The olive according to De Candolle has been cultivated for more than
4,000 years, probably the longest period for any tree. Its early history
is known only through ancient literature, and ancient remains in which
it served either as decoration or as a constituent. Through these its
original home has been traced to Asia Minor, a region originally
extending from Syria to Greece. That it grew on Mt. Ararat and was the
harbinger to Noah of the recession of the flood is told in Genesis--“and
the dove came in to him in the evening, and, lo, in her mouth was an
olive leaf pluckt off.”
The ancient Egyptians as a part of the fruit of their conquests obtained
the olive during the 19th dynasty. Mummies, dating from the 20th to the
26th dynasty, have been found surrounded by garlands of olive leaves.
From Egypt it spread into northern Africa. It is said to have been taken
to Greece by Cecrops, the founder of Athens. The legend states that in
the reign of Cecrops both Poseidon and Athena contended for the
possession of Athens. The gods resolved that whichever of them produced
a gift most useful to mortals should have possession. Poseidon struck
the ground with his trident and straightway a horse appeared. Athena
then planted the olive. The gods gave the city to the goddess from whom
it was called Athenae.
Pindar says that all the slopes of Olympus were soon covered with it,
and that the Athenians used to crown the victors in the Olympian games
with its branches. Later it was used to crown their warriors and wise
citizens. The method of oil extraction was also obtained from outside.
The Greeks are supposed to have had the wild olive, Oleaster,
previously, but the fruit of this is valueless. They are the first
European people to have cultivated the olive. Its cultivation spread to
the surrounding countries, where the Greeks founded colonies, Sicily,
the coast of Italy, and Gaul, these forming nuclei for its spread into
the adjacent lands. Pliny states, however, that the olive was not
introduced into Italy until 627 B.C., and that it reappeared in Gaul in
600 B.C., being carried to the latter country by the Phenician colony
that founded Marseilles.
The olive was carried later by the Romans into the countries in which
they settled, Spain being the most notable, but it was also carried into
the Iberian peninsula by the Arabs.
The Greeks and the Romans cultivated it on the northern side of the
Mediterranean, the Tyrians on the southern side, the Arabs finding it
there and carrying it with them into Spain when they settled in that
country. The double origin of the olive, Greco-Roman and Semitic, in
this latter country is borne out by the names bestowed on the olive. In
southern Spain the tree is called _aceituno_, the olive fruit
_aceituna_, and the oil _aceite_, the name evidently derived from the
Arabic name _zeitoun_, this in turn being derived from the Hebrew
_zeit_. In northern Spain both Arabic and Latin names are used, the tree
is called _olivo_ or _oliveira_, whereas the fruit and oil have the
Arabic derivative names _aceituna_ and _aceite_ respectively, but the
oil used in the church and in painting is called _oleo_. In Portugal
similar conditions prevail, the cultivated olive is called by the
Greco-Latin name _oliveira_, whereas the wild olive is called by the
Arabic name _zambugeiro_, the fruit _azeitona_, and the oil _azeite_.
Though some botanists claim that the olive is native to the Canary
Islands, no word for it is found in the remains of the language of the
Guanches, an ancient, but extinct, race of people who inhabited the
islands. The available records show the tree to have been introduced
there since 1403, and probably by the Phenicians.
The olive was introduced by the Spaniards into Chili, Peru, Mexico, and
the United States. From Mexico it was brought by Jesuit missionaries
into Lower California, the first settlement being at Loreto, in 1697.
The Jesuits founded fifteen missions, but were superseded by Franciscans
in 1768. These latter proceeded northward to extend their work, the
first of their missions being founded in 1769, at San Diego. The secular
head of the mission, representing the King of Spain, had the foresight
to carry the seeds of flowers, fruits, grains, and vegetables, so that
flourishing gardens were soon brought into existence. When the missions
went into secular hands in 1843, the gardens in many cases were
neglected and many of the fruit trees died. The olive was one of the
trees that withstood the neglect and was afterwards used for cuttings by
the emigrants from the eastern states who came in 1849. From this time
on the olive has received considerable attention, many experiments being
made in its culture, and in recent years the plantings have increased to
an enormous extent, due to the favor accorded to both the oil and the
fruit. It has spread around San Diego and Los Angeles east into the San
Joaquin Valley and north into the Sacramento Valley in California, and
also into Arizona. In the latter state its cultivation is comparatively
recent, so that only about 5 per cent of American olives are produced
there.
At the present time the olive is cultivated more or less extensively in
the countries surrounding the Mediterranean--Asia Minor, Turkey, Greece,
Italy, Austria, France, Spain, Portugal, Tunis, and Algeria. In the
Western Hemisphere the main source is California, though the olive is
cultivated in some of the countries of S. America.