Reproduced vegetatively normally. They were taken to many countries by the Portugese, Spanish, and Dutch. They were taken to Hawaii by the Doles. They have long been an important food plant. Fruits of wild relatives have been gathered for thousands of years and presumably the cultivated ones arose from these.
Date palms are dioecious, i.e., they have male and female parts on different plants.
By 2300 B.C., agriculturalists had learned how to pollinate them. They also have been cultivated for thousands of years. This large genus contains only one important commercial fruit crop. The fig is frequently mentioned in the Bible and other Near Eastern literature. Figs pollinated by small wasps.