Okra: Origin and Spread

Okra is generally regarded as native to Africa, and may have been first cultivated either in the vicinity of Ethiopia or in W. Africa. It is not known when it spread from Ethiopia to N. Africa, the E. Mediterranean, Arabia, and India. There is no trace of it in early Egyptian tombs, but it was recorded as growing beside the Nile in the 13th century.

Its westward migration to the New World seems to have been a result of the traffic in slaves. Okra had reached Brazil by 1658 and Dutch Guiana by 1686. It may also have arrived in the south of the USA during the 17th century, and was being grown as far north as Virginia and Philadelphia in the 18th century.