>>102785607genetic tracing has proved that it is native to southeast asia, like most culinary spices. its just that it is extremely hearty and easy to cultivate so it had already spread through india into the middle east and north africa by the earliest parts of written history. unlike, say, blackpepper and nutmeg and cloves which have a very specific habitat and depended heavily on import through the spice trade, by the time any society has written notes of basil they have already had domestically cultivated basil.
