The Aztec Empire

The Aztecs loved their ‘Chocolate’, a luxury drink described as ‘ finely ground, soft, foamy, reddish, bitter with chilli water, aromatic flowers, vanilla and wild bee honey’. Mmmm…

But who were they? The Aztecs were nomads who founded the great city of Tenochtitlan in 1325. Creating a powerful and wealthy empire they conquered the whole of Mexico, but it was too dry to grow cocoa trees in Tenochtitlan, so the Aztecs had to get their cocoa beans from taxes (called ‘Tributes’), or by trade.

‘Tributes’ were given by provinces that the Aztecs had defeated in war

Many gods were worshipped by the Aztecs, and cocoa beans were linked to one in particular, a scary-sounding feathered serpent god of agriculture and creation called Quetzalcoatl. They built enormous temples to him and his biggest fan was their ruler, Moctezuma, Emperor of Mexico. The Aztecs were always convinced they were on the brink of terrible catastrophe, so they made human sacrifices to try and make the gods happy. Plenty of people must have died this way, but at least they got to drink chocolate first!

An old Mexican Indian myth tells of how Quetzalcoatl was forced to leave the country, but left behind the cocoa tree, that he had brought as a gift from the gods. Apparently when the Spanish conquistador (or explorer) Hernan Cortés, arrived in the country in 1517, they may have thought he was Quetzalcoatl come back to visit them.