Keith began experimenting with the planting of bananas as a cheap source of food for his workers. Keith, who took over Meiggs's business concerns in Costa Rica after his death in 1877. Meiggs was assisted in the project by his young nephew, Minor C. railroad entrepreneur Henry Meiggs signed a contract with the government of Costa Rica to build a railroad connecting the capital city of San José to the port of Limón in the Caribbean. transformed United Brands into the present-day Chiquita Brands International.Ĭorporate history Early years Black's AMK in 1970 to become the United Brands Company. After a period of financial decline, United Fruit merged with Eli M. Critics often accused it of exploitative neocolonialism, and they described it as the archetypal example of the influence of a multinational corporation on the internal politics of the so-called banana republics.

United Fruit had a deep and long-lasting impact on the economic and political development of several Latin American countries. Although it competed with the Standard Fruit Company (later Dole Food Company) for dominance in the international banana trade, it maintained a virtual monopoly in certain regions, some of which came to be called banana republics – such as Costa Rica, Honduras, and Guatemala.

It flourished in the early and mid-20th century, and it came to control vast territories and transportation networks in Central America, the Caribbean coast of Colombia and the West Indies. The company was formed in 1899 from the merger of the Boston Fruit Company with Minor C. The United Fruit Company (now Chiquita) was an American multinational corporation that traded in tropical fruit (primarily bananas) grown on Latin American plantations and sold in the United States and Europe.

Entrance façade of the old United Fruit Building at 321 St.

Tropical Merge instal the new