Greg Coffta
             Bio190/Costa Rican Adventures
             11/30/1999
            
            
             Part I
             Banana: Bananas were most likely picked up by the European traders in Southeast Asia when in search for spices. Soon, as the discovery of the Tropics arrived, traders took bananas to Central America.
             Breadfruit: this fruit commonly grows among the southern Pacific islands, and it probably found its way to Costa Rica when the natives started to explore on boat.
             Chocolate: as far as I could find, chocolate is native to Central America. It comes from the fruit of the Cacao Tree, and was traditionally used by the Aztecs.
             Coconuts: Coconuts also come from Tropical Pacific islands, and the actual coconut itself probably floated across the ocean, only to land on the shores of Costa Rica.
             Coffee: Coffee is speculated to have grown initially somewhere around Arabia. Its first recorded use was in 675 B.C., by the Red Sea. Most likely picked up along spice trading expeditions, the Europeans once again brought coffee to the Americas. Finding it grows well in that particular climate, the commercial cultivation began.
             Mango: Another fruit Native to the eastern part of the world, traders such as Columbus and Vespucci also brought this to the Americas.
             Papaya: During the slave trade, Slave traders often picked up some of the fruit from southern Africa. Possibly on accident, this fruit was spread to Central America and is now commercially grown.
             Quinine: Being a Tropical country, Costa Rica had its problems with malaria. One of the drugs used to treat malaria was Quinine, derived from the South American Cinchona trees. Traded by natives throughout the region, Quinine was used as a natural remedy before Europeans discovered it.
             Sugar Cane: Sugar cane is native to the Middle East, Kazakhstan and India, used by Europeans as a sweetening agent, it soon was commercially grown and exported from many of the newly discovered Tropical nations, most likely by slave labor.
             T...