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Chocolate: A Life
 When Columbus stumbled across what he thought was India, he made some pretty significant discoveries for Europe. Chocolate, of course, was the most significant. But as with most of his discoveries, someone else had already found it.
In the case of chocolate, it was the Olmec, a tribe that lived in the lowlands of Mexico in 1500 BC, who beat Columbus to the punch. They are best known for constructing enormous sculptures, cleverly dubbed the Colossal Heads, which are, as you may have guessed, very large stone heads. A bit later, the Mayans and the Aztecs made "chocolatl", an incarnation very unlike the chocolate of today. They drank it cold and unsweetened, so it might have tasted a lot like that coffee you poured earlier this morning and never got around to drinking.
From his fourth journey to the New World, Columbus returned to Spain with the cacao bean among his gifts to the Queen and her court. They didn't pay much attention to it (colonization is very distracting).
Hernan Cortes, who conquered Mexico for Spain, is usually credited with bringing chocolate to the attention of Europeans. While he and his men may have sweetened the bitter drink, it wasn't until 1544, when Dominican friars brought a group of Mayan royalty - bearing a number of gifts, including chocolate - to meet with Prince Phillip of Spain, that chocolate was successfully brought to Europe.
One of the biggest evolutionary moments in chocolate history came when chocolate went from the cup to the bar. Chocolate was successfully transformed from a liquid to a solid by Spanish nuns, who made their convents rich by selling chocolate. The more refined chocolate delicacies - bon-bons, cakes and puddings were developed much later, in the 19th century. 
Today, chocolate is enjoyed by everyone around the world. During World War II, American soldiers were provided with chocolate as part of their provisions - it is now a permanent part of U.S. Army rations. Even NASA has sanctioned the use of chocolate as a source for quick energy for the astronauts on their missions.
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