Look: A Delicious, 4,000-Year History Of Chocolate
Just in time for Easter, Giraffe Childcare & Early Learning, a childcare program based in Dublin, Ireland, has created a neat and informative guide to the history of chocolate, starting at 2,000 B.C.
To begin with, there is the first known harvest of the cacao bean, by the Olmec Indians in Central America.
Some time later, Hernán Cortés introduces cane sugar as a sweetening agent for "xocolatl," and in 1615, Princess Anne of Austria gives a chest of chocolate as a wedding gift to her new husband, Louis XIII. By 1635, chocolate reaches Belgium, which leads to the creation of the praline.
In 1687, botanist Hans Sloane discovers that mixing milk with chocolate is "far more appealing," as Giraffe puts it — but that's debatable.
The full timeline, which provides greater depth and goes all the way to the present day, is worth a read for history buffs and chocolate fans alike.