Did you know that bananas don’t actually grow on trees? They may look like trees, but bananas are really giant members of the grass family. This plant, which grows in profusion in many parts of the hot and humid tropical lowland areas of Central and South America, is not native to the area. Edible varieties of bananas are native to the tropical regions of Asia and are thought to be one of the first plants to be domesticated by man and may be tens of thousands of years old. They were first introduced to the Caribbean Islands during the Spanish colonization of the New World. The banana ranks fourth among the world’s agricultural commodities. For the world’s poorest people, it is a nutritious and important staple food. Here, however, we will concentrate on the fruit produced in Latin America for export to North America and Europe. The banana is the most important of all fruits with world trade totaling $2.5 billion annually.
Appealing news. -Are you pealing Bananas wrong?
My friend Petal peels her bananas from the bottom. Well, it’s the top, actually, since bananas grow upside down. Come to think of it, that’s not quite right either—bananas grow the way they grow, which should be right-side up by definition, even if we think of them as upside down. So let me start over. Petal peels her bananas from the end without the stem. Continue reading Appealing news. -Are you pealing Bananas wrong?
Here be Plantains!
Banking compared to Banana Smoothies
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Papers Show U.S. Role in Guatemalan Abuses
Thursday, March 11, 1999; Page A26
During the 1960s, the United States was intimately involved in equipping and training Guatemalan security forces that murdered thousands of civilians in the nation’s civil war, according to newly declassified U.S. intelligence documents. Continue reading Papers Show U.S. Role in Guatemalan Abuses
President Clinton expressed regret today for the U.S. role in Guatemala’s 36-year civil war
Thursday, March 11, 1999; Page A1
GUATEMALA CITY, March 10 – President Clinton expressed regret today for the U.S. role in Guatemala’s 36-year civil war, saying that Washington “was wrong” to have supported Guatemalan security forces in a brutal counterinsurgency campaign that slaughtered thousands of civilians.
Tasting the rare Gros Michel Banana
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Today I learned 15 things about Bananas
Words
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Why Go Bananas Over the Price of Bananas?
Why Go Bananas Over the Price of Bananas?
The theme of banana production and trade is perfectly suited to a curriculum unit intended to help students gain a more global perspective of important world issues. Growing bananas, occurring as it does in Southern countries with unstable or dictatorial political situations, may have devastating effects on the land and workers. Examine the table below to see examples of these effects. For more detailed information related to these issues, please refer to the Fact Sheets included in the Research assignment.