1839
The Voyage of the Beagle. Charles Darwin.

1837
Procter & Gamble - on April 12, 1837, William Procter and James Gamble form partnership to make and sell soap and candles

http://www.crisco.com/1837.html

Cocos mamillaris Blanco, Fl. Filip.: 722 (1837) is an unplaced name [Cocos mamillaris Blanco, Fl. Filip.: 722 (1837). Govaerts, R. (1999). World Checklist of Seed Plants. 3(1, 2a & 2b): 1-1532. Continental Publishing, Deurne; Govaerts, R. & Dransfield, J. (2003). World Checklist of Palms. 1. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew

1836
April Fool? - "APRIL 1, 1836. We arrived in view of the Keeling or Cocos Islands, situated in the Indian Ocean . . . the main vegetable production is the cocoa-nut. The whole prosperity of the place depends on this tree; the only exports being oil from the nut, and the nuts themselves. . . Even a huge land-crab is furnished by nature with the means to open and feed on this most useful production".

Elegance - "On some of the smaller islets nothing could be more elegant than the manner in which the young and full-grown cocoa-nut trees, without destroying each other's symmetry, were mingled into one wood".

Rapture - "During another day I visited West Islet, on which the vegetation was perhaps more luxuriant than on any other. The cocoa-nut trees generally grow separate, but here the young ones flourished beneath their tall parents, and formed with their long and curved fronds the most shady arbours. Those alone who have tried it know how delicious it is to be seated in such shade, and drink the cool pleasant fluid of the cocoa-nut".

Darwin, C. (1839) Voyage of the Beagle.

For the general benefit in our West Indian and African colonies - English oil-mills being now used, and the demand for Coco-nut oil having greatly increased since its employment in the manufacture of a very superior sort of candle and soap, it is to be anticipated, from the improvement in the quality of the Coco-nut oil for table use, by its being rendered free from smoke, that its importation will be in an equal ratio, and consequently too much attention and encouragement cannot be given to a more extensive cultivation of the invaluable Coco-nut Palm throughout our West Indian and African colonies.

Bennett (1836) The coco-nut palm, its uses and cultivation (which also contains a drawing showing the shape of a King coconut fruit and reference to its bright orange colour).

1835

Tahiti - "After walking under a burning sun, I do not know anything more delicious than the milk of a young cocoa-nut"

Darwin, C. (1839) Voyage of the Beagle.

1832
Brazil - The small island of Itamaraca, 3 leagues in length, yields annually about 360,000 nuts.

Koster ( ) Description of Brazil. see Marshall, 1832.

King coconut - There is a variety of this palm called the King's coco-nut, the fruit of which has a bright yellow colour. Nuts of this kind contain a great proportion of fluid, which on account of its supposed cooling quality, is given to invalids, in preference to that of the common nuts; but they are not esteemed as good as common nuts for culinary purposes.

Marshall, H, (1832) Of the coco-nut tree.

Happiness - "On the 16th of January 1832 we anchored at Porto Praya, in St. Jago, the chief island of the Cape de Verd archipelago . . . The scene, as beheld through the hazy atmosphere of this climate, is one of great interest; if, indeed, a person, fresh from sea, and who has just walked, for the first time, in a grove of cocoa-nut trees, can be a judge of anything but his own happiness".

Darwin, C. (1839) Voyage of the Beagle

1831
Very fine specimens of Coco-nut Oil Soap manufactured in England, have been exhibited in Ceylon, to the admiration of Europeans as well as natives; and it may be anticipated that, at no very distant period, the use of Coco-nut oil will become so much extended at home by the manufacture of candles* from it, which both for utility and beauty may successfully rival wax and spermaceti, as to increase the demand for it to an unprecedented extent . . . Government, fully aware of the importance of this branch of commerce, introduced a steam-engine in 1815, by which larger quantities of the oil, and of a superior quality, is obtained.

* It has been recently ascertained that success has attended the experiment, and that a patent has been granted, under which candles of a superior quality are now manufactured at an advance of nearly one penny per pound beyond the price of tallow candles.

Anon (1831) A treatise on the coco-nut tree, and the many valuable properties possessed by that splendid palm, ascertained by personal observation / By a fellow of the Linnæan & Horticultural societies, many years resident in the island of Ceylon. With an interesting traditional account of its original discovery by a prince of the interior of that island (and see Bennett (1836) "The coco-nut tree, its uses and cultivation").

Robber crab at Bora bora.

Tyerman, D. & Bennet, G. (1831) Journal of voyages and travels Vol. II, pp32-34.

1830

Cocos plumosa Lodd. ex Loudon, Hort. Brit.: 381 (1830) is a synonym for Syagrus comosa (Mart.) Mart. in A.D.d'Orbigny, Voy. Amér. Mér. 7(3): 134 (1847).

1829
Cordage - "Burkhardt says that ships coming from the East Indies to Djidda have cordage made from the cocoa-nut tree."

Anon (1829) A Description and History of Vegetable Substances Used in the Arts and in Domestic Economy. Timber Trees: Fruits. pp 393-6. The Library of Entertaining Knowledge. London, Charles Knight.

1826
The whitest of all artificial flames - The subsequent discovery, that the whitest of all artificial flames is produced in the combustion of gas from the Cocoa-nut Oil, induced the Society to offer a gold medal for the importation of a certain quantity of it from any British colony. The Gold Ceres Medal was this session presented to M. LAURENT BARBÉ, of the Mauritius, for preparing, and importing Seventy-six Tons of Cocoa-nut Oil. A sample of the oil has been placed in the Society's repository . . . The THANKS of the Society were voted this session to Mr. HUXHAM, of Travancore, for the following communication respecting hic method of preventing Leakage in Casks of Cocoa-nut Oil  . . . very serious losses having been experienced for a series of years . . .20-30 or 40-50 percent.

Transactions of the Society of Arts, Manufactures & Commerce 1826, vol 44 

Cocos botryophora Mart., Hist. Nat. Palm. 2: 118 (1826) is a synonym for Syagrus botryophora (Mart.) Mart. in A.D.d'Orbigny, Voy. Amér. Mér. 7(3): 133 (1847). Homotypic synonyms are Syagrus botryophora (Mart.) Mart. in A.D.d'Orbigny, Voy. Amér. Mér. 7(3): 133 (1847) and Calappa botryophora (Mart.) Kuntze, Revis. Gen. Pl. 2: 982 (1891).

Cocos campestris Mart., Hist. Nat. Palm. 2: 121 (1826) is a synonym for Syagrus flexuosa (Mart.) Becc., Agric. Colon. 10: 466 (1916). An homotypic synonym is Calappa campestris (Mart.) Kuntze, Revis. Gen. Pl. 2: 982 (1891).

Cocos capitata Mart., Hist. Nat. Palm. 2: 114 (1826) is a synonym for Butia capitata (Mart.) Becc., Agric. Colon. 10: 504 (1916). Homotypic synonyms are Calappa capitata (Mart.) Kuntze, Revis. Gen. Pl. 2: 982 (1891), Butia capitata (Mart.) Becc., Agric. Colon. 10: 504 (1916) and Syagrus capitata (Mart.) Glassman, Fieldiana, Bot. 32: 143 (1970).

Cocos comosa Mart., Hist. Nat. Palm. 2: 121 (1826) is a synonym for Syagrus comosa (Mart.) Mart. in A.D.d'Orbigny, Voy. Amér. Mér. 7(3): 134 (1847). Homotypic synonyms are Syagrus comosa (Mart.) Mart. in A.D.d'Orbigny, Voy. Amér. Mér. 7(3): 134 (1847) and Calappa comosa (Mart.) Kuntze, Revis. Gen. Pl. 2: 982 (1891).

Cocos coronata Mart., Hist. Nat. Palm. 2: 115 (1826) is a synonym for Syagrus coronata (Mart.) Becc., Agric. Colon. 10: 466 (1916). Homotypic synonyms are Calappa coronata (Mart.) Kuntze, Revis. Gen. Pl. 2: 982 (1891) and Syagrus coronata (Mart.) Becc., Agric. Colon. 10: 466 (1916).

Cocos flexuosa Mart., Hist. Nat. Palm. 2: 120 (1826) is a synonym for Syagrus flexuosa (Mart.) Becc., Agric. Colon. 10: 466 (1916). Homotypic synonyms are Calappa flexuosa (Mart.) Kuntze, Revis. Gen. Pl. 2: 982 (1891) and Syagrus flexuosa (Mart.) Becc., Agric. Colon. 10: 466 (1916).

Cocos mikaniana Mart., Hist. Nat. Palm. 2: 128 (1826) is a synonym for Syagrus pseudococos (Raddi) Glassman, Fieldiana, Bot. 32: 233 (1970). Homotypic synonyms are Syagrus mikaniana (Mart.) Mart. in A.D.d'Orbigny, Voy. Amér. Mér. 7(3): 133 (1847) and Calappa mikaniana (Mart.) Kuntze, Revis. Gen. Pl. 2: 982 (1891).

Cocos oleracea Mart., Hist. Nat. Palm. 2: 117 (1826) is a synonym for Syagrus oleracea (Mart.) Becc., Agric. Colon. 10: 467 (1916). Homotypic synonyms are Calappa oleracea (Mart.) Kuntze, Revis. Gen. Pl. 2: 982 (1891) and Syagrus oleracea (Mart.) Becc., Agric. Colon. 10: 467 (1916).

Cocos schizophylla Mart., Hist. Nat. Palm. 2: 119 (1826) is a synonym for Syagrus schizophylla (Mart.) Glassman, Fieldiana, Bot. 31: 386 (1968). Homotypic synonyms are Calappa schizophylla (Mart.) Kuntze, Revis. Gen. Pl. 2: 982 (1891), Arikury schizophylla (Mart.) Becc., Agric. Colon. 10: 445 (1916); Arikuryroba schizophylla (Mart.) L.H.Bailey, Gentes Herb. 2: 196 (1930) and Syagrus schizophylla (Mart.) Glassman, Fieldiana, Bot. 31: 386 (1968).

1825

Patent on the manufacture of candles - "Michel Eugene Chevreul (1786-11889) was set to working on soap in 1809. In 1813 he treated soap with hydrochloric acid and produced stearic, palmitic and oleic fatty acids . . . In 1825 along with Gay-Lussac, took out a patent on the manufacture of candles from these fatty acids. In our own days, when candles are little more than curiosities, the importance of the Chevreul-Gay-Lussac advance is very easy to miss. However, the fatty acid candles were harder than the old tallow candles, gave a brighter light, looked better, needed less care while burning, and didn't smell as bad. To the men of the mid-nineteenth century, the improvement was a major one and the next year Chevreul was elected to the Academy of Sciences".

Asimov, I. (1964) Biographical Encyclopedia of Science & Technology. p269.

1824
One of the earliest modern European texts to describe coconuts is by Leschenault de la Tour naturalist to the French King (Louis XVIII (1814-1824) or Charles X (1824-1830)). Click here to see a transcript.

Leschenault de la Tour (1824) Sur le cocotier et sur ses produits, principalement sur ce qui est relatif a l'extraction de l'huile. Memoires du Museum d'Histoire Naturelle. T.II, pp. 232-238.

1823
Martius, C.F.P. von (1823-50) Historia Naturalis Palmarum. 3, Munich.

1822
Cocos romanzoffiana Cham., Choris Voy. Pittor. (Chili): 5, t. 6 (1822) is a synonym for Syagrus romanzoffiana (Cham.) Glassman, Fieldiana, Bot. 31: 382 (1968). Homotypic synonyms are Calappa romanzoffiana (Cham.) Kuntze, Revis. Gen. Pl. 2: 982 (1891), Arecastrum romanzofianum (Cham.) Becc., Agric. Colon. 10: 455 (1916) and Syagrus romanzoffiana (Cham.) Glassman, Fieldiana, Bot. 31: 382 (1968).

1820
Australia - During King's third voyage in the Mermaid in 1820, the botanist Allan Cunningham noted ". . . I landed on Cook's Lizard Island (where a whaler's button and several cocoanuts - one quite sound and perfect - were found on the beach) . . ." (Lee 1925) quoted by Dowe & Smith, 2002.

Cocos aricui Wied-Neuw., Reise Bras. 1: 272 (1820), nom. Inval is a synonym for Syagrus schizophylla (Mart.) Glassman, Fieldiana, Bot. 31: 386 (1968).

Cocos nolaia-assu Wied-Neuw., Reise Bras. 1: 271 (1820) is an unplaced name. Govaerts, R. (1999). World Checklist of Seed Plants. 3(1, 2a & 2b): 1-1532. Continental Publishing, Deurne; Govaerts, R. & Dransfield, J. (2003). World Checklist of Palms. 1. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

1819-1837
Malaya - After the establishment of the East India Company's trading base in Singapore in 1819, coconut planting began on the south-east coast of Malaya but did not extend much until after 1837.

Child, 1974

1818
Australia - In 1818, King recorded a recently opened coconut on a beach on the east coast, assuming that Aborigines had opened and consumed the flesh (Lee 1925).

King (1828)
Lee 1925
Dowe & Smith, 2002

1818
Brownian motion - In 1818, Robert Brown proposed that the coconut palm originated on the islands and equatorial beaches of Asia. A famous explorer and naturalist, he earned the title of the first botanist of Britain. His studies were extensively based on microscopical observations. He was the first to describe the plant cell nucleus and the universal phenomenon of random molecular collisions, which he had observed while studying pollen grains and which came to be known as "Brownian motion".

Chiovenda 1921-3 Webbia 5, 199-294 & 359-449.

1817

Cocos crispa Kunth in F.W.H.von Humboldt, A.J.A.Bonpland & C.S.Kunth, Nov. Gen. Sp. 1: 302 (1817) is a synonym for Gastrococos crispa (Kunth) H.E.Moore, Principes 11: 121 (1968). Homotypic synonyms are Astrocaryum crispum (Kunth) M.Gómez, Noc. Bot. Sist.: 50 (1893), Acrocomia crispa (Kunth) C.F.Baker ex Becc., Pomona Coll. J. Econ. Bot. 2: 364 (1912) and Gastrococos crispa (Kunth) H.E.Moore, Principes 11: 121 (1968).

1816

Cocos ventricosa Arruda in H.Koster, Trav. Brazil: 485 (1816) is an unplaced name. Govaerts, R. (1999). World Checklist of Seed Plants. 3(1, 2a & 2b): 1-1532. Continental Publishing, Deurne; Govaerts, R. & Dransfield, J. (2003). World Checklist of Palms. 1. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

1814
Coir or "kaer" - M. Le Goux de Faix wrote "It is well known that the fibrous covering of the cocoa-nut is converted into good ropes, which are useful in navigation, and for various purposes on shore. Cables for anchors made of this substance are much better than those made of hemp. They are exceedingly elastic, stretch without straining the vessel, and scarcely ever break; inappreciable advantages, which are not possessed by those of hemp. They are also lighter, and never rot, in consequence of their being soaked with sea water . . . To all these advantages must be added, that ropes made of kaer* float like wood, they are much easier managed, and run better in the pulleys during nautical manoeuvres".

*The Hindoo name for the fibrous covering

Oil "fit only for . . . lamps" - "The oil of the nut is extracted by pressure; it is fit only for being burnt in lamps . . . it gives a clear bright flame without exhaling any odour or smoke. It is employed by rich people and in the houses of the Europeans in preference to any other kind".

Cure for sores - "In addition to the former known uses of this valuable tree, a very respectable gentleman of this island has lately discovered that the outside shining surface, both of the nut and the branch, scraped off in fine powder, and applied to old and foul ulcers, will cleanse and heal them rapidly. The efficacy of this simple application was fully proved by the cure of two bad sores occasioned by the bite of a negro's teeth".

John Lunan (1814) Hortus Jamaicensis Vol I 1814. pp206-210.

1812

Cocos arenaria M.Gómez, Mem. Acad. Real Sci. Lisboa 3(Mem.): 61 (1812) is a synonym for Allagoptera arenaria (M.Gómez) Kuntze, Revis. Gen. Pl. 2: 726 (1891). Homotypic synonyms are Allagoptera arenaria (M.Gómez) Kuntze, Revis. Gen. Pl. 2: 726 (1891) and Diplothemium arenarium (M.Gómez) Vasc. & Franco, Portugaliae Act. Biol., Sér. B, Sist. 2: 412 (1948).

1809

Cocos chilensis (Molina) Molina, Sag. Stor. Nat. Chili, English(2) 1: 146, 292 (1809) is a synonym for Jubaea chilensis (Molina) Baill., Hist. Pl. 13: 397 (1895). Homotypic synonym are Palma chilensis (*) Molina, Geogr. Nat. Hist. Chile: 124 (1808), Molinaea micrococos Bertero, Merc. Chil. 13: 606 (1829), Micrococos chilensis (Molina) Phil., Bot. Zeitung (Berlin) 17: 362 (1859) and Jubaea chilensis (Molina) Baill., Hist. Pl. 13: 397 (1895). [* Basionym/Replaced Synonym]

1804

Humboldt, A. de. (1799-1804). Viajes a las Regiones Equinocciales del Nuevo Continente. Tomo II: 364 p.

1803

Honduras – By 1800 the early coconut concentrations along the north coast of Honduras had become important for coconut trade. In 1803, 12,000 tons of coconuts were exported to the United States from Trujillo, and the island of Bonaca had exported 6,000 tons (Coggeshall, 1858; Douglas, 1869; Rubio, 1975). Meanwhile the islands of Guanaja and Utila and the mainland ports of Omoa, Balfate and Tela had become secondary centers where merchants could obtain cargoes of coconut for export (Roberts, 1827).

Dixon, C.V. 1985 Coconuts and man on the north coast of Honduras

1798

M. Klaproth, isolation of element tellurium
Benjamin Thompson, heat generated equals work done
Humphry Davy, transmission of heat through vacuum
Benjamin Rumford, experimental relation between work done and heat generated

1797

Cocos fusiformis Sw., Fl. Ind. Occid. 1: 616 (1797) is a synonym for Acrocomia aculeata (Jacq.) Lodd. ex Mart., Hist. Nat. Palm. 3: 286 (1845). An homotypic synonym is Acrocomia fusiformis (Sw.) Sweet, Hort. Brit.: 432 (1826).

1795
Roxburgh, W. (1795-1798) Plants on the coast of Coromandel. cor1 t73 Cocos nucifera (Willdenow (Car. Lud.) Tractatus de Achilleis et Tanaceto 8vo. Haloe Magd. 1789.

1794

1793
India - Roxburgh encouraged the planting of coconuts (in the Calcutta region) about 1793 to mitigate endemic famine.

Roxburgh, W. (1795-1798) Plants on the coast of Coromandel. cor1 t73 Cocos nucifera (Willdenow (Car. Lud.) Tractatus de Achilleis et Tanaceto 8vo. Haloe Magd. 1789.

1792
Tahiti to the West Indies - Bligh's second, and successful, voyage from Tahiti to the West Indies carried many exotic plants. The most notable of these was the breadfruit. Of the coconut seed carried on the voyage, twelve germinated: four seedlings were left at St. Vincent and four at Jamaica (Powell). And the Herbarium Archive of the Royal Botanic Garden, Kew has a unique hand-written record from 1793 that lists two coconut plants brought from Tahiti by Captain Bligh.

Powell, 1973

1791

Cocos maldivica J.F.Gmel., Syst. Nat.: 569 (1791) is a homotypic synonym for Lodoicea maldivica (J.F.Gmel.) Pers. ex H.Wendl. in O.C.E.de Kerchove de Denterghem, Palmiers: 250 (1878).

1790

Cocos nypa Lour., Fl. Cochinch.: 567 (1790) is a synonym for Nypa fruticans Wurmb, Verh. Batav. Genootsch. Kunsten 1: 349 (1779).

1788-89
Mutiny on the Bounty – In1788 and 1789, during the first, unsuccessful voyage to collect breadfruit, Bligh and his crew are said to have bought coconuts in Tahiti "at the rate of 20 for a nail" (Rutter). Lieutenant William Bligh's coconut cup from the voyage in the ship's boat from Tofoa to Timor, Tuesday 28 April 1789 - Sunday 14 June 1789; signed and dated 'W Bligh April 1789' (the initials and date incised), inscribed around the outer rim 'The Cup I eat my miserable allowance of', was sold for £71,700 at Christies on 26 September 2002.

Rutter, O. (1936) The true story of the Mutiny on the Bounty. London: Newnes. n.d. Author's note dated Feb. 17, 1936. p 65.

1788

West Indies - Bamber Gascoigne, Receiver General of Customs at Bridgetown, Barbados, asking that the situation be changed whereby coconuts exported from British islands are subject to duty, while those imported from foreign possessions are not, 1788 Dec 20.

UK Public Record Office (West Indies: Customs) T 1/664/246-251.

Cocos acicularis Sw., Prodr.: 58 (1788) is a synonym for Bactris guineensis (L.) H.E.Moore, Gentes Herb. 9: 251 (1963).

Cocos lapidea Gaertn., Fruct. Sem. Pl. 1: 16 (1788) is an unplaced name. Govaerts, R. (1999). World Checklist of Seed Plants. 3(1, 2a & 2b): 1-1532. Continental Publishing, Deurne; Govaerts, R. & Dransfield, J. (2003). World Checklist of Palms. 1. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

1786

Imports - Quantity of coconuts imported annually. 1782 Xmas-1785 Xmas. Date of Return: 1786 Apr.4.

UK Public Record Office T 64/276B/418

1782

Cocos butyracea Mutis ex L.f., Suppl. Pl.: 454 (1782) is a synonym for Attalea butyracea (Mutis ex L.f.) Wess.Boer, Pittieria 17: 312 (1988). Homotypic synonyms are Scheelea butyracea (Mutis ex L.f.) H.Karst. ex H.Wendl. in O.C.E.de Kerchove de Denterghem, Palmiers: 256 (1878) and Attalea butyracea (Mutis ex L.f.) Wess.Boer, Pittieria 17: 312 (1988).

1778
Forster, J.R. (1778) Observations made during a voyage round the world. G. Robinson, London.

1777
Christmas Island - was discovered on Christmas Eve 1777 by Captain Cook. At that time the island was uninhabited though Cook mentioned that there were a number of coconut trees on the island, which indicated earlier occupation by man. A very characteristic long-fruited form is found on Christmas Island (Friend).

Friend, (1975)

1776
Sonnerat, F. (1776) Voyage a la Nouvelle Guinee. Paris, 206pp.

1775
Yemen - "The Coconut, Cocos nucifera L. Narjãl, was cultivated at Mukhã [Mocha] according to Forsskal, but it is not there today and was perhaps washed away in the storms that destroyed most of the Mukhã date palms earlier this century" (Wood).

Forsskal, P. (1775) Flora Aegyptiaco-Arabica
Wood, J. R. I (1997) A Handbook of the Yemen Flora. Kew: Royal Botanic Gardens.

1771
Captain James Cook - "In the PM we saw several large smooks on the main, some people, canoes and as we thought Cocoa-nutt trees upon one of the islands, and as a few of these nutts would have been acceptable to us at this time I sent Lieut. Hicks a shore with whom went Mr. Banks and Dr. Solander to see what was to be got…..they returned on board having met with nothing worth observing, the trees we saw were a small kind of Cabbage Palm…."

Similarly, Joseph Banks (Beaglehole) also wrote of this same event:
'....an appearance very much like cocoanut trees tempted us to hoist out a boat....where we found our supposed cocoanut trees to be no more than bad cabbage trees...'.

Incidentally, the location of these accounts was the Palm Islands, just north of Townsville, and 'the bad cabbage tree', Livistona drudei (Dowe & Smith).

Beaglehole 1955
Cook, J. (1771). A journal of a voyage round the world in His Majesty's Ship Endeavour, in the years 1768, 1769, 1770 and 1771. Becket and P. A. De Hondt, London.
Dowe & Smith, 2002, J.L. (in press) A brief history of coconuts in Australia. Palms.

1770
Australia - James Cook aboard 'Endeavour' near Lizard Island (. . . ) in 1770 recorded that 'on these islands but in sever (sic) places on the Sea Beach . . . we found Bamboos, Cocoa-Nutts, the Seeds of Plants, and Pummick Stone which were not the produce of the Country from all the discoveries we have been able to make on it. It is reasonable to suppose that they are the produce of some Country lying to the Eastward and brought here by the easterly Trade winds'.

Beaglehole, 1955

Banks described coconuts as part of the flotsam that he found on the banks of the Endeavour River:

[1 July 1770]: "....our second lieutenant found the husk of a cocoa nut full of barnacles cast up on the beach; probably it had come from some island to windward, from Terra del Espirito Santo possibly as we are now in its latitude...."

[5 July]: "….walked along a sandy beach open to the trade wind. Here I found innumerable fruits many of plants I had not seen in this countrey, among them were some Cocoa nuts that had been open'd (as Tupia told us) by a kind of crab called by the Dutch Beurs Krabbe (Cancer latro) that feeds upon them …all these fruits were encrusted with sea productions and many of them covered with Barnacles".

Beaglehole, J.C. ed (1962). The Endeavour journal of Joseph Banks 1768-1771. Angus & Robertson, Sydney
Dowe, JL & Smith, LT (2002) A Brief History of the Coconut Palm in Australia. Palms 45(2)

1768
Philippines - the Spanish Royal Edict issued in 1768 decreeing that each Filipino adult plant an area of at least 200 sq.ft. to coconut trees

1767

Tahiti - On 18 June 1767 the sailors saw a mountain covered with cloud and supposing it to be the Southern Continent, discovered instead the island of Tahiti. The most extensive British account of the discovery is provided by George Robinson, master of the Dolphin, who wrote: ". . . The country hade the most Beautiful appearance its posabel to Imagin, from the shore side one two and three miles Back there is a fine Leavel country that appears to be all laid out in plantations, and the regular built Houses seems to be without number, all allong the Coast, they appeared lyke long Farmers Barns and seemd to be all very neatly thatched, with Great Numbers of Coca Nut Trees and several oyr trees that we could not know the name of all allong the shore . . ."

Pacific Explorers Library

Cocos guineensis L., Mant. Pl. 1: 137 (1767) is a synonym for Bactris guineensis (L.) H.E.Moore, Gentes Herb. 9: 251 (1963). An homotypic synonym is Bactris guineensis (L.) H.E.Moore, Gentes Herb. 9: 251 (1963).

1764
Guiana -  According to Small (1929), Jean Baptiste Christophe Fusée Aublet, who landed at Cayenne in 1762 and left in 1764, stated that the coconut  was introduced to Guiana by missionaries. 

Small, J.K. (1929) The Coconut Palm - Cocos nucifera. J. NY Bot. Gdn. 30 (355) 153-161 and (356)194-203.

1763

Cocos aculeata Jacq., Select. Stirp. Amer. Hist.: 278 (1763) is a synonym for Acrocomia aculeata (Jacq.) Lodd. ex Mart., Hist. Nat. Palm. 3: 286 (1845). Homotypic synonyms are Acrocomia sclerocarpa Mart., Hist. Nat. Palm. 2: 66 (1824) and Acrocomia aculeata (Jacq.) Lodd. ex Mart., Hist. Nat. Palm. 3: 286 (1845).

Cocos amara Jacq., Select. Stirp. Amer. Hist.: 277 (1763) is a synonym for Syagrus amara (Jacq.) Mart. in A.D.d'Orbigny, Voy. Amér. Mér. 7(3): 132 (1847). Homotypic synonyms are Syagrus amara (Jacq.) Mart. in A.D.d'Orbigny, Voy. Amér. Mér. 7(3): 132 (1847), Rhyticocos amara (Jacq.) Becc., Malpighia 1: 353 (1886) and Calappa amara (Jacq.) Kuntze, Revis. Gen. Pl. 2: 982 (1891).

1755
Johnson's Dictionary - confuses coconut with chocolate:

COCOA n.s. (cacaotal, Span. and therefore more properly written cacao)

A species of palm-tree, cultivated in most of the inhabited parts of the East and West Indies; but thought a native of the Maldives. It is one of the most useful trees to the inhabitants of America [sic]. The bark of the nut is made into cordage, and the shell into drinking bowls. The kernel of the nut affords them a wholesome food, and the milk contained in the shell a cooling liquor. The leaves of the trees are used for thatching their houses, and are also wrought into baskets, and most other things that are made of osiers in Europe. Miller.

The cacao or chocolate nut is a fruit of an oblong figure, much resembling a large olive in size and shape . . . Within the cavity of this fruit are lodged the cocoa nuts, usually about thirty in number. This tree flowers twice or three times in the year, and ripens as many series of fruits. Hill's History of the Mat. Medica.

Samuel Johnson (1755) Dictionary of the English Language, London.
Hill [17xx] History of the Materia Medica
Philip Miller (1731) Gardeners' Dictionary

1753
Linnaeus - Species plantarum.

Cocos nucifera L., Sp. Pl.: 1188 (1753) is an accepted name. Govaerts, R. (1999). World Checklist of Seed Plants. 3(1, 2a & 2b): 1-1532. Continental Publishing, Deurne; Govaerts, R. & Dransfield, J. (2003). World Checklist of Palms. 1. The Board of Trustees of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew.

1744

1743
Dutch treat - “The Amsterdam spice shop Jacob Hooy & Co opens at Kloveniersburgwal 10-12. The Hooy family will run it for more than 200 years, selling the ingredients for rijsttafel - rice accompanied by . . . Indonesian side dishes . . . (with coconut)”.

Trager, J (1996) The Food Chronology: a food lover's compendium of events and anecdotes, from prehistory to the present, p157

1741
Derivation of the word cocos - There have been a number of botanical authorities who have considered that the name was derived from a word of Arabic or Turkish source. Probably the first was Rumphius (1741), who published in Holland, information that he had gathered, when living in Amboin before 1670, about the tropical plants in Indonesia. He suggested that the word cocos might derive from the Arabic forms of Nux indica, either Gauzoz-Indi or Geuzoz-Indi corrupted as Jausi-Alindi or Jansi-Alindi or from Turkish as Cocx-Indi, with roots in Hebrew Egoz or Gauz and Greek kokkos. Bartlett (1926), Merrill (1946) and Reyne (1948) were in agreement.

Rumphius, G.E. (1741) Herbarium amboinense Vol 1, Amsterdam.
Bartlett, H.H. (1926) Sumatran plants collected in Asahan and Karoland, with notes on their vernacular names. Papers Michigan Acad. Science, Arts & Letters. 6, 15-17.
Merrill, E.H.D. (1946) On the significance of certain oriental plant names in relation to introduced species. Chronica Botanica 10, 295-315.
Reyne, A. (1948) De cocos-palm. In: De Landbouw in de indischen Archipel eds C.J.J. van Hall and C. van de Koppel, Vol 2A, 249 & 453-458, Amsterdam.

1740-42
Sri Lanka - According to Birk (1913) it was in the year 1740 that the Dutch governor of Ceylon van Imhoff encouraged coconut planting. He lists Ferguson as one of his sources. According to Pollard (1909) the Dutch in Sri Lanka planted so called waste land in 1742 so that by 1909 hundreds of miles of the southwest coast was unbroken coconut.

Birk, M. (1913) Probleme der Weltwirtschaft 15. Kopra-produktion Und Kopra-Handel.
Pollard, 1909

1733
Georgia, USA - “In the spring of 1733, General James Oglethorpe laid out the famous Trustee Garden at Savannah” (Neely) “There is near the town, to the east, a garden belonging to the Trustees, consisting of ten acres; the situation is delightful, one half of it is upon the top of the hill, the foot of which the river Savannah washes, and from it you see the woody islands in the sea . . . At the bottom of the hill, well sheltered from the north wind and in the warmest part of the garden, there was a collection of West India plants and trees, some coffee, some cocoa-nuts, cotton, Palma-christi, and several West Indian physical plants, some sent up by Mr. Evelyn, a public-spirited merchant at Charlestown, and some by Dr. Houstoun, from the Spanish West Indies, where he was sent at the expense of a collection raised by that curious physician, Sir Hans Sloan, for to collect and send them to Georgia, where the climate was capable of making a garden which might contain all kinds of plants . . .” (Moore)

Francis Moore (1744) A Voyage to Georgia begun in the year 1735

Neely, L.P. (1951) In: Pioneer American Gardening

1732
Linnaeus, C. (1732) Critica botanica.

1731
Gardeners' Dictionary - A species of palm-tree, cultivated in most of the inhabited parts of the East and West Indies; but thought a native of the Maldives. It is one of the most useful trees to the inhabitants of America [sic]. The bark of the nut is made into cordage, and the shell into drinking bowls. The kernel of the nut affords them a wholesome food, and the milk contained in the shell a cooling liquor. The leaves of the trees are used for thatching their houses, and are also wrought into baskets, and most other things that are made of osiers in Europe.

Philip Miller Gardeners' Dictionary (1731)

1723

Honduras – Nathaniel Uring, having been shipwrecked, walked the Honduras coast from Cabo de Gracias a Dios to Cabo Camarón and encountered only one coconut palm. Remarking on how curious it was to find a coconut palm close to the water's edge yet far from human settlements, Uring eventually concluded the palm was a “drift coconut”, a phenomenon that he had observed in the Pacific Ocean (A history of the voyages and travels of Capt. Nathaniel Uring 1726 ).

Dixon, C.V. 1985 Coconuts and man on the north coast of Honduras

1720

Hispaniola - Cocoa nuts imported into Bilboa, in the year 1720. . . said to have been brought from -and the growth and production of - the island of Hispaniola alias Spanish Island, in the dominions of Phillip the Fifth, King of Spain. UK Public Record Office 10 Anne E 134/12 Geo1/Hil 24

1714
Coconut cups were used as plain, unmounted goblets throughout the Georgian period [1714-1830] and Pinto suggested that coconuts influenced the design of drinking vessels in all materials. He had not seen English drinking vessels of earlier date than the first known coconut ones which followed the same form, yet later that form became common in wood, metal and glass.

Pinto, 1950

Volkamer, Johann Christoph (1714). Continuation der Nürnbergischen Hesperidum, oder, Fernere gründliche Beschreibung der edlen Citronat- Citronen- und Pomeranzen-Früchte ... benebst einem Anhang von etlichen raren und fremden Gewächsen, als der Ananas, des Palm-Baums, der Coccus-Nüsse ... Imprint for volume 2: Nürnberg: Zu finden bei dem Authore, Zu Frankfurth und Leipzig bei Johann Andreä Endters seel. Sohn und Erben, 1714.

1705

On coconut pearls - "calapites", "mesticaa calappa"
Rumphius, G. E. (1705) D'Amboinsche Rariteitkamer. Book III, ch 48:

Coconut Tree Chocolate House - Lease of a messuage and garden plot in Pall Mall; St. Martin in the Fields, co. Middx., (next to the Coconut Tree Chocolate House) . . . 4 Sept 1705
UK Public Record Office

1704
Camell, G.J. (1704) Descriptiones fruticum et arborum Luzonis. J. Roy. Hist. Plant. Trans 3, 43-44.

1703
Malabar - Hendrik Adrian van Reede tot Drakensstein (1678-1703) was Governor of the Dutch possessions in Malabar (now in Kerala state). He gathered information on the plants of this area and published an illustrated account under the name "Hortus Malabaricus." This twelve volume work is, incidentally, the first work in which the Malayalam script appeared in print (M.K. Janarthanam)

1701

The first agricultural machine, the seed drill, was invented by Jethro Tull.

1697
Dampier W. (1697) A new voyage around the world. London, Hakluyt Society, 1927

1696
Caribbean - Coconut was considered to be ubiquitous in the dry (sic) and sandy parts of Caribbean islands such as Jamaica

Sloane, H. (1696) Catalogus plantarum quae in insula Jamaica sponte proveniunt. pp. 132-134. London.

Philippines - an edict issued in 1696 proscribing the number of coconut trees to be planted by the different existing social classes

1692
The Spanish Cavalry - "Even as late as the year 1692, the palm-tree was sufficiently rare upon the Guinea coast for sailors to make a landmark of a solitary grove of coco-nuts growing in their ragged, rakish way near the African town and three adjacent European forts at Accra. Colloquially they referred to these coconuts as 'the Spanish cavalry'".

Pope-Hennessy, J. (1998) Sins of the Fathers: a study of the Atlantic Slave Traders 1441-1807 Barnes & Noble.

1686
Cape Verde Islands - a source of refreshment for outward bound fleets.

Dampier W. (1697) A new voyage around the world. London, Hakluyt Society, 1927

1685
Wafer visited Cocos I (Costa Rica) in 1685. "T'is so call'd from its Coco-nuts, wherewith 'tis plentifully stor'd. 'Tis but a small island yet a very pleasant one, for the middle of the Island is a steep Hill, surrounded all about with a Plain, declining to the Sea. This Plain, and particularly the Valley where you go ashore, is thick set with Coco-nut Trees which flourish here very finely, it being a rich and fruitful Soil. They grow also on the skirts of the hilly Ground in the middle of the Isle, and scattering in spots upon the sides of it, very pleasantly."
But he may have been misidentifying another palm, Euterpe precatoria var. longevaginata when he reported that his companions had made merry, drinking 20 gallons of coco-nut milk [?] at a sitting - "[T]hat sort of Liquor had so chill'd and benumb'd their Nerves, that they could neither go nor stand; nor could they return on board the Ship, without the Help of those who had not been Partakers in the Frolick" - they had possibly been drinking toddy collected from coconuts growing along the beaches.

1681
A Catalogue & Description of the Natural and Artificial Rareties belonging to the Royal Society and Preserved at Gresham College.

Grew, N(ehemia) (1681) Musaeum Regalis Societalis Chapter 4 pp 197-200.

1678
Draakenstein, H. van R. (1678-1703) Hortus Malabaricus

1673
Cape Verde Islands - by the middle of the next century Ligon learnt they were important on Santiago: ". . . sugar sweetmeats and coconuts were their greatest trade . . ."

Ligon, R. (1673) A true and exact history of the island of Barbados. London, Frank Cass, 1970.

1672
Royal treat - in 1672, because the Dauphin wanted to eat a coconut, his private tutor got one through overseas correspondents, but it took so many months to come that it arrived in an awful state; coconut was well-known at that time in Europe but quite impossible to find.

Muller, A. (1998)

1668

On the palms which are called Cocos and their great usefulness.

Alzina, F.I 1668. Translator L.B. Uichanco (1931) Philippine Agriculturalist 20: 435-446.

1658

Honduras – The islands of Roatán and Utila were noted for their abundance of coconut palms (Charles de Rochefort: The history of the Caribby-Islands)

Dixon, C.V. 1985 Coconuts and man on the north coast of Honduras.

1657

Tribute - In Kaili a large proportion of the coconut oil produced was paid as tribute to the king of Makassar. According to the Spanish friar Navarrete, this tribute amounted to 90,000 pecks. A peck equals approximately nine litres. 

Heersink, 2000 Dependence on green gold .

___________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

1647
East India Company - On October 10 the Blessing was dispatched to Rajapur, Goa and Bhatkal, with orders to buy at the last-named place pepper, or failing that, arrack, coir and cowries . . .

EIF Vol. 8 ; 173-174 The President and Council at Surat to the President and Council at Bantam, December 1647 (O.C. 1963).

1644
Coconut exotic in Brazil - William Piso, who landed at Recife in 1637 and returned to Holland in 1644, "after describing the native palms of Brazil, continues his list of palms with the coconut, which he expressly declares to be exotic". Small, J.K. (1929) The Coconut Palm - Cocos nucifera. J. NY Bot. Gdn. 30 (355) 153-161 and (356)194-203.

1643
West Indies - Raymond Breton, a Dominican missionary who wrote French-Carib dictionaries and grammars,

1642
Philippines - an edict issued by Governor General H. de Corcuera in 1642 ordered each native to plant 200 coconut trees primarily for satisfying the galleon trade requirements (for drinking) and its husks for "caulk[ing] their galleons . . ." and "making ships' rigging,"

1639

Honduras – Ávila y Lugo reported coconuts on the Bay Island, Guanaja.

Dixon, C.V. 1985 Coconuts and man on the north coast of Honduras

1623

Palma nucem ferens (nut bearing palms): I. Palma Indica coccifera angulosa (Indian palm bearing angular shells)
Does this imply angularity of the fruits - i.e wild type / Niu kafa type?

Bauhin, C. (1623) Pinax. Page 508 (the reference by Linnaeus to page 502 is presumably an earlier edition).

1610

Honduras – Antonio Vásquez de Espinosa reported that a few coconuts were growing at the port of Trujillo.

Dixon, C.V. 1985 Coconuts and man on the north coast of Honduras

1592
Treasure from the East - Queen Elizabeth I had encouraged her maverick naval captains to appropriate Spanish ships laden with treasure from the East whenever possible. One such vessel, the Madre de Dios, captured in 1592, was filled with, among other things: "elephants teeth, porcellan vessels of China, coconuts, ebenwood as black as jet, bedstead of the same cloth of the rinds of trees very strange".

Gleeson, J. 1998 The Arcanum. Warner Books Inc., New York.

1583
The ubiquitous coconut and its refreshing milk (sic): "this is so abundant that after drinking the contents of one nut, you scarcely feel the need of another". Father Thomas Stevens (1549-1619)

Santapau, H. (1958) The coconut Cocos nucifera Linn: observations of the first English Jesuit priest in India. J. Bombay Nat. Hist. Soc. 55, 188-9

1577
Mayo, Cape Verde Islands - Amongst other things we found here a kind of fruit called cocos, which because it is not commonly known with us in England, I thought good to make some description of it. The tree beareth no leaves nor branches, but at the very top the fruit groweth in clusters, hard at the top of the stem of the tree, as big every several fruit as a man's head; but having taken off the uttermost bark, which you shall find to be very full of strings or sinews, as I may term them, you shall come to a hard shell, which may hold in quantity of liquor a pint commonly, or some a quart, and some less. Within that shell, of the thickness of half-an-inch good, you shall have a kind of hard substance and very white, no less good and sweet than almonds; within that again, a certain clear liquor, which being drunk, you shall not only find it very delicate and sweet, but most comfortable and cordial.

After we had satisfied ourselves with some of these fruits, we marched further into the island . . .

The Famous Voyage of Sir Francis Drake into the South Sea, and there hence about the whole Globe of the Earth, begun in the year of our Lord 1577 by Francis Pretty, One of Drake's Gentlemen at arms.

Voyages and travels : ancient and modern, with introductions, notes and illustrations. New York : P. F. Collier and Son, [c1910] The Harvard Classics, ed. by C. W. Elliot [vol. XXXIII].

1565-1568

The source of American Pacific coast coconuts

Fray Andres de Urdaneta sailed from La Navidad in New Spain (Mexico) in November 1564 for the Philippines. His return journey, leaving from Cebu in June 1565 took him towards Japan and then 40°N, making no landfalls on the way, coasting past California and landing at Acapulco four months later in October 1565. This is the route that was followed annually by Manila-Acapulco galleons until 1821 and by 1642 more coconuts were being planted in the Philippines just to supply the galleons.

Alvaro de Mendaña de Nehra, in contrast, sailed from Peru in November 1567 and reached the Solomon Islands. He left the Solomons in May 1568, planning to return to Peru but reached Colima instead, in December 1568. There were also no landfalls but, after seven months they were so short of food and water that few if any coconuts would have remained. There was no further contact with the Solomon Islands for 200 years.

What is more, when Mendaña set out again from Peru in 1595 he reached the New Hebrides (Vanuata) where he died. The expedition did not return directly to America. Instead it first went to the Philippines under Pedro Fernandez de Quirós before returning to Acapulco (this time following Urdaneta's route).

Urdaneta; Mendaña; Quiros

1553
Brazil - the first sugar factory in the Bahia region of Brazil was built in 1549 (Deerr) and the common name for coconut in Brazil today is `cocos da Bahia'. A date of 1553 has been specifically stated for the introduction of coconut to Bahia (Gomes) and de Soares writing before 1587, also specifies Bahia and gives Cape Verde as source (Bruman).

Deerr, N. (1948-50) History of sugar. London, Chapman & Hall, 636 pp.
Gomes, P. (1957) Enriqueca com um coqueiral. Sao Paulo, Comphania Melhoramentos.
Bruman, H.J. 1944. Some observations on the early history of the coconut in the New World. Acta americana 2: 220-243.

1552
Coconuts from unknown regions -"Some people believe that the germs of these trees were brought by the waves from unknown regions".  Martyr d'Anghiera, P. circa 1552 De orbe novo. p182. Trans. F.A. MacNutt, 1912. The Knickebocker Press, NY

No coconuts in Peru - Pedro de Cieza de León, who was in Peru between 1534 and 1552 ". . . described a palm, the nuts of which, when pounded in water, yielded a fat of the consistency of butter under ordinary temepratures, but liquifying when slightly heated. These he called Cocos butyracea. In an incorrect English translation it was stated that milk flowed from this ut when broken and it was subsequently inferred that Cieza de León was speaking of Cocos nucifera. Specimens of  oil-yielding nuts from this region  . . . belong . . . to a genus closely allied to Attalea."  Small, J.K. (1929) The Coconut Palm - Cocos nucifera. J. NY Bot. Gdn. 30 (355) 153-161 and (356)194-203.

1550
Sao Tome - The same letter that spoke of coconuts in Santiago (Ramusio) mentioned sugar production in Sao Tome. It also stated that coconuts had been brought there from the coast of Africa: ". . . Vi anno condotto dalla costa dell'Etiopia l'albero della palma, che fa il frutto che essi chiamano cocco e qui in Italia chiamano noci d'India . . ." At that time Ethiopia was any part of Africa beyond Arab influence. If the arguments against the direct introduction from East Africa are valid (Harries) then the coconuts brought to Sao Tome could only have come from the coast at Cape Verde. This is consistent with an ordinance passed by King Manuel that allowed traders going to Sao Tome to take on provisions at Beziguiche (Blake). The Portuguese base there was the island of Palma (the significance of this name in the present context must not be taken too literally since a number of towns, islands and promontories have so been named). The island was purchased by the Dutch in 1617, captured by the French in 1677 and occupied occasionally by the British. Now known as Goree island it has become part of the important entrepôt of Dakar. This sequence of events has afforded an opportunity for coconuts to be taken to Dutch, French and British possessions in Africa and America from a source that was not directly controlled by the Portuguese.

Ramusio, G.B. (1550) Navigationi et viaggi. Venice.
Harries, H.C. 1977 The Cape Verde region (1499-1549): the key to coconut culture in the Western Hemisphere? Turrialba 27, 227-231.
Blake, J.W. (1937) European beginnings in West Africa. Westport, Conn. Greenwood Press, 212pp.

Cape Verde Islands - A letter, written by an unnamed Portuguese pilot, translated into Italian and published in 1550 describes gardens of oranges, lemons, pomegranates and figs each side of the Ribeiro Grande river on Santiago. This letter also makes the first mention of coconuts growing there: "... e d'alcuni anni in qua vi piantano le palme che fanno li cocchi, cioe noci d'India..."

Ramusio, G.B. (1550) Navigationi et viaggi. Venice.

1549
Puerto Rico - The association between sugar, coconuts and irrigation is clearly shown in the reference to the introduction of coconut to Puerto Rico by Diego Lorenzo, canon of Cape Verde, about 1549.

Bruman, H.J. 1944. Some observations on the early history of the coconut in the New World. Acta americana 2: 220-243.

1542
Cocos Island - appeared for the first time on a French map of the Americas in 1542, labeled as Ysle de Coques or Seed Island (Anon, 1920) [aka "Shell Island"]. The Spanish apparently misunderstood the French name and called it Isla del Cocos ("Island of the Coconuts"). In fact another palm, Euterpe precatoria var. longevaginata, was mistaken for the coconut (Cook, 1940) [and see 1535 below]. Despite its name, there are relatively few coconut palms today and they are found in small isolated pockets of beach and at Iglesias Bay (Trusty et al).
Anon (1920) Malpelo, Cocos and Easter Islands. H.M.S.O. London 1920 Handbooks prepared under the direction of the historical section of the foreign office. Nos 141 and 142 
Trusty, JL,  Kesler, HC & Delgado, GH (2006) Vascular Flora of Isla del Coco, Costa Rica. Proceedings of the California Academy of Sciences 57 (7) 247-355.  

1535
Oveido y Valdes - The account that describes a palm called "cocos" from the West Indies, written by Gonzalo Fernandez de Oveido y Valdes in1535, was controversial because it suggested that Cocos nucifera is native to the American tropics. Allen (1965) notes, however, that Oveido's illustration is that of a species of Bactris, and that much of his account is either equally applicable to other things or obviously in error. For example, another source of confusion is the superficially similar Euterpe macrospadix, which occurs commonly on hillsides in the area that Oveido had visited. He also may have mistaken Astrocaryum for an abnormal kind of coconut. Allen suggests that Oveido's account is most likely confused because it is a compilation of unrelated things that were put together back in Spain after his trip. Allen's conclusion is that the account does not support the view that the coconut is native to the West Indies. 

Allen, P. H. 1965. Oveido, on "Cocos." Principes 9(2):62-66.

1521

Ferdinand Magellan's Voyage Round the World, 1519-1522 - Fernando de Magelhaes . . . set sail for another island very near to this island, which is in ten degrees, and they gave it the name of the island of Good Signs, because they found some gold in it. Whilst they were thus anchored at this island, there came to them two paraos, and brought them fowls and cocoa nuts.

Magellan was killed in 1521 on the island of Cebu in the Philippines.

. . . they again passed between the islands and the great island of Borneo . . .Whilst making the aforesaid course the wind shifted to northeast, and they stood out to sea, and they saw a sail coming, and the ships anchored, and the boats went to it and took it; it was a small junk and carried nothing but cocoa-nuts

Thatcher, O.J. ed., The Library of Original Sources (Milwaukee: University Research Extension Co., 1907), Vol. V: 9th to 16th Centuries, pp. 41-57.Modern History Sourcebook:

The Italian navigator, Antonio Pigafetta, author of the famous "Magellan's Voyage around the World", accurately described the uses of the coconut palm in the Pacific Islands.

Chiovenda 1921-3 Webbia 5, 199-294 & 359-449.

1510

"When the nut begins to grow, water begins to be produced within; and when the nut has arrived at perfection, it is full of water, so that there are some nuts which will contain four and five goblets of water, which water is a most excellent thing to drink . . ."

Ludovici de Varthema, 1510

1505

The Voyage and Acts of Dom Francisco [Almeida], 1505 - On Tuesday, 22 July, they entered the harbour of Kilwa at noon, with a total of eight ships. Immediately on their arrival the Grand-Captain, Dom Francisco d'Almeida, sent Bona Ajuta Veneziano to summon the king. He excused himself from coming, but sent the Grand-Captain gifts instead; They were five goats, a small cow and a large number of coconuts and other fruit.

There are many boats as large as a caravel of fifty tons and other smaller ones. The large ones lie aground on the shore and are dragged down to the sea when the people wish to sail them. They are built without nails: the planks are sewn together with rope made from knotted coir from the coconut palm. The same kind of rope is used for the rudder. The boats are caulked with black pitch made from crude incense and resin. They sail from here to Sofala, 255 leagues away.

The palms here do not produce dates but from some of them wine and vinegar are obtained. These come from the palm trees which do not produce coconuts. The coconuts are the size of large melons, and from the fibres inside the shell all kinds of rope are made. Inside the shell is a fruit the size of a large pineapple. It contains half a pint of milk which is very pleasant to drink. When the milk has been drunk the nut is broken and eaten; the kernel tastes like a walnut which is not fully ripe. They dry it and it yields a large quantity of oil.

Source: E. Axelson, "South East Africa," 1940; pp. 231-238. Quoted in G.S.P. Freeman-Grenville, The East African Coast: Selected Documents (London: Rex Collings, 1974), pp. 105-112. Modern History Sourcebook: Hans Mayr

The voyage of Pedro Alvares Cabral to Brazil and India - "In conclusion, it is the most perfect tree that is found, to our knowledge" - The Account of Priest Joseph, circa 1505.

Greenlee, W.B. (1938) London, Hakluyt Society.

1501
On the return of Pedro Alvares Cabral from Brazil and India King Manuel of Portugal wrote to Ferdinand and Isabella of Spain describing the voyage and paying particular attention to the nautical uses of the coconut "... and other letters written on leaves of trees which resemble palms, on which they ordinarily write. And from these trees and their fruit are made the following things: sugar, honey oil, wine, water, vinegar charcoal and cord age for ships, and for everything else, and matting of which they make some sails for ships and it serves them for everything they need. And the aforesaid fruit, in addition to what is thus made of it, is their chief food, particularly at sea".

Greenlee, W.B. (1938) The voyage of Pedro Alvares Cabral to Brazil and India. London, Hakluyt Society.

1499
Vasco da Gama - the account of Vasco da Gama's voyage makes it clear that they found coconuts before they reached India, when they were near Malindi on the east coast of Africa: "The palm of this land yields a fruit as large as a melon; its kernel within is eaten and tastes like a mixture of gelanga [?] and hazelnut" (translated by Furtado, 1964).

Vasco de Gama stopped at the Cape Verde islands on his return from India and East Africa. This was the first time coconuts reached the Atlantic Ocean

Harries, H.C. 1977 The Cape Verde region (1499-1549): the key to coconut culture in the Western Hemisphere? Turrialba 27, 227-231.