The Price & Pleasure of Chocolate

In the early 1500s, when the Spanish conquistador, Hernan Cortes, landed in Mexico and began to push inland with a few dozen horsemen and a couple of hundred foot soldiers, the news soon reached the Mexican capital at Tenochtitlan, now Mexico City, and the Aztec King, Moctezuma. At first, the king and his advisers did not know how to react. The Aztecs were brave, even cruel, warriors but they had no metal and these newcomers had swords and armour made of good steel. They also came on horses, unknown before then in Central America and bigger than any of the local animals. These uninvited guests swept all resistance aside as they approached the capital.