The expansion of the olive tree in the New World was undertaken by the Spanish Conquistadors from the beginning of the Sixteenth Century. Some 1520 documents in the "Casa de Contratación" (now at the Archive of thee Indies, in Seville) mention transfers of olive trees plants to the Americas. At the beginning it was introduced in the Antilles, and afterwards in the American continent. Mexico had olives groves in regular production towards the end of the Sixteenth Century. From here, they expanded to Peru and then to Chile. At about the same time the plant was introduced in Argentina where it adapted perfectly well in the provinces of La Rioja and Catamarca. In the Arauco region, in the North of Argentina, one can still see the so-called "Olivo de Arauco" or Old Arauco Olive Tree, that was planted when Charles III was king of Spain (1759-1788).

  The olive tree reached the United States, concretely California, in the Eighteenth Century, when it was introduced by Fray Junípero Serra, founder of the San Diego de Alcalá mission. Years later olive trees were planted by Franciscan fathers in the missions they established along the 600 miles of the Californian cost. Presently, the olive tree variety called "mission" is related to those foundations.

  Of all the ancient people only Assyrians and Babylonians did not know the olive tree. It, however, occupies a prominent place in ancient books. The Bible provides us with one of the oldest quotations regarding its legend. The book of Genesis narrates that after the "universal flood", around the fourth millennium B. C., "Noah awaited seven days, after which he freed a dove, that returned with an olive tree branch in its beak as sign that the deluge had ended".

  In ancient Greece, a quarrel erupted between Pallas Athena, beloved daughter of Zeus, and Poseidon, the god of the sea, for the sovereignty of the city of Athens and the right to confer the name to the city that Cecrops would found. Both intended to give to the Attica the best possible present. Poseidon offered a speedy horse capable of carrying man and helping in his works. Pallas Athena had an olive tree appear, capable of providing man with light and food, curing his illnesses and alleviating his evils. After deliberating, the council of gods decided to confer victory to Pallas Athena, who had promised the most valuable present.

  The Iliad and the Odyssey also contain numerous references to the olive tree, the tree of Athena. Homer in the Iliad compares the fall of Euforbos, defeated by Melenaus in the battlefield, to the fall of the olive tree that ..."grows handsome, agitated by all kinds of winds, covered with white flowers, that suddenly, when a hurricane comes, is from the earth uprooted and thrown to the ground".It was with oil that Auricle anointed the body of Ulysses, the hero. Of olive tree wood was the log that killed Polyphemus. Such was the veneration for this tree that an old Jewish law forbids the destruction of any productive olive tree, even if owned by an enemy. In the Book of Judges, of the Ancient Testament, a legend is told that confirms this tree as supreme among all the tree species and speaks of the special wisdom held by the users of its fruit.Olive trees were exceptional witnesses to the sufferings of Jesus Christ in the Orchard of Gethsemani, the mount of olives. The Koran mentions it reverently more than two hundred times. Finally, Picasso, the painter from Málaga, of universal fame, selected as symbol of peace a dove carrying a branch of olive tree in its beak.

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