Tamarind monograph.pdf - Crops for the Future

today in small numbers across the islands (Morton, 1987). Tamarind is also
found growing throughout the Caribbean islands including Jamaica, Cuba,
the Greater and Lesser Antilles and the Dominican Republic. It is common
along roadsides, around houses, on hillsides and in dry coastal regions (Little
and Wadsworth, 1964). In Puerto Rico tamarind is grown commercially,
annual production being ca. 23 tons (Bueso, 1980). There are also
commercial plantations in Brazil and other Latin American countries, but
few trees regenerate naturally. It does regenerate in Guatemala where the
Montague valley is known as El Tamarindal, and in the Keys of Florida.
The areas where tamarind has been introduced are shown in Fig. 1.4.
Figure 1.4 Native and naturalised distribution of tamarind
1.7 Historical information
The movement of tamarind to Asia must have taken place in the first
millenium BC. Cultivation of tamarind in Egypt by 400BC has been
documented and it was mentioned in the Indian Brahmasamhita Scriptures
between 1200-200 BC. About 370-287 BC Theophrastus wrote on plants
and two descriptions refer to tamarind, even though not named as such
(Hort, 1916); his sources were probably from East Africa.
Trade between the Mediterranean and the Orient was common in the
centuries towards the end of the first millenium BC when spices were
imported. These trade routes also linked southwards to East Africa.
Although most information relates to plants brought westwards, some must
have been carried the other way. By 1000 AD the Arabs dominated this trade
and Marco Polo recorded that Arab traders made tamarind an important
commercial item in Medieval Europe.
12