Excellent Fruit

While Christopher Columbus's first voyage to the New World is the most celebrated in the annals of American history, subsequent voyages also were "fruitful," particularly his second trip.
In 1493, Columbus made a stop at the island of Guadeloupe in the West Indies where he found a marvelously sweet and juicy fruit, completely unknown in Europe. The Guarani Indians, who inhabited the isle, cultivated their ananas - or "excellent fruit" for food and wine-making.














Columbus presented the strange fruit to Queen Isabella and the popularity of ananas spread quickly among the European aristocracy. The English later renamed them "pineapples" due to their resemblance to pine cones.