-2000 First apparition of cocoa beans in the Amazon Region.

6 Mayans are the first to consume the cocoa beans in a mixture they call " xocoatl " where they grill, grind and beat the cocoa beans in spicy water.

1502 Christopher Columbus on his fourth voyage to the Americas is presented with cocoa but thinks it holds no value.

1513 Aztecs have been using cocoa beans as a unit of currency for many centuries. A slave costs 100 cocoa beans, a rabbit 4…

1528 Conquistador Hernando Cort?s is the first to bring back cocoa beans to Spain. He suggests the use of sugar instead of spices in the mixture, which charms the entire Spanish Court.

1544 Cocoa beans are still used as a currency in Central America but price increases. Now, a rabbit costs 100 cocoa beans. English pirates burn an entire cocoa cargo thinking it is sheep droppings.

1585 The Spanish market's first cocoa beans import.

1615 Anne of Austria, daughter of Philip II of Spain, introduces chocolate to the French Court with her marriage to Louis XIII.

1624 Johan Franciscus Rauch of Vienna, accuses chocolate of kindling passion and urges monks not to eat it.

1643 Chocolate is so very popular at the French Court that Marie-Th?r?se of Austria gives chocolate as a wedding present to Louis XIV.
Chocolate is now considered an aphrodisiac and is often used as such. Art and literature abound with erotic images inspired by chocolate. The " Marquis de Sade" uses it to conceal poison. Casanova serves it with champagne in order to seduce ladies. " Madame du Barry ", reputed nymphomaniac, strongly urges her lovers to drink chocolate.

1657 First Chocolate House established in England, meeting place for London High Society.

1662 Doctor Bachot describes chocolate as a noble confection that is more than nectar or ambrosia (food of the gods which procure immortality, according to Greek mythology) it is the true nourishment of gods.

1671 The Duke of Plesslis-Praslin gives his name to a new delicacy his Chef accidentally created when he dropped burned sugar on almonds, and served it as dessert to the impatient Duke.

1674 First use of chocolate in pastries and croissants at the Londoner Coffee House : " At the Coffee Mill and Tobacco Roll ".

1711 Charles VI of Spain transfers his court from Madrid to Vienna and brings chocolate with him.

1730 Steam machines grind cocoa beans which drops the cost, making chocolate more affordable.

1755 First chocolate introduction to the USA.

1765 First American chocolate factory which produces chocolate the fastest in the world.

1799 The American President John Adams writes from Spain that chocolate is superior to anything else.

1819 Cocoa plantations spread around the world and chocolate is quickly becoming an affordable and popular beverage. But the techniques of transformation are still secretly passed on from generation to generation.

1822 The cacao tree is very appreciated by the rich as an ornamental tree in warm countries.

1828 The invention of the hydraulic press that squeezes cocoa butter out of chocolate making the beverage more unctuous..

1847 After many experimentations luscious, rich and velvety chocolate replaces what used to be a granular and less delicate chocolate..

Following 8 years of experimentation, Daniel Peter, from Switzerland, introduces the first milk chocolate.

Radolphe Lindt of Berne, Switzerland invents "conchage", a process which combine the action of heat and pressure for at least 72 hours in order to reduce the particles of chocolate so they will melt in the mouth.

1900 Spain, the country where chocolate was first introduced, is now far behind. Germany eats more chocolate (per individual), followed by USA, France and England.

1910 The filling process is invented.

1938 The American government acknowledges the moral and physique support chocolate has brought to the Allied Forces during the Second World War.

Today chocolate is part of the daily rations of soldiers and astronauts.