The History of the Avocado

The Avocado originated in South Central Mexico around 6,000 and 5,000 BC. Though it wasn't very popular until the 1500s when a Spanish navigator, Martín Fernández De Encisco, rediscovered the avocado when he left Seville in Spain to discover a new world. He wrote in his seminal work, Suma de Geografia, about this incredible fruit he had found and went on to explain the amazing flavor 'which tastes like butter.'

Though Avocado was not the first name given to this fruit. The Spanish conquistador, Pedro de Cieza of Peru, referred to it as the 'aguacate' and 'palta' in his writings. But the name Avocado actually was not used until almost a century later when Sir Hans Sloane wrote about it in his catalog of Jamaican Plants in 1696. He described the avocado tree as ' the avocado or alligator pear-tree, which grows in gardens and fields throughout Jamaica.'

Nowadays, there are almost 400 different types of Avocados available to us and is now considered as a major superfood!













                                                                   


                                                                               

  Pedro de Cieza                                                                                       Sir Hans Sloane
http://blog.twmuseums.org.uk/an-18th-century-jamaican-journey-with-the-remarkable-mr-sloane-a-guest-blog-by-volunteer-angela-kirk/

http://www.supportingevidences.net/pedro-de-cieza-de-len/