Mahogany facts for kids

18th century card table made from mahogany in America

18th century armchair made from mahogany in America

Mahogany is a strong, reddish-brown wood that comes from large tropical trees. These trees are found in the Americas, especially in places like southern Florida and islands in the Caribbean such as the Bahamas, Cuba, and Jamaica.

Europeans first discovered mahogany around the early 1500s. At first, the Spanish and English used this wood to build ships. It was perfect for ships because it was very durable and strong. It could even stop cannonballs without breaking into splinters!

Later, in the 1700s and early 1800s, mahogany became super popular for making furniture, especially in England. This time was even called the "Age of Mahogany." Many beautiful pieces of furniture were also made in France and other European countries.

Mahogany is a special wood because it's strong and lasts a long time, but it's also easy for carpenters to bend and shape. Mahogany trees grow very tall, so they can be cut into large, wide pieces of wood. Plus, mahogany doesn't get stained easily.

Types of Mahogany Trees
Mahogany's Story
History of Mahogany Trade
- More Recent Times
What Mahogany is Used For
Mahogany as an Invasive Species
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Types of Mahogany Trees

There are three main types of genuine mahogany trees:

Honduran Mahogany (Swietenia macrophylla): This type grows from Mexico all the way down to Brazil. It's the most common type grown today. However, because of too much logging, it's now a protected species under an agreement called CITES (Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species).
West Indian Mahogany (Swietenia mahagoni): This type is native to southern Florida and the Caribbean. It was very popular for wood before World War II.
Pacific Coast Mahogany (Swietenia humilis): This is a smaller mahogany tree found in Central America. It's not used as much for wood because it's often twisted.

Besides these "genuine" mahoganies, there are other woods that are sometimes called "true mahogany" or just "mahogany." These include trees from Africa like Khaya and Entandrophragma, and Asian trees like Toona sinensis.

Mahogany is a very important wood because it's beautiful, strong, and has a lovely color. It's used for paneling, furniture, boats, musical instruments, and many other things. The United States and Britain buy the most mahogany. Sadly, a lot of mahogany, especially from Peru, is cut down illegally.

Mahogany is so important that it's the national tree of the Dominican Republic and Belize. The Belizean coat of arms even shows a mahogany tree with two woodcutters and the motto "Under the shade I flourish."

Mahogany's Story

How Mahogany Got Its Name

The name "mahogany" was first used for trees found on British islands in the West Indies. The Spanish called it caoba, and the French called it acajou. The word "mahogany" might come from 'm'oganwo', a name used by people in West Africa for similar trees. When these people were brought to Jamaica as slaves, they used the same name for the trees they saw there.

The word "mahogany" first appeared in a book in 1671. For a while, scientists thought it was a type of cedar. But in 1759, a famous scientist named Carl Linnaeus gave it the name Cedrela mahagoni. The next year, another scientist, Nicholas Joseph Jacquin, gave it its own new group, calling it Swietenia mahagoni.

Discovering Different Species

For a long time, people thought all mahogany was just one type of tree. But in 1836, a German scientist named Joseph Gerhard Zuccarini found a second type, Swietenia humilis, in Mexico. Then, in 1886, Sir George King identified a third type, Swietenia macrophylla, which is the Honduran mahogany.

Today, all genuine Swietenia mahogany trees growing in their natural homes are protected by CITES. This means their trade is carefully watched. However, these trees are now grown successfully on plantations in Asian countries like India, Bangladesh, Indonesia, and Fiji. Most of the genuine mahogany used today comes from these Asian plantations.

Different Types of Mahogany Wood

When different types of Swietenia trees grow close together, they can mix and create new types. For example, a mix of S. mahagoni and S. macrophylla is often grown for its wood.

Sometimes, other woods are also called "mahogany" in stores, even if they aren't true Swietenia trees. A good example is "Philippine mahogany," which actually comes from a different group of trees called Shorea.

History of Mahogany Trade

Mahogany loggers in Belize around 1930

Europeans first learned about mahogany when the Spanish started settling in the Americas. A cross in a church in Santo Domingo from 1514 is said to be made of mahogany. The Spanish king, Phillip II, even used it in his palace. However, the Spanish mainly used mahogany for building ships and kept it as a special wood for the king. So, not much of it went to Europe.

In the 1700s, the British Parliament removed taxes on wood from their American colonies. This made the trade in West Indian woods, especially mahogany, boom! By 1788, Britain was importing over 30,000 tons of mahogany a year.

At first, most of the mahogany came from Jamaica. Some of it was sent to other parts of Europe, but most was used by British furniture makers. The American colonies also got mahogany, mostly from the Bahamas.

After a war called the Seven Years' War (1756–1763), the mahogany trade changed. More mahogany started coming from Cuba and Hispaniola (now Haiti and the Dominican Republic). This wood was known as "Spanish" or "St Domingo" mahogany and was very high quality.

The biggest new source was Honduras mahogany, also called "baywood." British settlers in Yucatan (near modern-day Belize) started cutting mahogany after the price of another wood, logwood, dropped. By the 1790s, most of the mahogany in Jamaica was gone. The market then relied on cheaper Honduras mahogany and high-quality Hispaniola mahogany.

More Recent Times

The French Revolution and later wars in the early 1800s changed the mahogany trade even more. As the French and Spanish empires weakened, British traders could access new areas. Haiti became independent, and Spanish areas like Santo Domingo and Cuba opened up to British ships.

From the 1820s, mahogany from all these places was sent to Europe and North America. British loggers moved into Mexico and Guatemala. By the late 1800s, almost all coastal Central America had been logged for mahogany. Logging also spread to South America in countries like Colombia, Peru, and Brazil.

The trade in American mahogany probably reached its highest point in the late 1800s. But by the early 1900s, African mahogany started to become more popular and took over the market. Today, it's much harder to find large amounts of genuine American mahogany. Because of this, many types of mahogany are now protected to help them survive.

What Mahogany is Used For

Mahogany wood has a straight, even grain and a beautiful reddish-brown color that gets darker over time. It's easy to work with and very strong. These qualities make it a favorite for making cabinets and furniture.

Many of the best furniture pieces made in the American colonies in the 1700s were crafted from mahogany. Even today, mahogany is used for fine furniture, but it's rarer now because of over-harvesting.

Mahogany also resists rot, which makes it great for building boats and outdoor decks. It's also a "tonewood," meaning it's used for musical instruments. It's often found in the backs, sides, and necks of acoustic guitars, electric guitar bodies, and drum shells. This is because it helps create a deep, warm sound compared to other woods like maple or birch. Famous guitar brands like Martin, Taylor Guitars, and Gibson Guitars use mahogany in their instruments.

Mahogany as an Invasive Species

In the Philippines, some environmental groups are asking people to stop planting mahogany trees. They say that mahogany can harm the local environment and wildlife. For example, it might make the soil more acidic and doesn't help local animals as much as native trees do.