Short answers, pulled from the story.
Archaeological evidence dates cacao use by the Mayo-Chinchipe culture to at least 5300 years ago. This finding predates any known Mesoamerican consumption of the plant by thousands of years.
The word chocolate entered English records in 1604 and Spanish records in 1579 as a loanword. Scholars debate whether this term derives from Nahuatl words meaning bitter drink or hot water.
Scientists sequenced the genome of the cacao tree in 2010 and identified eleven distinct clusters instead of the traditional three varieties. The most common genotype originated in the Amazon basin and spread throughout South America.
Cats, dogs, horses, parrots, and small rodents cannot metabolize the chemical effectively. A typical dog experiences intestinal distress after eating less than 50 grams of dark chocolate.
Roughly two-thirds of global cocoa came from West Africa with 43 percent sourced from Ivory Coast. As of 2017 approximately 2.1 million children in Ghana and Ivory Coast were involved in farming.