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travel from Northeast Africa. But it was also being culti- began in Africa, moved to Europe and Asia, then the Americas and the
vated in India by the 7th century, and China in the 10th South Pacific, and finally to Australia. It grows on every continent that can
century. sustain it. For five millennia it has travelled with humans, been changed by
humans, and a part of the human experience.
The dark history of Colonialism brought the watermelon
to the Americas, where it was being grown by the Spanish in There’s a reason we connect the watermelon with friends and family. It has
Florida by the mid-1500s, and in Massachusetts a century later. been a part of the human experience almost as long as agriculture itself.
Shortly thereafter, it was also being grown in Peru, Brazil, and
Panama. It was also widely accepted as a crop in the South
Pacific, introduced by the likes of James Cook. Today it is most
widely produced in China, but also has a strong showing in the
US, Turkey, Russia, Iran, Egypt, Mexico, and Uzbekistan.
As a food source, it is also remarkably diverse. Aside from just
slicing and eating, it goes well with mint, basil, feta, honey,
cucumbers, and more. You can also pickle and eat the rind,
which tastes like, well, pickles. While mostly water, they are
still high in Vitamins A and C, and even have a decent amount of
potassium and some dietary fiber and antioxidants.
As much as any other domesticated plant, the story of the
watermelon is also the story of human cultivation. Without the
evolution of human society and mass agriculture, the water-
melon as we know it doesn’t exist. Without the movements
of human populations, we’re not having it at the barbeque. It
114 www.southernoregonmagazine.com | summer 2018
