The United Fruit Company was an American corporation. It dealt with tropical fruits, especially bananas. These fruits were grown on Central and South American plantations. They were sold in the United States and Europe. The company was created in 1899 from Minor C. Keith's banana-trading concerns with Andrew W. Preston's Boston Fruit Company. It grew in the early and mid-20th century. It controlled vast territories and transportation networks in Central America, the Caribbean coast of Colombia, Ecuador, and the West Indies. It competed with the Standard Fruit Company in the international banana trade. 