The History of Belgian and Swiss Chocolate

Small countries like Belgium and Switzerland have the reputation as premier chocolate producers in the world. I was wondering whether that's the product of colonial era ties or just modern marketing. The cocoa system globally is a legacy of the colonial settlement system, you know, all the way back to Central American culture. In fact, many of the innovations in chocolate technology were more attributable at key moments in the early 19th century to French producers much of the commercial spread of chocolate is a British thing.