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>> THE HISTORY OF OIL
>> OIL DICTIONARY

The history of Oil

It is said that Aristaios, son of the nymph Kyrene and Apollon, created the first olive tree, and he later transferred the secrets of the tree and its fruit to Acropos, founder of Athens.

The olive tree has connections with all ancient civilisations that settled in the Mediterranean basin. These civilisations attributed great properties to olive trees, including holiness, eternity, peace, victory and fertility.

It is not known precisely who started using olive oil. Some authors report that it was Phoenician traders and others suggest that it was the Greek, through the colonies that settled along the Mediterranean.

With the arrival of the Scipio legions (2nd century BC) olive groves were planted in the Betican fertile plains.

The Arabs brought in new ways of using oil. They passed on the use of oil in cooking and for therapeutic purposes.

During the Reconquest and for the next few centuries, the oil and wool trades represented the largest sources of income in the Spanish kingdom.

At present, Spain is the biggest olive oil producer, accounting for more than 30% of total olive oil production world-wide.

Olive growing and oil production accounts for a total of 500 million labour hours per year, and gives work to millions of days’ work each year.