Super interesting. It fascinates me that the origins of mangoes are apparently so poorly understood.
I thought canoe plants were an interesting concept when introduced to them, but we know that those come from Polynesia.
I kind of wonder if mango is one of those plants that taught the far east to prevent exportation of native flora, to control supply chains. It’s already everywhere so we can’t build a moat. But pepper, cinnamon, and tea…
... silk worm ...
and in reverse from the Americas: the obvious potato, tobacco, chili, but also pineapple, rubber, ... and even agave for Vietnamese tequila (El Toro).
The history of rubber has a lot of cloak-and-dagger intrigue to compare with that for silk or tea.
Yes, 500 years ago there was no chili in Thailand or Szechuan.
Maybe Mango Mafia has potential as a fanciful tropical smuggling novel.
It's weird to me that the idea of mangoes arising from "two distinct, closely related species" is apparently so controversial, when the idea of species itself is not rigorously defined.
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