I was recently asked about the spread of Cocoa or Cacao trees around the world.
Cacao is believed to have originated in South America. There is a lot of evidence suggesting that the ancient Maya in Central America were the first to domesticate Theobroma cacao as a crop.
The Aztecs ground cacao into Xocoatl, a chocolate drink used mostly for spiritual and ceremonial rituals.
Hernan Cortés is credited with bringing cacao to Spain where it spread throughout Europe in the 1500’s and 1600’s.
Spanish friars began to grow cacao in Ecuador around 1635. The French introduced cacao to Martinique and St Lucia, the Dominican Republic, and Brazil in the mid to late 1600’s. England started growing it in Jamaica and the Dutch in Curaçao. All of this effort just to meet the ever growing demand for the affluent in Europe.
When demand exploded again in the 1800’s even more had to be cultivated. Cacao from Brazil was taken to Principe and Sao Tomé, islands off the coast of West Africa around 1830. From there, it spread to Nigeria and Ghana.
Today, the largest cacao producing country is Ivory Coast, Africa.
