Mesoamerican Cacao Trade Goods

Timeline

1. c. 1591–1595Oaxaca · OaxacaMarkets in Oaxaca and Chiapas still priced goods by counting cacao beans; Indian communities paid small taxes, marriage gifts, and festival offerings in cacao, and Spanish authorities also regulated local transactions with official cacao exchange rates.
2. c. 1593–1598Mexico City · Mexico CityCacao from Tabasco and the Guatemalan highlands was carried overland to Mexico City for consumption by nobles, clergy, and merchants, and partly re-exported along the Acapulco–Manila route and to Spain itself, forming a colonial commodity chain.
3. c. 1596–1600Guatemala · GuatemalaIn the late 1590s, the Viceroyalty of New Spain tightened control over labor on cacao plantations and export duties; cacao served simultaneously as local currency and foreign trade commodity, its dual role clearly visible in colonial ledgers.