Theobroma cacao beans, along with other agricultural products, were brought back to Spain at that time, but it seems the beverage made from cacao was introduced to the Spanish court in 1544 by Kekchi Maya nobles brought from the New World to Spain by Dominican friars to meet Prince Philip. Within a century, chocolate had spread to France, England and elsewhere in Western Europe. Demand for this beverage led the French to establish cacao plantations in the Caribbean, while Spain subsequently developed their cacao plantations in their Venezuelan and Philippine colonies (Bloom 1998, Coe 1996). A painting by Dutch Golden Age artist
Cacao necrosis virus virus is not infective in sap after heating to 65 °C for 10 minutes, dilution to 0.0001 virions, or storage for 7 days at room temperature. Cacao necrosis virus "Cacao necrosis virus" (CNV) is a plant pathogenic virus of the genus "nepovirus" that infects "Theobroma cacao" en natura causing cacao necrosis disease. CNV is considered synonymous with Strain S of cacao swollen shoot virus. Unlike cacao swollen-shoot virus, it is not transmitted by mealybugs nor vectored by aphids, beetles or leafhoppers that also commonly infest cacao. It is serologically, distantly related to Tomato black ring virus and very distantly related