What the banana tells us about US history

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This is America in Persuit, a limited-run series from thrulline and npr. I'm Rundine the Fattaq. Each week, we bring you stories about life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness in the U.S. that began 250 years ago. Right now, bananas are so ubiquitous in our lives that we can't imagine life without them.

Yeah, you heard that right, bananas. As in the sweet, tropical fruit, that's become a mainstay of American breakfast.

“OK, so the reason we're talking about bananas is because they help us understand a key part of American history.”

The Teddy Rhodes of El Lira.

When at the turn of the 20th century, this was a time when rugged men went out to make their name in the world. The idea of what constituted America and its sphere of influence started to expand far beyond its borders. It's the era of maquismo of doing things. The world belonged to them. It was theirs for the taking.

So what's this got to do with bananas? Well, today on the show, we're going to tell you the story of how one American entrepreneur named minor Keith helped bring the banana to the American diet. By looking beyond the U.S. is shores and becoming the uncrowned king of Central America.

“We'll bring you that story right after a quick break.”

Hey, it's run. In this month's throughline plus episode, Rontina and I follow up our Jane Austen episode with a discussion about a Bollywood take on pride in prejudice. To listen and get access to sponsor free listening, sign up for throughline plus at plus.npr.org/throughline. Minor Keith had grown up in Brooklyn, New York, and he had become a cattle rancher in Texas. You know, it's a very common motif in America for sort of patrician or urban types to sort of become cowboys.

This is writer Dan Coppel. I sometimes potentially like to call myself a thing byographer. I write about the histories of objects, and I'm best known for writing a book called banana, the fate of the fruit, the change of the world. Dan says this shift towards aggressive entrepreneurship started around the time of the Civil War. When communication and transportation networks rapidly expanded, things said advances in mining and agriculture, which entice people to develop new lands.

Railroads began moving people west in the world seemed right for the taking.

They were gold rush people, basically. All these American business people were trying to find some form of gold.

So any business that could make them a lot of money. Right, and minor Keith, the city kid from a wealthy family who had tried his hand at running a cattle ranch at being a cowboy, was at heart, a budding entrepreneur. He wanted to make it really big to be among the carnities and Rockefellers of the world. And he thought railroads might be that business for him. You know, in the United States, there's a railroad building boom, but it's controlled by moguls, by conglomerates, by people who are already rich, there's not a lot of room for entrepreneurship.

There's not a lot of room for a Brooklyn-born Texas cattle rancher to sort of become a big wheel. So Keith decided to look beyond the US for opportunities. His uncle was working on railroads in Chile, Peru, and Costa Rica, and invited him to come there. At the time, there was very little infrastructure in Central America. These were villages with dirt roads.

But people were determined to find a way to the Pacific through Central America.

“Will Columbus had wanted to do? Why Central America?”

Because of the unimaginable, or imagined, let's say, riches that might happen there. Things like coffee, minerals, maybe actual gold. And even though Keith knew pretty much nothing about Costa Rica, he figured, help, why not? I can do this. This is my chance to make it big, whatever challenges may come. But on the flip side, he probably thought, if I build this railroad, then I'll have access to all those riches.

I think what minor Keith understood was that if you build infrastructure in these places where there is no infrastructure, and you make the right financial deals by hook or by crook.

If you're wondering why a government would open their arms to a fairly inexperienced foreign businessman, it's pretty simple.

“They needed the help. They wanted to find a way to export their coffee crops, the country's main export to Europe.”

And to do that, they needed to tap into their eastern coast. And it was a jungle. Up until the 1870s, most of Costa Rica, east of the capital, San Jose, was completely undeveloped, just miles and miles of nearly impenetrable rainforest. The Spanish had made few inroads there. They killed and resettled some indigenous communities, but they didn't actually manage to build much.

Yeah, it's beautiful, but it's very rugged terrain. And every square inch is basically green. I mean, dense beyond belief. You look up and it's just webs of winding branches and leaves.

Keith wanted to build a railroad through all of that, stretching 100 miles from San Jose to Limon.

“It wasn't an easy task. You have to say that. This is Victor Aconia or Tega. He's a professor emeritus at the University of Costa Rica.”

He faced technological challenges, environmental challenges, and financial challenges. I mean, this was really, really crazy. In 1872, Keith began construction in Limon. At first, he recruited Costa Rica's population to build the railroad, which at the time was very small. But as the project got underway, many began to realize just how difficult and dangerous it was. They are tearing the jungle down with hand tools. The work conditions were very, very hard because they claim me because the tropical diseases.

Trees would sometimes fall on them. It rained a lot of the time, so they were often working in mud. If they got any sort of cut or wound, it could easily become infected.

“And mosquitoes were everywhere. Some carrying diseases.”

So after a little while, Costa Ricans laid down their tools. They were like, "We're not going to do this because no job is worth dying for." Construction stalled, and Keith was back at square one. He had to find workers somewhere else. Luckily, or unlike a late there's this huge immigrant population in the United States, and so Keith returns to the US and hires a couple of thousand Italian immigrants. He says, "We're going to pay a lot of money. We're going to give you a lot of work."

He also brought workers from China and parts of Europe. And once they get down there, and they hear what's happening, and they see what's happening, and they see how dangerous it is, they begin going awal. He was a total disaster.

Hundreds died, then thousands. In part, because these men had never been to the tropics, so they weren't used to the climate, or it's diseases.

And the work was just really grueling. Among the workers who died on this project were Keith's two brothers. So this was deadly not just for the poor souls who were sort of suckered into coming and working on it, but the guys at the very top as well. Progress was slow and money was tight. A few years into the project, they were 30 miles from their ankle, San Jose. But Keith remained determined, and desperate for workers. He decided to recruit prisoners.

People in jail in New Orleans, people who have no way out. And he basically calls for volunteers. And he says, "Anybody who volunteers, helps you build my railroad to completion, is going to get a pardon." 700 prisoners volunteer, but only 25 prisoners survive to get their parents. 25 out of 700. People would die, minor Keith would find more. They died. More came. He was relentless. Eventually, minor Keith figured out that if he brought Jamaicans over from the Caribbean, they would have an easier time working on his railroad since they spoke English and were used to the climate.

Thing is, by this point, minor Keith had another problem. He'd burned through millions of dollars and was nearly out of money. And the Costa Rican government, which is sort of funding this thing partially, also goes broke. I mean, at this point, most people would just throw in a towel and go home.

And he borrows 1.2 million pounds, which is, I think, about the equivalent of maybe $150, 200 million today.

Then he goes back to Costa Rica and proposes a new deal to the government. This sort of crazy deal. He says, "I'll build a railroad for free." In return, you give me 99 years, a concession on the route. I have 800,000 acres of land, a tax-free alongside the tracks, and I have full control of the Port of Le Mans. Not a great deal for the Costa Rican government, but they weren't a pretty bad position at this point, and just needed to finish the railroad. minor Keith, he was a regular entrepreneur and he was too very able to negotiate.

And he was able to put himself, somebody indispensable for the Costa Rican government, who was capable of finishing the railroad. So, work on the railroad continued.

“At this point, Keith had really managed to dig himself out of a hole, right?”

Absolutely. I mean, now he had the support of the country's elite, a workforce that could handle the climate, total control of the Port of Le Mans, and 800,000 acres of tax-free land.

What he did with that land at first was he group bananas, and he didn't grow them to make money. He grew them to feed his workers, the ones who weren't dying by that by the dozen or two dozen.

As an American, Keith had little experience with bananas. They weren't really available in the U.S., since they only grow in tropical climates. But around this time, some people were beginning to experiment with ways to bring bananas. This rare tropical fruit to the United States. And after planting a few banana trees alongside the railroad, minor Keith realized why. It's really easy to grow. You know, you get a few banana trees and from those few, you can grow a farm, and from those farms, you can create a plantation with rows after row of banana trees.

And from that plantation, you can create a nation of banana trees.

“And that's when the light bulb went off. He had a lot of land at his disposal, and soon he would have a railroad and a port all to himself.”

So minor Cooper Keith set his sights on another potentially much bigger business opportunity. Bananas. By the time the railroad was completed in 1890, minor Keith was officially in the banana business. A few years later, he would be the co-founder of the United Fruit Company, which would go on to grow beyond Costa Rica. And Keith would go on to have his hands in everything. He ran the postal service in Guatemala. He set up a telegraph communications network throughout Central America.

Built rail lines between Mexico and Guatemala, Guatemala, and El Salvador connecting cities across the region. And he controlled ports all along the Caribbean coast of Central America. People in these countries gave United Fruit the nickname El Pulpo, The Octopus, and Keith. Sort of became known as the Uncrowned King of Central America. Keith was the king. Bananas were catching on in the continental United States, and business seemed good until it wasn't.

That's it for this week's episode of American Percent.

“Want to know what ended up happening to minor Keith and how the banana came to dominate American Kitchens?”

Make sure to check out through lines full length episode. There will be bananas. And make sure to join us next week when we explore the origins of something that's been in the news recently. And has been a hallmark of American identity for over 150 years. Birthright citizenship. He said, "Yes, I'm a laborer, I'm a chef, but I'm a citizen." And here's the proof he had his certificates. He knew that he was born in the United States, and that meant he was a U.S. citizen.

The story of Wong Kim Mark and the fight for birthright citizenship. That's next week. Don't miss it. This episode was produced by Keana Mowadam, an edited by Christina Kim, with help from the through line production team.

Music, as always, by Romteen and his band, drop electric.

Special thanks to Julie Keane, Irene Nguji, Beth Donovan, Casey Miner, and Lindsey McKenna.

And Romteen Adablui. Thank you for listening.

“Hey, it's Rund. In this month's through line plus episode,”

Romteen and I follow up our Jane Austen episode with a discussion about a Bollywood take on Pride and Prejudice.

To listen and get access to sponsor free listening, sign up for through line plus at plus.npr.org/throughline.