Primary Source Analysis Assignment #2 (worth 10%)
This assignment will ask you to think like a historian. You will be asked to analyse evidence
from the past (primary sources) in order to form conclusions. To do this assignment well you
will need to be creative and think critically.
Choose ONE (1) of the analyses projects below (either A or B). Consider carefully the primary
source images or document excerpts presented and write a response to each question. You may
use the textbook readings to help provide further context.
Requirements
1. Compose your Analysis as a Microsoft Word file, 12 pt. Times New Roman font.
2. Include your name and student number at the top of the page.
3. Submit your Analysis into the Analysis #2 Dropbox by the posted deadline.
You should also refer to the corresponding Rubric in the Orientation Module for information
on how this assignment will be evaluated.
CHOICE A: Early European Contact with Chocolate
Source 1: Italian traveler Girolamo Benzoni describes chocolate, mid-1500s
They drink it [chocolate], though it seems more suited for pigs than for men. I was upwards of
a year in that country without ever being induced to taste this beverage; and when I passed
through a tribe, if an Indian wished occasionally to give me some, he was very much surprised
to see me refuse it, and went away laughing. But subsequently, wine failing, and unwilling to
drink nothing but water, I did as others did. The flavour is somewhat bitter, but it satisfies and
refreshes the body without intoxicating: the Indians esteem it above everything…
Excerpted from: Girolamo Benzoni, History of the New World, trans. W. H. Smyth (London:
Hakluyt, 1857), 150.
Source Background
Girolamo Benzoni (born at Milan about 1519) was an Italian conquistador and merchant who
wrote a popular account of his travels. Benzoni is one of the first Europeans to describe the
cold, bitter-tasting chocolate drink, which at the time was made with flavorings that included
chilies, vanilla, honey, and flowers and whipped up into a foamy concoction.
Source 2: Except from A Natural and Moral History by Spanish Jesuit José de Acosta (1590
CE)
The main benefit of this cacao is a beverage which they make called Chocolate, which is a
crazy thing valued in their country. It disgusts those who are not used to it, for it has a foam at
the top, or a scum-like bubbling….It is a valued drink which the Indians offer to the lords who
come or pass though their land. And the Spanish men – and even more the Spanish women –
are addicted to the black chocolate.
Excerpted from: Sophie D. Coe and Michael D. Coe. The True History of Chocolate (London:
Thames & Hudson, 2013), 114.
Source Background
José de Acosta was a Spanish Jesuit priest who arrived in the Americas in 1570. He spent
several years traveling throughout Mesoamerica and South America. An avid naturalist,
Acosta’s Natural and Moral History was one of the most detailed, early description of the
Americas from a European source.
Source 3: Ruling establishing market prices by Spanish Judge Gómez de Santillán, Tlaxcala,
New Spain (Mexico), 1545 CE
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One good turkey hen is worth 100 full cacao beans, or 120 shrunken cacao beans.
A hare or forest rabbit is worth 100 cacao beans each.
A small rabbit is worth 30.
A chicken egg is worth 2 cacao beans.
An avocado newly picked is worth 3 cacao beans; when an avocado is fully ripe it will be
the equivalent to one cacao bean.
One large tomato will be equivalent to a cacao bean.
A newly picked prickly pear cactus fruit is equivalent to one cacao bean, when fully ripe
two cactus fruit (for a cacao bean).
Chopped firewood is equivalent to 1 cacao bean.
A tamale is exchanged for a cacao bean.
Arthur J. O. Anderson, Frances Berdan and James Lockhart, trans. and eds., Beyond the
Codices: The Nahua View of Colonial Mexico (Berkeley: University of California Press, 1976),
211.
Source background
After the invasion of Mexico, the Spanish conquistadors quickly recognized the importance of
cacao as a currency in the native economy. As Spanish established its rule over Mesoamerica
during the 16th century, the Spanish adopted cacao as a currency in dealings with the natives.
Analysis Questions
Write at least 1 full paragraph (5-6 sentences) per question.
1. What was the attitude of the Mesoamericans towards chocolate? Explain your answer
by citing text from the passages.
2. Benzoni and Acosta’s reactions to chocolate were fairly typical for Europeans who
visited the New World. Based on this passage, do you think chocolate would have a
future with Europeans? Why or why not?
3. Why would the Spanish adopt the cacao bean as a local currency? What advantages did
it offer them?
CHOICE B: Chocolate crosses the Atlantic to Europe
Source 1: Excerpt from a letter by Marie de Villars, wife of the French Ambassador to Spain,
1680
I observe my chocolate diet, to which I believe I owe my health. I do not use it crazily or without
precaution. My temperament would seem incapable of accepting this nourishment [presumably
her temperament was melancholic or phlegmatic]. However it is admirable and delicious. I have
made it at home, which can do no harm. I often think that if I should see you again, I would make
you take it methodically, and make you confess that there is nothing better for the health.
There’s an encomium of chocolate! Remember that I am in Spain, and taking it is almost my only
pleasure.
Excerpted from: Sophie D. Coe and Michael D. Coe. The True History of Chocolate (London:
Thames & Hudson, 2013), 138.
Source 2: Excerpt from writings by Italian Francesco Redi, ca. 1666
Chocolate was first introduced from America by the court of Spain, where it is made in all
perfection. And yet, to the Spanish perfection has been added, in our times, in the court of
Tuscany, a certain I know not what of more exquisite gentility, owing to the novelty of diverse
European ingredients; a way having been found out of introducing into the composition the
fresh peel of citrons and lemons, and the very genteel odour of jasmine; which, together with
cinnamon, amber, musk, and vanilla, has a prodigious effect upon such as delight themselves in
taking chocolate.
Excerpted from: Leigh Hunt, Bacchus in Tuscany: A Dithyrambic Poem from the Italian of
Francisco Redi, with Notes Original and Select (London: John and H.L. Hunt, 1825), 122–23.
Source 3: Excerpt from a letter by Marie de Rabutin-Chantal, Marquise de Sévigné, 1671
I want to tell you, my dear child, that chocolate is no longer for me what it was, fashion has led
me astray, as it always does. Everyone who spoke well of it now tells me bad things about it; it
is cursed, and accused of causing one’s ills, it is the source of vapors and palpitations; it flatters
you for a while, and then suddenly lights a continuous fever in you that leads to death. … In
the name of God, don’t keep it up, and don’t think that it is still the fashion of the fashionable.
All the great and the less [great] say as much bad about it as they say good things about you. …
Excerpted from: Sophie D. Coe and Michael D. Coe. The True History of Chocolate (London:
Thames & Hudson, 2013), 158-159.
Source 4: Spanish tiles depicting a chocolatada (chocolate party), 1700s
Analysis Question:
To answer this question, write at least three full paragraphs (5-6 sentences each).
1. What were European attitudes towards chocolate? Explain your answer citing the
documents.
2. Based on the documents, do you think chocolate was a special drink, or an everyday food,
for the Europeans? Support your answer citing the sources.
3. How was the use of chocolate in Europe both similar to and different from its use in the
Americas?
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