Carlos Osorio National Security Archive
Phone: (202) 994-7219 Suite 701, Gelman Library
Fax: (202) 994-7005 2130 H St. NW
Email: cosorio@gwis2.circ.gwu.edu Washington, D.C. 20037
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Mon, 18 Nov 1996 18:35:40 -0500
From: "Jacquelyn S. Kent" <jkent@H-NET.MSU.EDU>
Reply-To: H-Net Latin-American History List <H-LATAM@H-NET.MSU.EDU>
To: Multiple recipients of list H-LATAM <H-LATAM@H-NET.MSU.EDU>
Subject: QUERY: Banana Republic
Date: Mon, 18 Nov 1996 14:58:07 -0400
From: Tom Holloway <thh1@cornell.edu>
Redistas-
Some months ago I posted a query regarding the origin of the term
"Banana Republic," not the clothing store, but the historico- political use
of the term. Several people replied explaining how the term has been used,
the general sense of which most of us are familiar with. I was looking for
the original source, the moment of birth, the first time the phrase
appeared.
Someone, I can't remember who at this remove, suggested O. Henry as
a possible source. The famous short story writer, whose real name was
William Sydney Porter, spent several months "on the lam" on the north coast
of Honduras (I think it was in 1896) before going back to "The States" to
face the music for bank fraud, after which he did some time, during which
he became a writer.
Anyhow, the closest thing to a full novel that O. Henry produced
was "Cabbages and Kings", a loosely connected set of vignettes recounting
the misadventures of various gringos and tipos in the mythical (but clearly
Central American) republic of "Anchuria," Honduras=depths,
Anchuria=widths, get it?
The material was apparently first copyrighted in 1904, but on p.
328 of the 1912 edition (Doubleday and Page, Garden City, NY), there is an
explanation from a gringo character as to why he chose to emigrate swiftly
to that benighted tropical venue: "At that time we had a treaty with about
every foreign country except Belgium and that banana republic, Anchuria."
So there you have it. If anyone comes across an earlier published
or public use of the term, I'd like to hear about it. Until then, you have
a story to tell in your Central America class (or section of survey).
Tom Holloway
Thomas H. Holloway, Professor of Latin American History, 324 McGraw Hall,
Cornell University, Ithaca, NY 14853-4601 Email thh1@cornell.edu