The story
Coined by American author O. Henry in 1901 in his short story Money Maze, set in the fictional "Anchuria", which was based on his stay in Honduras from 1896-1897.
Etymology from Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.
banana republic
Today it means: A small country, especially one in Central America or the West Indies, that is dependent on a single export commodity (traditionally bananas) and that has a corrupt, dictatorial government. Full definition →