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The history of chocolate dates back more than 1,500 years or more to a drink prepared from cocoa beans by the ancient Aztecs and the Maya in Mexico and Central America where the drink it was known as xocolatl.
Associated with the Goddess of fertility by the Aztecs, chocolate originated as a cold drink made by grinding up cocoa beans and mixing with water. Quite bitter, as sugar was not known at this time in the history of chocolate, the drink was often flavored by the Aztecs and the Maya with spices, including chili peppers. It was a thick, drink at that time.
One of the interesting aspects of the history of chocolate is that the Aztec emperor Montezuma is reported to have drunk 50 cups daily of the chocolate beverage. Also, cocoa beans were considered a luxury commodity and actually served as a form of currency.
History of chocolate in Europe
After Hernando Cortez, who as one result of conquering ancient Mexico, brought cocoa beans from the New World to the Spanish court in 1528, chocolate as a drink it became quite popular in Spain. The use of chocolate as a beverage then began to spread throughout Europe and then to the British Isles. In the history of chocolate, one of the important dates is 1657, which is reported to be the time that the first “chocolate house” was opened in England. Chocolate houses were similar to coffee houses, but served hot chocolate.
It is reported that Cortez and his associates made the chocolate drink of the Maya and Aztecs more palatable by adding cane sugar to it, thus beginning the history of chocolate as the sweet drink we know today. However, it was not until chocolate as a drink had been consumed in Europe for a long time, that someone thought it could be further improved by serving it hot, thus beginning the history of hot chocolate.
The history of chocolate in the form of a solid sweet product to be eaten rather than drunk is said to have started in 1847 when a company in England formulated the first smooth textured solid chocolate. Up until that time, any solid chocolate had been quite coarse. Subsequently in Switzerland, in 1876, and after extensive experiments, Daniel Peter figured out a way to incorporate milk into solid chocolate, thus beginning the process of making the smooth milk chocolate that we know today.
You will find a good introductory article on the history of chocolate in Wikipedia along with references and suggestions for further reading.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chocolate