The main ingredient in what we currently know as chocolate is powdered cocoa, the fruit of the cocoa tree. The taste of chocolate as a sweet, solid treat is quite different from the original bitter, frothy drink made in Mesoamerica. Today’s Latino cultures, however, continue to enjoy chocolate preferably as a beverage rather than a bar. The cocoa tree is native of Central and equatorial South America. Its original name is “Theobroma Cacao” which means “food of the gods”. The first evidence of chocolate being made as a drink dates back from the height of the Mesoamerican civilization of the Mayas, or 250-900 CE as attest glyphs and scenes depicting Mayas making and drinking chocolate found on clay vessels. Cocoa trees grew wild in the rainforest. The Mayas domesticated cocoa trees and planted them in their backyards for cultivation. Chocolate held an important place in Maya culture: it was a drink used during religious ceremonies, and gods and animals were often depicted drinking chocolate. It was, however, enjoyed by everyone, regardless of social status. Cacao beans were given as gifts on special occasions such as a child’s coming of age. Extensive traders, the Mayas exported and exchanged cocoa beans with their surrounding partners, and passed the chocolate drink on to the Aztecs, a conquering tribe whose territories expanded to encompass some of the Mayas’ by the 1400s. Under Aztec rule, chocolate took an event bigger role in society. It became a luxury drink, reserved to the empire’s elite, as it was believed to come directly from the gods. Consequently, chocolate was also a main offering to the gods, and cocoa beans were treasured and sought out throughout the empire. Consequently, ordinary people under Aztec rule were to pay tribute to their rulers with cocoa seeds. Cocoa beans were also used as money for food, clothes and general amenities throughout the Aztec empire. With Hernán Cortés’ conquest of the Aztec empire in 1521, chocolate was brought to Spain, where it soon became a trendy drink, enjoyed by the Royal Court, Clergy and nobility. The chocolate drink, now sweetened to correspond to Europe’s sweeter tooth, spread throughout Europe. Soon, other imperialist countries such as England, France and Holland had also caught onto the chocolate fervor and required of their equatorial colonies to produce cocoa to meet their growing needs. Between the early 1600s and the late 1800s, the people from Mesoamerica worked as slaves in order to keep the Spanish and other European nations supplied with this new drink; they tended, harvested and processed cocoa in large plantations under the rule of plantation landowners. As the demand for cocoa outgrew its New World supply, colonialist countries turned to Africa and other equatorial colonies to produce the raw product for their drink. The industrial revolution and several inventions streamlined the processing of cocoa to produce the variations of chocolate that we enjoy today.