Watermelon originated in Africa. Watermelon was originally a wild plant of Cucurbitaceae. It was cultivated by ancient Egyptians 4000 years ago, and then spread to Europe, and then to the Middle East, India and other places. Watermelon spread from the Western Regions to China along the Silk Road. Because it comes from the western regions, it is also called "watermelon". Watermelon was introduced to China in the Five Dynasties and the Song and Liao Dynasties.
Archaeologists found the earliest watermelon seeds in Egyptian tombs. According to textual research, the origin of watermelon is in the arid desert of tropical Africa.
Li Shizhen, a famous doctor, recorded the origin of watermelon more clearly in Compendium of Materia Medica: "According to Hu Hu, you can get a kind of watermelon called watermelon in Uighur. Watermelon entered China from the Five Dynasties; There are north and south today. " According to Xu Guangqi, a scientist in the Ming Dynasty, the book "The Complete Book of Agricultural Administration" records: "Watermelon is named after being planted in the western regions.
? It was introduced to China. According to historical records, watermelon was introduced into Xinjiang in the middle of the Tang Dynasty and into China from Xinjiang in the Five Dynasties. Later, after 100 years, it was planted in large quantities by Song people in the Southern Song Dynasty and became one of the main fruits.
Looking around the world, it seems that only China's watermelon is the cheapest, especially Japan, South Korea and the United States. I don't know the rest. I have been to Japan and Korea, where watermelons are bought piece by piece, but we usually eat them with spoons. A few years ago, Japanese friends came to Shanghai to find me, so I bought a watermelon, a big watermelon weighing more than 20 kilograms. His chin was shocked and he didn't want to eat. He also said that you China people are so generous, and this way of eating hardly exists in Japan!
? Some time ago, I read an article saying that why we can eat watermelon so happily is because a woman who is a life scientist in our country has cultivated a high-yield watermelon, so that we can eat watermelon so wantonly. As for the name, I really don't remember it.
There are many varieties of watermelons cultivated in various parts of China, with different exocarp, pulp and seed shapes, among which Xinjiang, Lanzhou, Gansu, Dezhou, Shandong and Liyang, Jiangsu are the most famous.