A very brief overview of some of the top global producers today reveals a map of colonization that we can initially categorize into three:

1. Motherland Colonization 1500 - 1830

In the Motherland of Cacao, the so called Americas, production was another commodity crop of the colonial system based on extraction and farmed by a mixture of Indigenous and Black slaves.

Percentage of global production today:

5% Brazil / Colonized 1500- 1815 Portugal

4% Ecuador / Colonized 1533 - 1830 Spain

2. Colonial Shipping Routes 1511 - 1957

Cacao was first introduced into parts of colonial Asia via large shipping companies traveling between the colonies. Between 1560 -1565 Netherlands (via Venezuela) and Spain (via Mexico) were transporting their colonial goods across the ocean from the Americas.

Percentage of global production today:

1% Malaysia / Colony of Portugal 1511 -1641, The Netherlands 1641 -1770, England 1770 - 1957

13% Indonesia / Colony of Netherlands 1602 - 1950 (with violent interludes of French, British, Portuguese and Japanese occupation)

3. Colonization of the African 'Coasts' 1800 -1960

The cacao trees were transported to the African tropics by the Portuguese. They are reputed to have planted cacao in 1822 on the island of Sao Tome, off the coast of modern day Gabon. With significant expansion of colonial production by England in 1880 along the so called 'Gold Coast' and then by the French along the 'Ivory Coast'.

Percentage of global production today:

38% Ivory Coast / Colony of France 1893 - 1960

19% Ghana / Colony of England 1821 - 1957

5% Nigeria / Colony of England 1800 - 1960

5% Cameroon / Colony of Germany 1884, France 1919- 1960

*all data synthesized from various graphs and descriptions curated by me. I know that numbers fluctuate and that perhaps at the time of reading these numbers are no longer perfectly accurate. I write this as a general reflection on the current growing regions and in order to contemplate the globalization of commodities.