Chocolate originally came from Mexico and Central America. Historians think that the Maya took the wild cacao trees from the rainforest and planted them in their own gardens. They crushed the seeds and mixed them with water and spices to make a hot drink.
Chocolate and cacao were very important for the Mayan culture. Families drank a hot chocolate drink at special occasions and at parties.
The Aztecs, a people who lived centuries later, used cacao beans as a form of money. They traded other valuable goods to get them because they didn’t grow there. Only the rich people had the money to buy cacao and drink hot chocolate.
In the 16th century Spanish explorers brought cacao back to Europe, where the drink became popular quickly, especially among kings, queens and noblemen. Other European powers began to plant cacao trees in their own colonies.
During the Industrial Revolution new technologies were able to make the production of cacao cheaper, so that poorer people could also afford it. In the 19th century the beans were pressed together with butter and mixed with sugar into a new form, chocolate.
Today the biggest chocolate producing countries are the United States, Great Britain, Germany, Switzerland, the Netherlands and France.