Researchers believe Puebla, located in South Central Mexico, to be the motherland of the avocado, where this strange and delicious fruit first flourished and locals began consuming them nearly 10,000 years ago. It’s also believed that Mesoamerican tribes first domesticated the avocado tree (Persea Americana) 5,000 years ago, making the cultivation of avocados as old as the invention of the wheel.
Prior to its domestication, it’s thought the survival of the avocado may have been dependent on the ability of since-extinct large mammals to stomach the fruit’s mildly toxic pit after swallowing the large berry whole. In theory, the seed was ready to sprout by the time it was excreted. The avocado was extremely important among the indigenous people of ancient Mesoamerica, as the fruit provided sustenance and possessed mythological powers. For instance, the Aztecs believed the fruit provided strength to whomever consumed it, and in ancient Maya, the fourteenth month of their calendar (K’ank’in) is represented by the glyph for the avocado.

The fruit eventually made its way across the Atlantic when Spanish explorers were introduced to the avocado in the 16th century. By 1521, the fruit had spread through Central America and into parts of South America before being exported back to Europe by the Spanish and sold to other countries.