Chocolate was always known to the people in the New World (present day South America) since the ancient times, so no single person can be given credit for the discovery of chocolate. Experts predict that it may have been discovered sometime in the 600 A.D. Cocoa tree grew in the wild in the South and Central America, much before it reached Europe. However, the credit for introducing chocolate to the Europeans can be given to Christopher Columbus as at least one written account mentions that he brought back a few bags of the Cocoa beans with him.