The History of Chocolate

Course description

Students survey the 4000-year-old history of chocolate: from its ancient Mesoamerican origins as a bitter drink of ritual and medicine, to the growth of a modern "chocolate culture" and its place as a mass-produced globalized product of the twentieth century. Students investigate how chocolate came to be imported into Europe by the Spanish during the sixteenth century and transformed into a sugary drink of the nobility, as well as its later importance to colonization, the slave trade and the Industrial Revolution. Explore current academic research on the topic and encounter a wide range of primary sources including art, literature, and the economic and administrative documents of daily life. Students will have the opportunity to analyse several primary sources (historical documents, paintings, photographs, and maps) relevant to the study of chocolate's cultural history.

Course details