History of chocolate

15 August 1502 - On his fourth voyage to the New World Christopher Columbus became the first European to encounter cocoa beans. Off the coast of what is now Honduras he came across a large dugout canoe that was heavily loaded with local goods for trading, including cocoa beans. Stories deviate at this point, some say that Columbus was given the cocoa beans as a gift, and others say that he seized the entire vessel and it's goods. But however he got his hands on the cocoa beans he brought them back to Europe where they initally didn't get much attention from the Spanish king and his court.

Twenty years later, however, Spanish conquistador Hernando Cortez is said to have brought back more cacao beans, and this time the beans were recognized as one of the treasures among the many stolen from the conquered Aztecs.