Already 2,000 years ago, Mayas knew cacao beans. They used them as money and made a drink out of it, which they called '"Xocoatl", a name which is the basis for the word "chocolate". The drink was made on the basis of cacao beans, hot water, corn flour and chilli pepper, a kind of liquid chocolate chilli pie, so to say.
The cacao bean came to Europe around 1530 but only became popular in the 18^th century, in the beginning as drink, but later also in solid form. In 1912, the praline was invented. Even though the beans originate from South-America, where they still grow, the majority of cacao beans nowadays is imported from West-Africa.