AYLİN ÖNEY TAN
Orange revolution
This one is not another tension about Ukraine, this orange revolution is actually about oranges or how oranges became the symbol of many geographies around the Mediterranean. Far corners of the Mediterranean basin from Valencia to Jaffa, places claim ownership to certain orange varieties, similarly in Turkey from Finike to Antalya and from Adana to Mersin, many cities identify themselves with the orange globe. One may think that oranges always existed in those places, it is one shiny fruit that is almost synonymous with the Mediterranean flora, but in reality, the history of orange does not go back to ancient times. Once, there were no oranges as we know now in the Mediterranean, it was first the bitter and sour orange, or as sometimes called, the Seville orange. The sweet orange is a much later arrival, owing its Mediterranean debut to a revolutionary discovery of Vasco da Gama. His voyage to India by way of turning around the southern tip of Africa was a milestone in changing the trade routes forever.
February 06 2022
