Olive production manual

Abstract

The olive tree, Olea europea for both its beauty and its fruit, has been a part of Mediterranean civilization since before recorded history: As early as 3000 B.C, Semitic peoples in Syria cultivated the olive and traded in its oil. Numerous biblical references to the olive, its cultivation, and use of its oil date from 2000 B.C. Semitic influence spread olive cultivation northward into what is now “Turkey” and south into Egypt.