A History of the Avocado Industry in California

Abstract

Avocado is native to the New World, originating in southern Mexico, Central America and the West Indies. The fruit has long been used as a food by Native Americans in these regions and was know by the Aztecs as ahuacatl. Avocado was first mentioned in print in the report Suma de Geographia by Martin Fernandez de Enciso, published in Spain in 1519 (Popenoe and Zentmyer, 1997). He observed the fruit growing in what is now Santa Marta, Columbia during an expedition with the Spanish explorer Juan de la Cosa. A more extensive description of avocado was written by Gonzalo Fernandez de Oviedo, historian for the Conquistadors traveling with expeditions led by Hernando Cortez in 1519. His account was published in 1526 in the Summario de la Natural Historia de las Indias: