Edmond Albius

Ministry of Botany

The Boy Who Changed Vanilla Forever

In 1841, twelve-year-old enslaved black African boy Edmond Albius solved a puzzle that had confounded European botanists for decades: how to pollinate vanilla orchids without their native Mexican bees.

Albius invented a hand-pollination method so effective it’s still used for 80% of global vanilla production today.
It also kick started the world famous Madagascar vanilla industry.

Yet Albius never received credit or compensation. Many refused to believe that a black boy could achieve such a feat. Following emancipation in 1848, Albius struggled with false imprisonment and died in 1880 in complete poverty, while the vanilla industry he enabled grew into a multi-million dollar enterprise.