Mango in ancient times

It was believed for many years that mango must have originated in India and spread outwards from there to South-East Asia and thence to the New World and Africa. Ancient stocks also exist throughout Malaysia and much of the Far East.

The cultivation appeared to have began at least 4000 years ago. Mango’s name ‘Amriphala’ in ancient treatises bespeaks of its great nutritive value.

This fruit is intimately associated with the Hindu religion and there are numerous ancient Sanskrit poems praising mango fruit.

Mango appears in the classical scene during Alexander’s soldier when they ate mango, in India in 326 BC and got stomach ache.

Mango was in cultivation in Java at least as early as AD 900-1100, when the temple at Borobudur was built and faced with carvings of the Buddha in contemplation under a mango tree.

During Mughal era many exotic varieties of mango were introduced form the Persian region. Since then, the native varieties of mango and the imported vanities constitutes the parentage for the ultimate development of many varieties by selection.

By the 16th century, the Portuguese had introduced mangoes to South Africa and Brazil and today the fruit grows freely throughput all tropical regions and mainly temperate zones including Florida and the Southeastern rim of the Mediterranean.
Mango in ancient times