Who was the first European known to have encountered the cacao plant, from which chocolate is made?
A) Christopher Columbus ü B) Hernando Cortez C) John Cabot D) Ponce de Leon
The first meeting of European trade and American chocolate happened on August 15, 1502, during Columbus’ fourth and final American voyage. Off the Honduran coast, the Spaniards encountered — and soon captured — a native dugout laden with trade goods, including cacao beans. Columbus and his men did not make much of this chance acquisition. It was not until Cortez returned from Mexico twenty years later with three chests of cocoa beans in his loot that Europe saw the first glimmerings of what would eventually become a world-wide mania.
