Unlike other crops, cacao cannot be harvested by machine. Each thick pod growing off the trunk and branches of the cacao tree must be plucked by hand carefully to avoid causing harm to the tree. From the early 1600s until the late 1800s, slavery was the most inexpensive way for plantation owners to produce large quantities of cacao.

 

16th - 17th Centuries

Mesoamericans were brought to European colonies to work in the cacao plantations. Many of them died after contracting European diseases. The growers needed a new labour force and turned to Africa to supply them with the necessary labour.

 

17th - 18th Centuries

The growing popularity of chocolate in Europe increase the flow of cacao and sugar and spurred rapid growth in the slave trade in the Americas.

 

19th Century

Although slavery was officially abolished in all countries by 1888, the need for cheap labour to meet the demand for products like cacao and sugar continued long after the end of slavery. Some activists in the world of chocolate spoke up to change the harsh working conditions. In 1910, William Cadbury invited several English and American chocolate companies to join him in refusing to buy cacao from plantations with harsh working conditions until things improved. In that same year, U.S. imposed a ban on any cacao shown to be the product of slave labour.

 

Cacao and Child Labour

Allegations have been made in recent years that child labour is  being used in Ivory Coast, the largest cacao exporting country. The reports raised concerns and led to the signing of a Cocoa Protocol including companies from the UK, Europe and the U.S.