-583: Is an intrinsic fragile relationship between humans and plants because the cause of the estrangement is believed to be due to laziness or sexual looseness. Tending to plants is a spiritual action rather than a chore they are treated as children or lovers. After a powerful protest of the Amazonian Kichwas held in Pastaza in 1992, the Ecuadorian state handed over the rights to 1,115,000 ha of land for their use. In 2007, President Rafael Correa initiated

1880-429: Is cleared for plantations. This causes soil erosion and increases the frequency of flooding. Voluntary sustainability standards such as Rainforest Alliance and Fairtrade are being used to address some of these issues. Banana production certified in this way grew rapidly at the start of the 21st century to represent 36% of banana exports by 2016. However, such standards are applied mainly in countries which focus on

1974-399: Is conserved in multiple gene banks around the world. The banana plant is the largest herbaceous flowering plant. All the above-ground parts of a banana plant grow from a structure called a corm . Plants are normally tall and fairly sturdy with a treelike appearance, but what appears to be a trunk is actually a pseudostem composed of multiple leaf-stalks ( petioles ). Bananas grow in

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2068-489: Is constructed by others. This is because the relationship to each is unique for every person and could be seen as a translator or communicator between two worlds. Other plants are used for medicinal and spiritual purposes and are treated by the communities with the same respect as they would give another human. The union between plants and humans also extend and is reflected upon the union of the person and their god-like figure. Rituals that include ayahuasca and guyama plants allow

2162-412: Is demonstrated through extensive wedding rituals set to unite the spouses and families from each side. "Becoming kin" and establishing an intense relationship between the two also includes the model for relationships with animals and plants of the spirit world. To become a reputable hunter of shaman, men contract marriage-like relationships with female spirits of the forest and the river. The spirit women of

2256-546: Is grown and cultivated in these gardens (chacra). Household gardens, or chacra, remain important in the lowland Quijos (Quichua) communities in the Ecuadorian Amazon. Chacra production is not only central to household food security but also its symbolic importance to Quijos (Quichua) cultural identity. Traditionally the Quijos (Quichua) communities cooked over an open fire. The use of banana leaves to wrap their food

2350-706: Is included in Ibn al-'Awwam 's 12th-century agricultural work, Kitāb al-Filāḥa ( Book on Agriculture ). During the Middle Ages, bananas from Granada were considered among the best in the Arab world. Bananas were certainly grown in the Christian Kingdom of Cyprus by the late medieval period. Writing in 1458, the Italian traveller and writer Gabriele Capodilista wrote favourably of the extensive farm produce of

2444-415: Is inherited paternally. This facilitates taxonomic study of species and subspecies relationships. In regions such as North America and Europe, Musa fruits offered for sale can be divided into small sweet "bananas" eaten raw when ripe as a dessert, and large starchy "plantains" or cooking bananas , which do not have to be ripe. Linnaeus made this distinction when naming two "species" of Musa . Members of

2538-440: Is means to be alive and have a soul is different than other related groups labeled under the umbrella term, Quechuan. The Napo Runa believe humans, plants, and animals all have souls and are almost regarded as equals. The souls of plants are of particular interest because the wellbeing of a community depends on a healthy relationship with nature. The soul of a plant is called an anima and each organism has its own unique anima. Unlike

2632-443: Is related to a higher incidence of diseases in the communities. To combat the negative spiritual outcomes of this modern problem, the communities replant trees and much of their daily life is dedicated to maintaining a healthy forest. Even with their strong desire to maintain a healthy relationship with the rainforest spirit, the lack of protections laws leads to arrested progress. In 2007, President Correa announced that he would protect

2726-508: Is spoken by around 109,000 people from the 6 Amazonian provinces (Napo: 46,213; Orellana: 29,987; Pastaza: 17,211 people; Sucumbíos: 13,210 people; Zamora Chinchipe: 1,528; and Morona Santiago: 810). According to the classification of Quechuan languages, Amazonian Kichwa dialects belong to the Northern Quechua group of Quechua II. Most speakers of Amazonian Kichwa are now bilingual in Spanish. There are also some groups amongst

2820-547: Is threatening the production of the Cavendish banana worldwide. It is unclear if any existing cultivar can replace Cavendish bananas, so various hybridisation and genetic engineering programs are attempting to create a disease-resistant, mass-market banana. One such strain that has emerged is the Taiwanese Cavendish or Formosana. Export bananas are picked green, and ripened in special rooms upon arrival in

2914-643: Is variable in size, color and firmness, but is usually elongated and curved, with soft flesh rich in starch covered with a peel , which may have a variety of colors when ripe. It grows upward in clusters near the top of the plant. Almost all modern edible seedless ( parthenocarp ) cultivated bananas come from two wild species – Musa acuminata and Musa balbisiana , or hybrids of them. Musa species are native to tropical Indomalaya and Australia ; they were probably domesticated in New Guinea . They are grown in 135 countries, primarily for their fruit, and to

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3008-645: The Ban , Dh , and Ze subgenomes of triploid cultivated bananas respectively. The genus Musa was created by Carl Linnaeus in 1753. The name may be derived from Antonius Musa , physician to the Emperor Augustus , or Linnaeus may have adapted the Arabic word for banana, mauz . The ultimate origin of musa may be in the Trans–New Guinea languages , which have words similar to "#muku"; from there

3102-580: The Ecuadorian Amazon , with minor groups across the borders of Colombia and Peru . Amazonian Kichwas consists of different ethnic peoples, including Napo Kichwa (or Napu Runa, as they call themselves, living in the Napo and Sucumbíos provinces, with some parts of their community living in Colombia and Peru) and Canelos Kichwa (also referred to as Kichwa del Pastaza , or Pastaza Runa living in

3196-525: The Pastaza Province ). There are approximately 419 organized communities of the Amazonian Kichwas. The basic socio-political unit is the ayllu (made up by a group of families). The ayllus in turn constitute territorial clans, based on common ancestry. Unlike other subgroups, the Napo Kichwa maintain less ethnic duality of acculturated natives or Christians. After a powerful protest of

3290-410: The banana heart , in a large hanging cluster called a bunch , made up of around nine tiers called hands , with up to 20 fruits to a hand. A bunch can weigh 22–65 kilograms (49–143 lb). The stalk ends of the fruits connect up to the rachis part of the inflorescence. Opposite the stalk end, is the blossom end, where the remnants of the flower deviate the texture from the rest of the flesh inside

3384-453: The guayusa tree are dried and brewed like a tea. It is also a traditional tea that the Quijos brew in the early mornings. A traditional ritual they do before hunting is to smoke marijuana in order to see their prey clearly. Quijos capture dantas, monkeys , guantas , turkeys and other wild animals with an instrument made with wood called bodoquera. Bodoquera is a blowpipe and it contains small arrows with herbs and poison which will put

3478-588: The " plantain subgroup " of banana cultivars, most important as food in West Africa and Latin America, correspond to this description, having long pointed fruit. They are described by Ploetz et al. as "true" plantains, distinct from other cooking bananas. The cooking bananas of East Africa belong to a different group, the East African Highland bananas . Further, small farmers in Colombia grow

3572-605: The 16th century. Southeast Asian banana cultivars, as well as abaca grown for fibers, were introduced to North and Central America by the Spanish from the Philippines, via the Manila galleons . In the 15th and 16th centuries, Portuguese colonists started banana plantations in the Atlantic Islands, Brazil, and western Africa. North Americans began consuming bananas on a small scale at very high prices shortly after

3666-519: The 17th century in an effort to produce a written form of the language. Hernando de Alcocer, a Jesuit priest, gave the first grammatical description of Kichwa in his book Breve Declaracion del Arte y Vocabulario de la Lengua del Ynga Conforme al Estilo de la Provincia de Quito . The prefecto , or religious regional governor's main mission was to evangelize the Kichwa living near the Amazon River. It

3760-520: The Amazon from loggers and oil companies. Those promises were never followed and the people remained helpless. Organizations such a have pushed for land titling since there is no way of inhibiting oil companies and loggers from taking over the land where the Kichwas live. Today, modern Runas seek to preserve their culture and Amazonian traditions through the energetic drink name from Guayusa. This plant has

3854-643: The Amazonian Kichwa who speak Shuar or Wao Terero . Among themselves, the Amazonian Kichwa differentiate from one another by using the names of towns or a regional part of a river in which their communities live, for example Napu Runa (Kichwa from Napo Province) or Pastaza Runa (Kichwas from Pastaza Province). For dialectal variation on the municipality level, subgroups of Kichwa include the Panos (Pano Runa), Tenas, Archidonas (Archiruna), Talags, and Shandias. The earliest Kichwa manuscripts were written in

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3948-542: The Amazonian Kichwas held in Pastaza in 1992, the Ecuadorian state handed over the rights to 1,115,000 hectares (ha) of land for their use. Related groups: The Inca people who established the Incan empire and colonized the Quijos . The Chanka people from Huancavelica and Ayacucho , Peru. The Inga people from Colombia , who speak a closely related Kichwa. The Huanca people from Junin , Peru. The Quijos people from

4042-608: The Americas and Europe, but it breaks down in Southeast Asia where many more kinds of bananas are grown and eaten. The term "banana" is applied also to other members of the genus Musa , such as the scarlet banana ( Musa coccinea ), the pink banana ( Musa velutina ), and the Fe'i bananas . Members of the genus Ensete , such as the snow banana ( Ensete glaucum ) and the economically important false banana ( Ensete ventricosum ) of Africa are sometimes included. Both genera are in

4136-837: The Americas. Southeast Asian languages do not make the distinction between "bananas" and "plantains" that is made in English. Thus both Cavendish dessert bananas and Saba cooking bananas are called pisang in Malaysia and Indonesia, kluai in Thailand and chuối in Vietnam. Fe'i bananas , grown and eaten in the islands of the Pacific, are derived from a different wild species. Most Fe'i bananas are cooked, but Karat bananas , which are short and squat with bright red skins, are eaten raw. The earliest domestication of bananas ( Musa spp.)

4230-503: The Caribbean produce bananas for the world market, often alongside other crops. In many tropical countries, the main cultivars produce green (unripe) bananas used for cooking . Because bananas and plantains produce fruit year-round, they provide a valuable food source during the hunger season between harvests of other crops, and are thus important for global food security . Bananas are propagated asexually from offshoots. The plant

4324-476: The Christian understanding of a soul, an anima is thought to be physical and visible through Ayahuasca rituals or dreams. Ayahuasca revered as a sacred or magical plant due to its medicine and spiritual purposes. It is the power to impart wisdom and instruct in healing. It is believed to be the mother of all medicine and mother of all plants. Other kinships such as a relationship similar to a grandmother figure

4418-667: The Civil War, though it was only in the 1880s that the food became more widespread. As late as the Victorian Era , bananas were not widely known in Europe, although they were available. The earliest modern plantations originated in Jamaica and the related Western Caribbean Zone , including most of Central America . Plantation cultivation involved the combination of modern transportation networks of steamships and railroads with

4512-794: The Corrientes and Tigre River basins in Amazonas protested Pluspetrol Company at the Jibarti base. They were successful at paralyzing the production of 14 oil wells which caused a loss about 3,100 barrels of petroleum per day. Another strike in which the Rio Tigre was blocked lasted 30 days and lead to 8 boats being blockaded on its way to the plant. The environmental evaluation done by the FECONAT, Comunidades Nativas del Alto Tigre has categorized Pluspetrol's plants surrounding Kichwa communities as

4606-516: The Eastern lowlands of Ecuador. Amazonian Kichwa (Kichwa shimi, Runashimi; "runa" = people, "shimi" = language) is a group of Quechuan dialects including varieties in Ecuador, Colombia and Peru. The name "Kichwa" reflects the absence of phonetic mid-vowel allophones in Kichwa, due to its lack of uvular consonants, in contrast to other Quechua languages. Ethnologue estimated 408,000 speakers of Amazonian Kichwa in 2011. In Ecuador, Amazonian Kichwa

4700-654: The Indian subcontinent. Some evidence suggests bananas were known to the Indus Valley civilisation from phytoliths recovered from the Kot Diji archaeological site in Pakistan. Southeast Asia remains the region of primary diversity of the banana. Areas of secondary diversity are found in Africa, indicating a long history of banana cultivation there. The banana may have been present in isolated locations elsewhere in

4794-521: The Kichwa are believed to be the Quijos. They were found by the Incas in the 1400s and rivalries quickly started when the Incas demanded resources such as cinnamon, gold, and fur. By the 1500s most of Ecuador was part of the Inca empire. The Spanish conquered Quito, the modern capital of Ecuador in the sierra region in 1533 after the decline of the Incan army following the execution of Atahualpa . Shortly after

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4888-632: The Middle East on the eve of Islam . The spread of Islam was followed by far-reaching diffusion. There are numerous references to it in Islamic texts (such as poems and hadiths ) beginning in the 9th century. By the 10th century, the banana appeared in texts from Palestine and Egypt. From there it diffused into North Africa and Muslim Iberia during the Arab Agricultural Revolution . An article on banana tree cultivation

4982-622: The Peruvian Incas. There are several features which are noted in Amazonian dialects such as ideophones . These words, often left out of traditional dictionaries, allow understanding of worldviews in context of Amazonian life. Ideophones are important parts of storytelling in a language and expressing runa views on animacy and the world around them. Ideophones, similar to other sound-symbolic linguistic features, give voices to animals within stories. Ideophones evoke sounds, smells, or other sensations. The original inhabitants, or ancestors of

5076-417: The Quijos is maito. This dish is cooked in the fire, it is fish (usually tilapia ) wrapped in banana leaves. Finally, meals are served on the floor, on larger leaves of the banana tree. Exclusively the men of the community carried out both hunting and fishing. Before going hunting they smoked tobacco as part of an ancestral practice. The ritual indicates that the Quijos would identify in the ashes of tobacco

5170-513: The animal they are going to hunt. In the case of not seeing any figure in the ashes would mean that they would not have good results for that day. Another traditional practice before the hunt was for the Quijos people to drink Guayusa . This plant, found in the Ecuadorian Amazon , contains caffeine and other components such as theobromine or L-teanine , stimulants that reduce physical and mental fatigue and fight stress. The leaves of

5264-626: The banana family, Musaceae . Banana plantations are subject to damage by parasitic nematodes and insect pests, and to fungal and bacterial diseases, one of the most serious being Panama disease which is caused by a Fusarium fungus. This and black sigatoka threaten the production of Cavendish bananas , the main kind eaten in the Western world, which is a triploid Musa acuminata . Plant breeders are seeking new varieties, but these are difficult to breed given that commercial varieties are seedless. To enable future breeding, banana germplasm

5358-458: The banana, causing the banana to soften as it ripens. The vivid yellow color many consumers in temperate climates associate with bananas is caused by ripening around 18 °C (64 °F), and does not occur in Cavendish bananas ripened in tropical temperatures (over 27 °C (81 °F)), which leaves them green. Bananas are transported over long distances from the tropics to world markets. To obtain maximum shelf life, harvest comes before

5452-414: The base, so that the plant as a whole is perennial . The inflorescence contains many petal-like bracts between rows of flowers. The female flowers (which can develop into fruit) appear in rows further up the stem (closer to the leaves) from the rows of male flowers. The ovary is inferior , meaning that the tiny petals and other flower parts appear at the tip of the ovary. The banana fruits develop from

5546-455: The botanical characteristics of Musa balbisiana , those primarily exhibiting the botanical characteristics of Musa acuminata , and those with characteristics of both. Researchers Norman Simmonds and Ken Shepherd proposed a genome-based nomenclature system in 1955. This system eliminated almost all the difficulties and inconsistencies of the earlier classification of bananas based on assigning scientific names to cultivated varieties. Despite this,

5640-689: The common yellow dessert variety can be split lengthwise into three sections that correspond to the inner portions of the three carpels by manually deforming the unopened fruit. In cultivated varieties, fertile seeds are usually absent. A 2011 phylogenomic analysis using nuclear genes indicates the phylogeny of some representatives of the Musaceae family. Major edible kinds of banana are shown in boldface . Musa acuminata ssp. burmannica , Banana , S. India to Cambodia Musa ornata , Flowering banana of Southeast Asia Musa acuminata ssp. zebrina , Blood banana of Sumatra Musa mannii ,

5734-458: The conquest of what is now Ecuador by the Inca empire or Tahuantinsuyo . The Original Nation Quijos has its roots in the ancient indigenous Quijos that populated that region and that were almost exterminated by the Spaniards, during the time of the conquest. Their local hero is Jumandi, a warrior who fought against Spanish expansion, in the year 1578. Despite the great resistance of Jumandi and

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5828-518: The conquest, Francisco Pizzaro sent his brother, Gonzalo Pizzaro on several expeditions to explore land to the east Tahuantinsuyo. They were motivated by the Dorado and Canela myth , which was the belief that the east was rich in gold and cinnamon, an exotic spice for the Spaniards. After reaching Quito, Gonzalo Pizzaro and many of his explorers fell ill and returned to the West. Francisco de Orellana ,

5922-410: The destination country. These rooms are air-tight and filled with ethylene gas to induce ripening. This mimics the normal production of this gas as a ripening hormone. Ethylene stimulates the formation of amylase , an enzyme that breaks down starch into sugar, influencing the taste. Ethylene signals the production of pectinase , a different enzyme which breaks down the pectin between the cells of

6016-744: The development of refrigeration that allowed more time between harvesting and ripening. North American shippers like Lorenzo Dow Baker and Andrew Preston , the founders of the Boston Fruit Company started this process in the 1870s, with the participation of railroad builders like Minor C. Keith . Development led to the multi-national giant corporations like Chiquita and Dole . These companies were monopolistic , vertically integrated (controlling growing, processing, shipping and marketing) and usually used political manipulation to build enclave economies (internally self-sufficient, virtually tax exempt, and export-oriented, contributing little to

6110-501: The early to middle of the Holocene the process was complete. From New Guinea, cultivated bananas spread westward into Island Southeast Asia . They hybridized with other (possibly independently domesticated) subspecies of Musa acuminata as well as M. balbisiana in the Philippines, northern New Guinea, and possibly Halmahera . These hybridization events produced the triploid cultivars of bananas commonly grown today. The banana

6204-597: The estates at Episkopi, near modern-day Limassol , including the region's banana plantations. In the early modern period , bananas were encountered by European explorers during the Magellan expedition in 1521, in both Guam and the Philippines . Lacking a name for the fruit, the ship's historian Antonio Pigafetta described them as "figs more than one palm long." Bananas were introduced to South America by Portuguese sailors who brought them from West Africa in

6298-592: The export market, such as Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, and Guatemala; worldwide they cover only 8–10% of production. Mutation breeding can be used in this crop. Aneuploidy is a source of significant variation in allotriploid varieties. For one example, it can be a source of TR4 resistance . Lab protocols have been devised to screen for such aberrations and for possible resulting disease resistances. Wild Musa spp. provide useful resistance genetics, and are vital to breeding for TR4 resistance, as shown in introgressed resistance from wild relatives. Bananas form

6392-489: The fact that "seedless" varieties do rarely produce seeds; they obtained around fifteen seeds from some 30,000 cultivated plants, pollinated by hand with pollen from wild Asian bananas. As of 2018 , bananas are exported in larger volume and to a larger value than any other fruit. In 2022, world production of bananas and plantains combined was 179 million tonnes, led by India and China with a combined total of 26% of global production. Other major producers were Uganda, Indonesia,

6486-481: The family Musaceae . The APG III system assigns Musaceae to the order Zingiberales , part of the commelinid clade of the monocotyledonous flowering plants. Some 70 species of Musa were recognized by the World Checklist of Selected Plant Families as of January 2013 ; several produce edible fruit, while others are cultivated as ornamentals. The classification of cultivated bananas has long been

6580-420: The forest are called sacha warmigura and the spirit of the river is called yaku warmigura . A stable relationship with the female spirits leads to favors given by the spirit's father or male relative who are protectors of the forest. There are many ways of entering the spirit world and this ability is not exclusive to men. The Napo runa are able to use mountains, whirlpools, caves, and large rocks as doors to enter

6674-414: The fruit is mature. The fruit requires careful handling, rapid transport to ports, cooling, and refrigerated shipping. The goal is to prevent the bananas from producing their natural ripening agent, ethylene. This technology allows storage and transport for 3–4 weeks at 13 °C (55 °F). On arrival, bananas are held at about 17 °C (63 °F) and treated with a low concentration of ethylene. After

6768-865: The host economy). Their political maneuvers, which gave rise to the term banana republic for states such as Honduras and Guatemala, included working with local elites and their rivalries to influence politics or playing the international interests of the United States, especially during the Cold War , to keep the political climate favorable to their interests. The vast majority of the world's bananas are cultivated for family consumption or for sale on local markets. They are grown in large quantities in India, while many other Asian and African countries host numerous small-scale banana growers who sell at least some of their crop. Peasants with smallholdings of 1 to 2 acres in

6862-478: The kitchen. It is also used as a wound disinfectant and its root when crushed is used for stomach pain. Yuquillas : Its root is used to relieve the (itching) sting of spiders, vipers and other insects. It is also used for cancer, diabetes, cataracts and is used in painting. Ajopanda: It is used to bathe the children and prevent them from the flu. Chonta : It is eaten and also used as a butter to avoid hair loss. Aloe : Used for healing and to reduce swelling. It

6956-466: The late 6th century AD. Malagasy people colonized Madagascar from South East Asia around 600 AD onwards. Glucanase and two other proteins specific to bananas were found in dental calculus from the early Iron Age (12th century BCE) Philistines in Tel Erani in the southern Levant . Another wave of introductions later spread bananas to other parts of tropical Asia, particularly Indochina and

7050-411: The most important medicinal plants are: Lustunda: A round fruit, used for eating or bathing. It is used to treat cancer or tuberculosis. The bark can be cooked and drunk. Actu Chiri Guayusa: A plant whose vaporisation serves to calm pain in the body and give energy. It also cures the flu, pains and fever and is used to give massages. Guayusa : This plant in the Quijos language is known as 'Waisa'. It

7144-582: The name was borrowed into the Austronesian languages and across Asia, accompanying the cultivation of the banana as it was brought to new areas, via the Dravidian languages of India, into Arabic as a Wanderwort . The word "banana" is thought to be of West African origin, possibly from the Wolof word banaana , and passed into English via Spanish or Portuguese . Musa is the type genus in

7238-406: The neck and around the waist. They made stone utensils, clay pots, hammocks, pita nets and wicker baskets. They also made objects using raw materials such as stone, metal, clay, wood and fiber. With the stone they made their work and war goods, they washed the gold in the rivers for their personal adornments. Napu Runas Amazonian Kichwas are a grouping of indigenous Kichwa peoples in

7332-437: The original names are still recognized by some authorities, leading to confusion. The accepted scientific names for most groups of cultivated bananas are Musa acuminata Colla and Musa balbisiana Colla for the ancestral species, and Musa × paradisiaca L. for the hybrid of the two. An unusual feature of the genetics of the banana is that chloroplast DNA is inherited maternally, while mitochondrial DNA

7426-411: The peel. The fruit has been described as a "leathery berry". There is a protective outer layer (a peel or skin) with numerous long, thin strings ( Vascular bundles ), which run lengthwise between the skin and the edible inner white flesh. The peel is less palatable and usually discarded after peeling the fruit, optimally done from the blossom end, but often started from the stalk end. The inner part of

7520-533: The people to form a strong communion between the humans, nature, and god which provides the resources surrounding them. During these rituals the participants are able to renew their relationship between their resources and it is more of a relationship than a dominion and exploitation. When they have a good relationship with the forest and its spirits, they believe that spirits bring wealth to the Amazonian Forest. Their complex understanding of relationships

7614-399: The people who followed him, the Spaniards captured him, tortured him and finally killed him in 1579. The Quijos are now being reunited in what is the traditional Quijos Nation, which combines Quichua speaking communities, who inhabit the Ecuadorian province of Napo. The researcher Wilson Gutiérrez Marín indicates that the old language of the Quijos was based on guttural sounds, that imitated

7708-407: The placenta of cattle as a massage and helps to eliminate the bacteria inside the organism. Kiviyuyo: Helps injuries and lowers swelling when crushed. Ayahuasca: It is a famous medicinal plant, whose purpose is to allow visions towards the future. Chalipanga : Component of ayahuasca that allows clarity in visions. Manduro : Treats burns and prevents scars. Ajiringri: Used as a pepper inside

7802-470: The president declared that oil extraction and exploitation was an economic priority and allowed foreign companies to enter ancestral Kichwa land, which is not legally titled as land belonging to the natives. At the time about 11.7% of Ecuadorian crude oil was extracted from the base where protests were held and the clash between government and native ecological efforts have negatively affected communities for over 40 years. In January 2015 Kichwa communities from

7896-444: The preys asleep instantly when they get in touch with the instrument. The poisoned arrow penetrates almost without the prey feeling it; the poison circulates rapidly and, half a minute later, the animal falls, completely dead. Another way to catch the animals was through traps known as 'toclla', which hold the prey suspended in the air. They also capture birds with this trap (toclla). For fishing, they use traps and barbasco. Barbasco

7990-770: The region between Java , Borneo , and New Guinea ; while Pacific plantains were introduced to the Pacific Islands from either eastern New Guinea or the Bismarck Archipelago . 21st century discoveries of phytoliths in Cameroon dating to the first millennium BCE triggered a debate about the date of first cultivation in Africa. There is linguistic evidence that bananas were known in East Africa or Madagascar around that time. The earliest prior evidence indicates that cultivation dates to no earlier than

8084-402: The same amount of caffeine as coffee, but is not as strong and preferred by Kichwa communities. Banana A banana is an elongated, edible fruit – botanically a berry – produced by several kinds of large treelike herbaceous flowering plants in the genus Musa . In some countries, cooking bananas are called plantains, distinguishing them from dessert bananas . The fruit

8178-497: The second in command, continued toward the Napo River and discovered the Amazon River where the ancestors of the Kichwas lived. To the native people of the Ecuadorian rain forest, the idea of owning nature is not ideal and goes against their beliefs deeply rooted in their cultural and spiritual connection to Mother Earth. Runa have a strong connection with the forest and the animals that live among them. The native concept of what

8272-626: The sounds of birds and animals. Nevertheless, the strong influence of the Quichua, from the Tahuantinsuyo , led to this community losing their native language. Current linguistic research reveals that there are traces of the Shillipanu language in Quichua currently spoken by the Napo-Runa or Quijos, which means that their original language was (most likely) fused with Quichua. Other researchers (Goldáraz, 2010) point out that although Quichua

8366-404: The source of contamination in the following: general water sources, drinking water, and soil. These sources were contaminated with petroleum, heavy metals, Coliforms, and hydrocarbons. The Environmental Health Department, Direccion General de Salud Ambiental found that 100% of water for human consumption was contaminated with iron, Aluminum, TPHs, NI, and Coliforms. They believe that the forest has

8460-474: The spirit world. The spiritual experiences and understanding can be seen through everyday rituals such as storytelling or singing. Runa mythology stories include the former lives of plants, birds, animals, and inanimate objects as well as accounts of spirit protectors of the forest and river. Analyses of ritual songs to plants reveal that plant species evolved from a former human state. In the former state, plants are regarded as estranged lovers or children. There

8554-561: Was also very common. The banana leaf wrapped food items would then be cooked over the fire in one of two ways; either smoked/grilled over the open fire or placed in a pot of boiling water to be steamed. The use of clay pots (olla) is not only an important aspect of traditional cooking but also of traditional art. Among their traditional dishes is the Yuyucallana, made with plants such as Yuyu (bud) scabbard, chontayuyu (chonta flower, yuyu (palmito) and banana leaf . Another favourite food of

8648-524: Was from naturally occurring parthenocarpic (seedless) individuals of Musa banksii in New Guinea . These were cultivated by Papuans before the arrival of Austronesian-speakers . Numerous phytoliths of bananas have been recovered from the Kuk Swamp archaeological site and dated to around 10,000 to 6,500 BP . Foraging humans in this area began domestication in the late Pleistocene using transplantation and early cultivation methods. > By

8742-424: Was not the original language of the Quijos, that it has been 'nativized' by acquiring new spatial and linguistic features. Traditional medicine making use of local plants and trees is an important part of Quijos culture. 29% of tree species are used for medicinal purposes. Examples of plants used in Quijos traditional medicine are tobacco, chilli pepper and wayusa , which is typically brewed into an infusion. Among

8836-692: Was one of the key crops that enabled farming to begin in Papua New Guinea. From Island Southeast Asia, bananas became part of the staple domesticated crops of Austronesian peoples . These ancient introductions resulted in the banana subgroup now known as the true plantains , which include the East African Highland bananas and the Pacific plantains (the Iholena and Maoli-Popo'ulu subgroups). East African Highland bananas originated from banana populations introduced to Madagascar probably from

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