Editing Rambutan (section)

== History ==
Around the 13th to 15th centuries, Arab traders, who played a major role in [[Indian Ocean trade]], introduced rambutans to [[Zanzibar]] and [[Pemba, Mozambique|Pemba]] in [[East Africa]].<ref name="morton" /> There are limited rambutan plantings in some parts of India. In the 19th century, the Dutch introduced rambutans from [[Indonesia]] in Southeast Asia, to [[Suriname]] in South America. Subsequently, the plants spread to the tropical Americas, planted in the coastal lowlands of Colombia, Ecuador, Honduras, Costa Rica, Trinidad, and Cuba. In 1912, rambutans were introduced to the Philippines from Indonesia.<ref name="morton" /> Further introductions were made in 1920 (from Indonesia) and 1930 (from Malaya), but until the 1950s its distribution was limited.<ref name="morton" />

There was an attempt to introduce rambutans to the [[Southeastern United States]], with seeds imported from [[Java]], Indonesia in 1906, but the species proved to be unsuccessful,<ref name="morton" /> except in [[Puerto Rico]].<ref name="rambutan" />

=== Etymology ===
The name ''rambutan'' is derived from the [[Malay language|Malay]] word {{lang|ms|rambut}} meaning 'hair' referring to the numerous hairy protuberances of the fruits, together with the noun-building [[suffix]] {{lang|ms|-an}}.<ref name="morton" /><ref name="rambutan" /> Similarly, in [[Vietnam]], they are called {{lang|vi|chôm chôm}} (meaning 'messy hair').<ref>{{Cite web |title=Vietnamese tropical fruit |date=8 May 2012 |url=https://www.itchyfeetonthecheap.com/2012/05/08/vietnamese-tropical-fruit-and-how-to-eat-it/ |access-date=7 October 2012}}</ref>{{better source|date=May 2023|reason=The hairdo is named after the fruit, not the other way around.}} The Chinese name is {{lang-zh|s=红毛丹}} ([[Mandarin Chinese|Mandarin]] ''hóngmáodān'', [[Hokkien]] ''âng-mô͘-tan''), literally 'red-haired pellet'.<ref>{{Cite book |author1=Siong Kiat Tan |url=https://lkcnhm.nus.edu.sg/lkcnhm-e-books/LKCNHM-EBOOK-2019-0001.pdf |title=Minnan (Hokkien) Botanical Names Used in Singapore |author2=Keng Soon Chua |author3=Kok Peng Lim |publisher=University of Singapore |year=2019}}</ref>