"Ananas” the fruit that refused to take root in Europe

During the sixteenth century, the transfer of tropical plants from the West Indies and Brazil to other continents, carried out by governors, missionaries, physicians and travelers, stimulated the creation of new medical and eating habits.
Originally from Brazil, the pineapple - Ananas comosus - made a great impression on those who came across it. Refusing to take root in the cold European latitudes, this fruit crossed the Atlantic Ocean aboard Portuguese ships in search of other territories with an adequate and familiar climate.
In this essay, I will analyze some references to pineapple in the chronicles, botanical texts and missionary letters’, in circulation in Early Modern times. I will examine the cultural context that permitted the diffusion of this botanical species and follow the oceanic routes traced by this exotic plant that allowed the wide dissemination of the fruit throughout the Portuguese empire.