These three factors converged in the Caribbean in the 1870s, and would lead to the development of large-scale banana plantations, usually owned and operated by highly integrated large corporations such as Dole and Chiquita Brands International.
The first step in the link can be said to have taken place when United States based business men began work on railroads that would allow the Isthmus of Panama to be traversed.
Since banana exports came to dominate the overseas trade and most of the foreign exchange earnings of Central American countries, and the companies could use their financial clout as well as carefully established connections with local elites, they had great influence over politics in those areas, leading O. Henry, who lived in Honduras (which he called "Anchuria") in 1896–97 to coin the term banana republic for them.
Company influence was buttressed both by their willingness to hire mercenaries as paramilitary forces and to involve the United States government in military interventions when they felt their interests were threatened.
Although banana production for export had begun in much of mainland Central America in the 1880s, its initial impetus was from local small or medium-sized holdings.
The various organizations and companies involved focus on increasing the price paid to small banana growers and the wages of agricultural workers.