Workers harvesting bananas for United Fruit

The beginnings of United Fruit (Chiquita)

Henry Meiggs and his nephew Minor Keith build a railroad from the capital of San Jose to the Caribbean coastal department of Limon. They begin growing bananas along the route, leased to them by the government for 99 years, to feed the workers. Upon completion of the railroad, Keith realized he could pay workers abysmally low wages and ship massive quantities of bananas to the United States. His plantation holdings quickly spread throughout the region. In 1899 he merged his business with another to form United Fruit (now known as Chiquita).