Here is an interesting tid bit I found about them:
Date palms are known to live at least 200 years in their native areas of North Africa and Arabia. The date palm (Phoenix dactylifera) was first imported on a large scale into the U.S. in the 1890's. Large plantings were done in the lower Colorado River desert areas of California and Arizona. The trees thrived and today the U.S. date industry produces more than 60 million pounds of fruit annually. Iraq is the world's largest producer of dates.