United Fruit Company Photograph Collection

The United Fruit Company was formed in 1899 when the Boston Fruit Company merged with several other companies that produced, imported, and marketed bananas from the Caribbean islands, Central America, and Colombia. The principal founder was Minor C. Keith, who developed banana plantations in Costa Rica beginning in the 1870s. During the early decades of the twentieth century, United Fruit’s distribution networks spread throughout the United States and Europe. By 1930, the company had absorbed more than twenty rival firms and was the largest employer in Central America.

From its founding, the United Fruit Company acquired large, undeveloped tracts of land made available to it by Caribbean and Central and South American governments. The company cleared and planted these lands and developed extensive railroad and port facilities. It also built employee housing, schools for the children of employees, hospitals, and research laboratories. United Fruit’s laboratories worked to develop disease-resistant crops, insecticides, and fungicides. The company operated a large fleet of steamships painted white to protect their cargo from the tropical sun. This “Great White Fleet” transported United Fruit’s products to the United States, Europe, Asia, and the Middle East.

The United Fruit Company ultimately owned or leased property in Honduras, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Panama, Colombia, Cuba, Jamaica, and numerous other Central American, South American, and the West Indian countries. It engaged in the production, transportation, and marketing of bananas, sugar, cocoa, abaca, and other tropical products.

In 1970, the United Fruit Company merged with AMK Corporation; the new corporation was called the United Brands Company. The company became Chiquita Brands International in 1990.