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Chocolate on the Borderlands of New Spain

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Abstract

In modern grocery stores, chocolate is a small item dwarfed in the allotted shelf space by its bitter cousins, coffee and tea. Yet, in the first three centuries of the post-Columbian era, the cacao-based drink, once reserved for the elites of Mesoamerica, was transformed into a beverage that was enjoyed across the Spanish colonial world and beyond to the rest of Europe and the respective colonial empires. We explore the archaeological and documentary evidence from both shipwreck and terrestrial sites in the borderland region of New Spain including California, Texas, Florida, Arizona, and the Philippines to illustrate the presence and use of chocolate from the sixteenth through nineteenth centuries. We show that the study of chocolate on the fringes of New Spain provides a lens for understanding the dynamics of larger issues surrounding the birth of the modern global economy.

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Acknowledgments

We are indebted to the following individuals who helped us compiling information for this research.

Eva MacDonald, and two reviewers, for their careful reading of our manuscript. Their comments and suggestions were extremely helpful and strengthened the paper.

Ann S. Cordell, Florida Museum of Natural History.

Susan Haskell, Curatorial Associate, Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology, Harvard University.

Dr. Robert L. Hoover, California Polytechnic University.

Linda Hylkema, Cultural Resources Manager, Santa Clara University. Also, Kelly Greenwalt helped with the original recording of California collections between 2004 and 2009.

Karlie Marlowe, Emily Kowalski, North Carolina Museum of Art.

Dr. Rochelle A. Marrinan, Dr. Glen Doran, Florida State University.

Dr. Roger Smith, State Underwater Archaeologist, Bureau of Archaeological Research, Division of Historic Resources, State of Florida; Dr. Bonnie G. McEwan, Director of Research, Bureau of Archaeological Research, Division of Historic Resources, State of Florida; Vincent Birdsong, Supervisor, Florida Master Site File, Bureau of Historic Preservation, Division of Historic Preservation, State of Florida; Marie C. Prentice, Senior Archaeologist, Bureau of Archaeological Research, Collections and Conservation, Division of Historic Resources, State of Florida. The late Frank Gilson and Herb Bump helped with the original studies in the 1970s.

Richard H. Vernon, Collections Manager, and Drew Wise, Southeast Archeological Center, National Park Service, Tallahassee, Florida.

Dr. Gregory Waselkov, University of South Alabama and the Center for Archaeological Studies, University of South Alabama.

Some Images courtesy of Florida Division of Historical Resources.

Finally, from UTPA we thank Ashley Leal, Lily Treviño, Nicole Rios, Amanda Salinas, Ryann Fink, and Delaney Cade.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Sociology & Anthropology, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, 1201 West University Drive, Edinburg, TX, 78539, USA

    Margaret A. Graham

  2. Departments of History and Sociology & Anthropology, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, Edinburg, TX, 78539, USA

    Russell K. Skowronek

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Correspondence to Margaret A. Graham.

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Graham, M.A., Skowronek, R.K. Chocolate on the Borderlands of New Spain. Int J Histor Archaeol 20, 645–665 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10761-016-0370-5

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