Grapes

Grapes have been cultivated at least since egyptian times: some scholars believe that grapes were grown in ancient Greece, as well as in Rome, both for eating and winemaking purposes. Grape growing has since spread to Europe, North Africa and finally to the United States. Literary sources state that the first cultivated grapes have been grown in California by the Spanish Franciscan Friars, who made wine for Californian Missions.
According to historians, the first California grape grower was William Wolfskill, who grew grapes in the Los Angeles area. Several hundred different grape cultivars were later bred, mixing American and European varieties (some for winemaking, especially the European varietis, and others for eating purposes).

Raisins, currants and sultanas

Raisins

In most of Europe, dried grapes are referred to as "raisins" or the local equivalent. In the UK, three different varieties are recognized, forcing the EU to use the term "Dried vine fruit" in official documents.
A raisin is any dried grape. While raisin is a French loanword, the word in French refers to the fresh fruit; grappe (from which the English grape is derived) refers to the bunch (as in une grappe de raisins).
A currant is a dried Zante Black Corinth grape, the name being a corruption of the French raisin de Corinthe (Corinth grape). Currant has also come to refer to the blackcurrant and redcurrant, two berries unrelated to grapes.
A sultana was originally a raisin made from Sultana grapes of Turkish origin (known as Thompson Seedless in the United States), but the word is now applied to raisins made from either white grapes, or red grapes which are bleached to resemble the traditional sultana.