Geschichte des Kakos
Cartographer:
Gessner, Ingeborg (Klatte)
Date of Creation:
1955
“Once upon a time, in the Caribbean, you could buy a beautiful woman for 100 cocoa beans” (1920s advertising slogan).
A comprehensive pictorial history of the origins and production of chocolate, presumably commissioned for, but apparently never published by, the Eszet chocolate company in Unterturkheim (now Stuttgart in Baden-Wurttemberg), founded by Ernst Staengel (1827-1915) and his brother-in-law Karl Ziller, the “S” and “Z” of the brand name. The map is centered on a compass rose that radiates from the company’s location in Stuttgart. Vignette images along the bottom border trace the development of the cacao trade from its first Europeans exposure when Herman Cortez arrived at the Aztec capital of Tenochititian, to its introduction to the Spanish court, and indigenous use.
Originally founded in Stuttgart in 1857, Eszet remained in family ownership until 1973, when Staengel’s daughter-in-law, Elizabeth, died at the age of 91. She had been at the helm since 1924, and from 1950 operated in partnership with three other family members, all women. The company was most famous for its ‘Eszet slices’, wafer thin chocolates which were intended for use as toppings for bread, and now sold as Sarotti.