We have to consider the difference between the first use of cocoa that grew in the wild and that of cultivated cocoa.

The oldest known use of cocoa by humans dates back 5,500 years. This finding was made in a village called La Florida, near the small town of Palanda, in southern Ecuador. Ecuador is located next to the region where cocoa grew in the wild, in the north-western region of the Amazon.

However, it is in the south of Mexico, in the Soconusco region where the Mokaya Indians lived, that we find the oldest use of cultivated cocoa. The remains of pottery containing cocoa dating from 2000 BC were found in this area.