Chocolate - All About Chocolate - History of Chocolate

Chocolate: A Mesoamerican Luxury | 1200—1521

An AZTEC Import

By the 1400s, the Aztecs were gradually gaining control over a huge expanse of Mesoamerica. Their territory ranged all the way from northern Mexico to the Maya lands in Honduras.

Cacao quickly became key to the Aztec’s vast trade empire—not only as a luxury drink, but also as money, offerings to the gods, and payment to rulers.

Continue to Obtaining Cacao

Some scholars think chocolatl (cho coh LA till) was the Aztec word used for chocolate. Yet others maintain that chocolatl is really a Spanish combination of the Aztec word cacahuatl (kah kah WAH till—“bitter water”) and the Mayan word chocol haa (cho cahl HA— “hot water”).

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