Agriculture and Farming Atlas

How The World Is Fed
Sign In
Text size
100%
Theme

Switch Atlas

Crop

Cacao

Also Known As Cocoa Tree
Stimulant and Beverage Crops

Cacao is a small evergreen tree whose seeds are processed into cocoa powder, cocoa butter and chocolate; in pre-Columbian Mesoamerica it also served as a ritual beverage and a form of currency. Its domestication region and date are genuinely disputed among scholars: one line of evidence places domestication in the upper Amazon at least 5,300 years ago, at the Santa Ana-La Florida site in present-day Ecuador, by the Mayo-Chinchipe culture, with cacao later introduced into Mesoamerica; a 2018 genomic study of cultivated trees instead concluded that all domesticated cacao descends from a single domestication event about 3,600 years ago somewhere in Central America. Both positions rest on real, peer-reviewed evidence and neither has settled the question.

Facts
Disputed
Domestication Region
Disputed: upper Amazon (Ecuador) versus Central America 1
Genuinely disputed: one line of evidence places first domestication in the upper Amazon (Santa Ana-La Florida site, present-day Ecuador, Mayo-Chinchipe culture) with later introduction to Mesoamerica; a 2018 genomic study of cultivated trees instead concluded a single domestication event in Central America. See this wave's open question and dissent record for the full citation of both positions.
Domesticated When (Circa)
Disputed: at least 5,300 years ago, or about 3,600 years ago 1
Genuinely disputed: at least 5,300 years ago per the upper Amazon evidence, or about 3,600 years ago per the 2018 Central American single-domestication-event genomic study.
Era (category)
Bronze Age 1
Category derived from this entry's own free-text era/class property; the source property's own status (debated) carries whatever is unresolved about the underlying date or classification, this derived category fact makes no further claim beyond bucketing that same text.
Classification
Life Cycle
Perennial 1
Primary Use
Food 2
Primary Use
Industrial 2
Scientific Name
Theobroma cacao 1
Crop Class
Beverage 1
Climate
Tropical 2
Cacao
Filter Results7 entries

Erythricium salmonicolor

Cacao

Ganoderma philippii

Cacao

Moniliophthora roreri

Cacao

Phytophthora megakarya

Cacao

Rhizoctonia theobromae

Cacao

Rigidoporus microporus

Cacao

Rosellinia bunodes

Cacao
Connections

Affected By

Cacao swollen shoot virus, Pests and Diseases
Source Cacao swollen shoot virus (Wikipedia)
Erythricium salmonicolor, Pests and Diseases
Source Erythricium salmonicolor (Wikipedia)
Ganoderma philippii, Pests and Diseases
Source Ganoderma philippii (Wikipedia)
Moniliophthora roreri, Pests and Diseases
Source Moniliophthora roreri (Wikipedia)
Phytophthora megakarya, Pests and Diseases
Source Phytophthora megakarya (Wikipedia)
Rhizoctonia theobromae, Pests and Diseases
Source Rhizoctonia theobromae (Wikipedia)
Rigidoporus microporus, Pests and Diseases
Source Rigidoporus microporus (Wikipedia)
Rosellinia bunodes, Pests and Diseases
Source Rosellinia bunodes (Wikipedia)

Associated With

Agroforestry, Practices

Cacao is classically grown as an understory shade crop within agroforestry systems in its native tropical range.

Cacao Black Pod Disease, Pests and Diseases

Black pod disease (Phytophthora spp.) is the most damaging disease of cultivated cacao worldwide.

Columbian Exchange, Concepts

A New World domesticate whose post-1492 spread to the Old World, and eventual global chocolate trade, is part of the Columbian Exchange.

Source Cacao Tree (Wikipedia)

Open Questions

Was cacao domesticated in a single event in Central America about 3,600 years ago, or independently earlier in the upper Amazon, at the Santa Ana-La Florida site in present-day Ecuador, at least 5,300 years ago?, Open Questions
Source Cacao Tree (Wikipedia)
In the Other Atlases

Era Of Origin

The Ancient Near East and Bronze Age World

Also in History Atlas: the era this subject comes from.

Found In

Amazonia

Also in Geography Atlas: where this subject is found.

Source Cacao Tree (Wikipedia)
Sources
1. Cacao Tree (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia Foundation
  • lead section, Domestication
  • History section
    The cacao tree was first domesticated at least 5,300 years ago, in equatorial South America from the Santa Ana-La Florida (SALF) site in present-day southeast Ecuador.
  • Associated With: Columbian Exchange
View the Source
2. Purdue University NewCROP, James A. Duke Handbook of Energy Crops: Theobroma cacao L. (Handbook of Energy Crops)
Purdue University NewCROP, James A. Duke Handbook of Energy Crops
  • Breed page for Cacao
    cultivated pantropically, especially in West Africa.
  • Uses
    Cacao seeds are the source of commercial cocoa, chocolate, and cocoa butter.
  • Uses, cocoa butter
    Cocoa butter is used in confections and in manufacture of tobacco, soap, and cosmetics.
View the Source
Cacao swollen shoot virus (Wikipedia)
Affected By: Cacao swollen shoot virus, Article text
Quote, Affected By: Cacao swollen shoot virus, Article text
Cacao swollen shoot virus (CSSV) is a plant pathogenic virus of the family Caulimoviridae that primarily infects cacao trees.
View the Source
Moniliophthora roreri (Wikipedia)
Affected By: Moniliophthora roreri, Article text
Quote, Affected By: Moniliophthora roreri, Article text
Moniliophthora roreri is a basidiomycete fungus that causes frosty pod rot disease, one of the most serious problems for cacao (Theobroma cacao, the source of chocolate) production in Latin America.
View the Source
Erythricium salmonicolor (Wikipedia)
Affected By: Erythricium salmonicolor, Article text
Quote, Affected By: Erythricium salmonicolor, Article text
The host plants of greatest importance include rubber, tea, coffee, cacao, grapefruit, orange, nutmeg, mango, apple, coca, and kola.
View the Source
Rigidoporus microporus (Wikipedia)
Affected By: Rigidoporus microporus, Article text
Quote, Affected By: Rigidoporus microporus, Article text
Rigidoporus microporus is a plant pathogen, known to cause white root rot disease on various tropical crops, such as cacao, cassava, tea, with economical importance on the para rubber tree (Hevea brasiliensis).
View the Source
Rhizoctonia theobromae (Wikipedia)
Affected By: Rhizoctonia theobromae, Article text
Quote, Affected By: Rhizoctonia theobromae, Article text
The species is tropical to sub-tropical and is mainly known as a plant pathogen, the causative agent of vascular-streak dieback of cocoa (Theobroma cacao).
View the Source
Ganoderma philippii (Wikipedia)
Affected By: Ganoderma philippii, Article text
Quote, Affected By: Ganoderma philippii, Article text
Ganoderma philippii is a plant pathogen infecting cacao, tea and coffee trees.
View the Source
Rosellinia bunodes (Wikipedia)
Affected By: Rosellinia bunodes, Lead section
Quote, Affected By: Rosellinia bunodes, Lead section
is a plant pathogen infecting several hosts including avocados, bananas, cacao and tea
View the Source
Phytophthora megakarya (Wikipedia)
Affected By: Phytophthora megakarya, Lead section
Quote, Affected By: Phytophthora megakarya, Lead section
is an oomycete plant pathogen that causes black pod disease in cocoa trees in west and central Africa.
View the Source
Open Questions (1 open question)
Was cacao domesticated in a single event in Central America about 3,600 years ago, or independently earlier in the upper Amazon, at the Santa Ana-La Florida site in present-day Ecuador, at least 5,300 years ago?

Two real, peer-reviewed lines of evidence disagree. Archaeological and residue evidence from the Santa Ana-La Florida site places cacao domestication in the upper Amazon (Mayo-Chinchipe culture, present-day Ecuador) at least 5,300 years ago, with cacao later introduced to Mesoamerica. A 2018 genomic study of cultivated cacao trees instead concluded that every domesticated cacao tree today descends from a single domestication event roughly 3,600 years ago somewhere in Central America, which would leave the older Amazonian material outside the domesticated lineage that survived. Neither study has been overturned by the other.

What would resolve this A direct ancient-DNA comparison between cacao remains recovered from Santa Ana-La Florida and the genomic reference set the 2018 study built its single-origin tree from, which would show whether the upper-Amazon material is ancestral to, or a side branch from, the lineage that was actually domesticated.
Archaeobotany / population genomicsCacao Tree (Wikipedia)
Dissenting Readings (1 dissenting reading)
Domesticated When (Circa)

A 2018 genomic study of cultivated cacao trees concluded that all domesticated cacao descends from a single domestication event about 3,600 years ago somewhere in Central America, roughly 1,700 years later than, and geographically distinct from, the upper-Amazon evidence (Santa Ana-La Florida site, present-day Ecuador, Mayo-Chinchipe culture, at least 5,300 years ago) this fact's primary citation records.

A dissenting reading, from an independent laneCacao Tree (Wikipedia), Wikimedia Foundation

Take a Related Quiz

Comments (0)
No comments yet. Be the first to share a thought.
Reader Challenges (0)
No disputes yet. Spotted an error or a better source? Open the first one.