History+-+Group+B



Jessica Ainooson Ms.McGann Science 6-2 April 14,2010 The History Of Chocolate

I.Ancient Chocolate A.Mayans 1.Mayans were the first to cultivate chocolate a.The ancient Maya grew cacao in their own backyards. (1)In 1976, a bulldozer found an ancient Maya village in El Salvador. Archaeologists found the remains of cacao gardens near Maya homes. (2)Many clay dishes had preserved cacao seeds. B.Aztecs 1.Aztecs couldn’t grow cacao, so they traded for it. a. The ground was too dry where the Aztecs lived. So the Aztecs traded with the Maya and other people to get a lot of chocolate." (1)The Aztecs bought dried and fermented chocolate because it was lighter. 2.Chocolate was a huge part of Aztec culture a. The cacao was used as money,taxes,beer,and a religious drink. (1) Only the rich Aztec like rulers, priests, decorated warriors, and honored merchants,were allowed to drink chocolate (2) Cacao was valuable partly because the Aztecs couldn’t grow it themselves and had to import it from far away. (a)Cacao wasn’t for sale in markets—merchants kept the seeds locked up like money in a cash register. C.Recipe For Mesoamerican Hot Chocolate 1.The Aztecs and Mayans kept all of the nutrients in the cacao bean. a. They ground cacao seeds into a paste.Then mixed it with water. (1)It was very bitter II.How Chocolate got to the rest of the world

A.Spain conquered the Aztecs  1.The Spanish carried cacao home with them. (1)In 1521, Hernan Cortés attacked Montezuma’s (the king at the time) warriors and defeated them in battle. The Spanish soldiers demanded that Aztec nobles hand over their treasures or be killed. (2)Cacao became one of the spoils of war. Spanish soldiers claimed the Aztec’s and the Aztec's neighbors supply of cacao. Before long, cacao and chocolate made their way to Spain. B.Mesoamericans provided labor for landowners in the Americas. 1.In Spain, people couldn’t get enough of this new drink, which had never been tasted before outside the Americas. Keeping up with the demand for chocolate required the labor of millions of people to tend, harvest, and process both sugar and cacao. (1)From the early 1600s until the late 1800s, enslaved people provided most of this labor—the most inexpensive way for plantation owners to produce large quantities. The first people enslaved for the sake of chocolate were Mesoamericans. 2. The Spanish recognized chocolate’s restorative and nutritional properties immediately. (Cacao is naturally high in calories and contains caffeine and a similar chemical called theobromine.) (1) During the 16th century, chocolate became known as a clerical fasting beverage. After much debate, the Catholic Church allowed people to drink liquid chocolate as a nutritional substitute during fasting periods (when solid foods are taboo). Bibliography "All about Chocolate:The History of Chocolate." //Field Museum//. The Field Museum, 2007. Web. 12 Apr. 2010. . "Archaeologists Find Really Old Chocolate." //Today's Science//. Today's Science, Aug. 2002. Web. 9 Apr. 2010. .