Wild type coconuts may have grown spontaneously around their earliest settlements, but there is no doubt that they have imported coconuts as well. Though the area around the Persian Gulf appears to be unsuitable for coconut cultivation, coconuts did and do grow there. The Arabs and Persians around the Gulf had further easy access to coconut products from India, the Laccadives and the Maldives. The Shirazi have most certainly played an important part in the distribution of the crop in East Africa. This excerpt is 2 pages of a 6-page article.
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