In 1888, Edward Fyffe, a London food wholesaler, began commercial imports of bananas. Then in 1897 he merged his business with Hudson Brothers, another importer to form Fyffe Hudson & Co. The business became so successful that they purchased land in the Canaries to be cultivated as banana plantations. Meanwhile, Elder Dempster & Company (a large shipping firm which traded in the Canaries) had observed the success of Fyffe & Hudson and followed suit. In 1898, Elder Dempster's fruit importing business was extended to Jamaica.