From America to Europe
Christopher Columbus discovered America in 1492, but it wasn’t until his fourth voyage in 1502 that he was introduced to cacao on the island of Guanaja, The Island was a lively trade centre, and cocoa beans were used as currency. Columbus later referred to them as a kind of almond when he recounted his experiences to the Spanish royal family.
The commercial potential of cocoa was not realized until Hernan Cortés’ voyage to America in 1519. He landed in Tenochtitlan where he met the Aztec king, Montezuma. According to legend, Montezuma mistakenly believed Cortés to be the returning god Quetzalhuatl. Cortés was invited to a religious festival involving masses of cocoa where he noticed Montezuma consumed up to 50 cups a day. Cortés eventually challenged Montezuma to a fight, which he won, and as a reward Cortés became Spain’s first governor of the new world in 1521. Cortés planted Cocoa trees throughout the Caribbean and introduced the Spanish king to the wonders of this new treasure in 1528.
From gods to kings
South America’s ‘food of the Gods’ also became an elitist drink in Europe. The Spaniards had a monopoly on the cocoa market for almost a century and were responsible for developing a recipe better suited to the European palette.
This changed in 1606, when Italian explorer Francesco Carletti arranged the first direct deliveries from El Salvador to Italy. Those who held power in Italy at the time and were responsible for this trade, were extremely hard on the indigenous people of the new world.
France was not far behind and in 1615, cocoa arrived with the Spanish/Austrian princess Anna. She wed Louis XIII in an arranged marriage between two 14-year-olds.
The popularity of cocoa continued to spread across the continent and the Spaniards ruthlessly exploited their colonies to try and keep up with the increasing demand. At the time, Criollo was one of the finest and most common cocoa varietals, but today the plant is threatened from over harvesting. The local population also suffered under the Spaniards – both due to mistreatment and as a result of unfamiliar diseases.
Eventually, other areas were discovered, and new varieties came on the market including Arriba (“distant areas”) from Ecuador. The Portuguese acquired their Forasteros (“stranger”) cocoa beans from Amazonas.
From kings to Bourgeoisie
Cocoa continued to spread to more countries throughout the 17th century. In true pirate style, the Dutch challenged the Spaniards for their locations in the Caribbean and the English took over Jamaica from Spain in 1655 to secure a permanent source of supply. Coffee, tea and cocoa arrived in the British Isles at about the same time, giving rise to a trend for coffee houses that were frequented by the Bourgeoisie.
Cocoa did not establish in Denmark until the 18th century, where for many years it was used as a pharmaceutical product. In fact, the founders of the chocolate houses Toms, Trojel and Meyer were all pharmacists.
