Chocolate is believed to have originated from the Amazon or the Orinoco basin in South America. The Mesoamerican people treasured the cacao bean from which chocolate is derived. Mayans are the earliest known civilization to use the cacao fruit. Cornell University's research has recently found pottery shards, dating from 1100 B.C., that show early Mayans originally used the fruit of the cacao to produce a fermented drink, a wine of sorts. The wine was used as a status symbol, consumed only by the elite.
The first known reference to chocolate recorded by the Mayans did not come until 500 years later in about 600 B.C., where the Mayans used the ground fermented bean to produce a drink known as xocolātl, which means "bitter water". The cacao was a large part of the Mayan culture. The pod of the cacao was valued as a sign of fertility, the bean its self was used as currency. The ground bean used to make xocolātl, which was used in many religious ceremonies, was also a sign of wealth and prestige. The Aztecs gained the cacao around 1200 A.D through conquering Mayan villages. The cacao was highly prized in the Aztec culture as well; the chocolate beverage was viewed as a elixir of health, and a drink of the gods.
Although Christopher Columbus was the first European to discover chocolate, nothing came of it. Hermen Cortes, a conquistador, took a shipload of cacao beans back to Spain. He used these beans to seed his plantation in Trinidad in 1519. Spain kept chocolate a secret for nearly 100 years until 1615, when Louis XIII was presented the drink by his new wife, Ann of Austria, daughter of Philip from Spain.
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