Some Observations on the Early History of the Coconut in the New World
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Date
2007
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Abstract
Some years ago, while engaged in a study of the distribution of aboriginal liquors among the Indians of Mexico and Central America, I became interested in the history of tuba, a coconut wine widely made in the State of Colima on the Pacific coast of Mexico. My first task was to determine whether the beverage was of pre-Columbian origin, but this apparently simple problem was found to have so many complexities and ramifications that it became necessary to examine the whole question of the origin and spread of the coconut. In the present paper I want to discuss the evidence regarding the aboriginal occurrence of the coconut in the New World, and to examine in some detail the possibility of oceanic dispersal.