Until the 16th century,

Until the 16th century, no European had ever heard of the popular drink from the Central and South American peoples.[25] It was not until the Spanish conquest of the Aztecs that chocolate could be imported to Europe. In Spain, it quickly became a court favorite. In a century it had spread and become popular throughout the European continent.[25] To keep up with the high demand for this new drink, Spanish armies began enslaving Mesoamericans to produce cacao.[26] Even with cacao harvesting becoming a regular business, only royalty and the well-connected could afford to drink this expensive import.[27] Before long, the Spanish began growing cacao beans on plantations, and using an African workforce to help manage them.[28] The situation was different in England. Put simply, anyone with money could buy it.[29] The first chocolate house opened in London in 1657.[29] In 1689, noted physician and collector Hans Sloane developed a milk chocolate drink in Jamaica which was initially used by apothecaries, but later sold to the Cadbury brothers in 1897.[30]

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The text was was derived from the Chocolate page on Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. It is for educational use in COSC 101, Intro to Computing I, at Colgate University.