Spain gave chocolate its first major appearance in Europe after Spanish contact with Mesoamerica.
Spanish explorers encountered cacao beverages in the early sixteenth century during the conquest and exploration of Mesoamerica. Cacao was brought to Spain, where Europeans gradually adapted the drink by adding ingredients such as sugar and, later, familiar European flavorings.
Chocolate remained a guarded luxury in Spain for some time before spreading to other European courts and cities. Its early European form was generally a beverage rather than the solid bars associated with modern confectionery.
The history is sometimes simplified into a claim that one explorer “invented” chocolate in Europe. In reality, Indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica had long cultivated cacao and prepared cacao drinks before Spanish arrival; Spain was the route through which chocolate entered European culinary history.