The Coconut Palm!!! The Coconut Palm!!! After MUCH thought, yours truly, picked none
other than Cocos nucifera!! I feel that the
coconut palm has always communicated "tropicalness"
better than any other plant. This is, of course, strictly
subjective! The general consensus has been that the Coconut
originated in the southwest Pacific and reached Africa later (Purseglove 1972, Child 1974,
Ohler 1984). Purseglove speculated that Malaysian sea-rovers introduced the coconut to
Madagascar in the first centuries A.D. and that from there it could have reached the coast
of mainland East Africa. Merrill (193-7) mentioned that the words for coconut used in
Madagascar also occur in the Far East and the Pacific. However, Sauer (1967) thought that
the early presence of coconuts on uninhabited islands like the Seychelles and Mauritius
strongly suggested natural dispersal. It follows from this that coconuts could have
floated to East Africa (Harries 1978). Subsequently, Harries (1981) showed that the common
tall varieties in East Africa are late germinating, with wild type characteristics similar
to the coconuts on the Indian subcontinent, while the common tall varieties in peninsular
Malaysia are early germinating, domesticated types. Thus the natural dissemination favored
by Sauer and the human-aided introduction suggested by Purseglove can be considered as
consecutive events rather than competing theories. It has recently been suggested that the coconut
was domesticated in the region between southeast Asia and Australasia (known as Malesia),
but that the ancestral coconut may have originated in western Gondwanaland at the time it
split up into the present continents (Harries 1990). This raises the possibility that the
wild type coconut may have existed on the fringes of the Pacific and Indian oceans since
the earliest time. In that case the coconut palm could be considered indigenous over a
very large area, including the coast and islands of East Africa (Harries, in press).
Indeed, the two closest botanical relatives to the coconut are found respectively in
southern Africa, Jubaeopsis caffra (Uhl and Dransfield 1987) and Madagascar, Voanioala
gerardii (Dransfield 1989). The presence of coconuts with wild-type characteristics does
not prevent the introduction of others with domestic-type characteristics nor the
subsequent introgression between the two, with the former characteristics predominating.
There is the possibility that when the Polynesians settled in the Pacific, related peoples
sailed to Madagascar. They would have been carrying the domestic type of coconut from
Southeast Asia and they may have reached the African coastline. The first written reference to
the coconut palm in East Africa is thought to be in the "Periplus of the Erythraean
Sea," written about A.D. 60. The Periplus mentioned that the town of Rhapta, believed
to have been located somewhere on the coast of present day Tanzania, traded in coconuts
(Schoff 1912). It is thought that this town derives its name from the Greek or Arab verb
" to sew" (Ravenstein 1898, Schoff 1912), because the local boats were sewn
together with fibers. When the Portuguese first sailed to East Africa and India they found
Arab boats sewn with coconut fiber (coir) and carrying coconuts as cargo. Although the
reference to coconuts in the Periplus has been taken as evidence of the introduction of
the coconut to East Africa by Hindu merchant-seafarers sometime in the 7th to 1st century
B.C. (Schoff 1912, Hichens 1938, Hourani 1951), it can equally well be explained simply as
the opening up of trade between the two regions where coconuts already existed. It is
certain that the town Rhapta had an established place in the mercantile system of the
Indian Ocean. The Periplus strongly indicates a vigorous
commerce between India and East Africa. It is one author's conjecture (HCH) that coastal
towns like Rhapta developed where they did because coconuts were already present. Two
thousand years ago or more, the coconut palm not only served to identify seashore
locations with fresh ground water, but in those places it literally acted as a natural
desalination plant. The sweet, uncontaminated drinking water from the immature nut was
then, and is still now, an important use of this plant to the local community. This
applies to offshore islands and to favorable parts of the African and Indian coast. It is
not suggested that the early coconuts were present in large numbers or spread over
extensive lengths of coastline and were certainly not found naturally anywhere in the
hinterland. While the earliest history of the coconut in
east Africa remains uncertain, there is no doubt that its establishment was not a single
event but a continuous affair extending over many centuries. Although the Indian influence
appears to have waned somewhat after the times of the Periplus, trade relations between
India and East Africa continued to exist until well after the arrival of the Portuguese.
Several Arab geographers like Buzurg ibn Shahriyar, Al-Mas'udi, and Al-Biruni attest to
such connections in the early Middle Ages (Ingrams 1967, Kirkman 1968, Spencer Trimingham
1975). Marco Polo wrote of ships of the Malabar coast which sailed to the islands
Madeigascar and Zanghibar in the late 13th century (Wright 1892). Vasco da Gama met Hindu
merchants at the larger ports of East Africa (Ravenstein 1898). Duarte Barbosa observed in
the early 16th century that ships from the kingdom of Cambay, the great seaport of
Gujarat, were often to be found in the harbors of Mombasa, Malindi and Mogadishu (Stanley
1866). Early Arab History The Arab and Persian colonization of East
Africa is of even greater importance. It was a long and gradual process which began in
remote antiquity and continued more or less steadily for many centuries with at certain
times more massive waves of immigration due to political or religious persecution at home
(Coupland 1938, Chittick 1975). There is little doubt that many of these traders and
settlers brought coconuts independently. In the Khabar al-Lamu, a chronicle of Lamu, the
introduction of the coconut palm on the Lamu archipelago (present day Kenya) is attributed
to Arab settlers, who came by way of India in the 7th century A.D. (Hichens 1938). They
brought coconut seedlings and are referred to in the chronicle as Kina Mti (kinsmen of the
trees). In persistent traditions on the coast of mainland Tanzania, Zanzibar and Mafia,
the arrival of the coconut is attributed to the Debuli, whose ships reputedly had sails of
palm matting (Piggot 1941; Gray 1954, 1962; Chittick 1965; Baumann 1896). It is now
believed that the Debuli arrived before the Shirazi and that their name derives from the
town of Debul, known to the Arabs who conquered it in A.D. 711-712 as Daybul, a port
situated near the mouth of the Indus. It is now identified with the excavations at
Bhambor, 40 miles east of Karachi (Chittick 1965). Pemba tradition credits the
introduction of the coconut palm to the Wadiba, who according to Gray (1954, 1962) hailed
from the Maldive Islands, which were known to 14th century Arab geographers as the Diba
Islands. According to the Arab traveller Ibn Battuta
(Gibb 1962), great quantities of cowries and coconut products were exported from these
islands. Both the Maldives and the Laccadives were the scene of remarkable shipbuilding
activity. The ships, including hulls, masts, ropes, stitches and even sails, were built
entirely of the various products of the coconut. The Arabs and Persians from the Gulf used
to import coconut products from these islands or go there to have their ships built on the
spot. There is evidence that the Maldives were first settled by Singhalese Buddhists who
planted coconuts and dug wells (Hourani 1951, Sauer 1967). The Shirazi, who derive their name from the
town of Shiraz on the Persian Gulf, settled in East Africa from the 9th century A.D.
onwards. Wild type coconuts may have grown spontaneously around their earliest
settlements, but there is no doubt that they have imported coconuts as well. Though the
area around the Persian Gulf appears to be unsuitable for coconut cultivation, coconuts
did and do grow there. The traveller Nasir-i-Khus-raw observed them in Oman in the 11th
century A.D.; Ibn-Battuta found them in the 14th century at Zafari, a port of the
Hadramut, in the sultan's garden in the city of Zabid on the Red Sea and in Oman (Gibb
1962). The Arabs and Persians around the Gulf had further easy access to coconut products
from India, the Laccadives and the Maldives. The Shirazi have most certainly played an
important part in the distribution of the crop in East Africa. They first settled on the
Benadir coast (present day Somalia and Kenya), and from the 11th century onwards they
remigrated southwards and settled in many towns along the coast as far south as Sofala in
present day MoÁambique. Such migrations took place as late as the 17th century, witness
the settlement of Khatimi-Barawi at . It is ubiquitous throughout all warm regions of
the world, although its "birthplace" is most likely the South Pacific
region. How did it become so widely distributed around the globe? Its seed
(the coconut itself) FLOATS!!! By being such a buoyant seed (and a huge one at
that!) it was able to travel around the world on the various currents in the
oceans. The coconut seed, with all that fibre and oil, was the perfect botanical
"boat"!! Indeed, the coconut palm was destined to populate all of the warm
climates of the globe, due to its inherent ability to "sail" its own
"ships" on the tropical oceans' "rivers" within the various seas
around the world!! How resourceful!! Here in South Florida, the coconut
"naturalized" in the 1880's when a ship wrecked off-shore at what is present-day
Palm Beach (latitude 27 degrees North). The "nuts" that the ship was
hauling broke free, floating towards the coast on the warm It is for my special love of the coconut palm:
its beauty as it sways in the breeze, its inherent survivability, its image as THE
symbol of the tropics, in my mind, and its utility to the human race, that my: Gold Medal for the Palm of the Millenium goes
to the COCONUT PALM!!! Let's all praise this
award-winning palm, and celebrate the wonderful coconut! And, let's plant this
majestic, tropical "beauty" wherever we can!!! Note to those readers contemplating growing a
coconut palm. Please ask for the Malayan Dwarf or the Maypan varieties of coconut at
your local nursery, as these varieties are Lethal Yellowing resistant. Lethal
Yellowing is a always-fatal palm disease once acquired!! Please read more about
Lethal Yellowing before planting your palm! There is no coconut palm that has been
proven to be 100% guaranteed to be immune from Lethal Yellow Disease.
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Gulf jet
stream ocean current, and obviously found their new-found home to their liking, as they
sprouted on the beach enmasse! The rest is "history", as they say.
These "old-timer" coconuts developed quite lushly in temperatures that rarely
fell below 45° F and when people discovered this "palmy paradise", it was very
easy to pick a name for this tropical-looking, coconut-laden hamlet: Palm Beach!! So
all the millionaires and billionaires who enjoy this exclusive enclave today, can thank a
shipwreck two centuries ago for depositing a true "treasure" on their lucky
shores... the coconut palm!! This treasure turned out to be more awe-inspiring than
any gold doubloons could ever have been! 