The Izalcos region of colonial Guatemala was the heartland of a political and economic pre-Columbian dynastic state whose power and influence derived in part from its astronomical production of cacao, a tree seed, which Mesoamericans used as currency, food, and drink, including chocolate. Cacao was one of the first agricultural sources of wealth in the Spanish empire, making the Izalcos one of the richest encomiendas in all the Indies and a key player in early colonial legal and contraband commerce. My archaeological study of the Izalcos region, in today’s western El Salvador, includes survey of approximately 100 km2 of the Izalcos heartland that yielded 165 archaeological sites, artifact analysis of over 16,000 ceramic fragments from colonial contexts, extensive excavations of domestic colonial contexts, and complete transcription of the local archive of Caluco, an Izalcos region town. This evidence shows that Africans and their descendants played decisive roles as entrepreneurs, facilitators, and defenders in this volatile and dynamic economy, inhabiting a netherworld of enforced illegal practice, serving as a convenient scapegoat, and being scions of virtue. This presentation will show how Afro-Central American material life reveals their crucial roles in colonial commerce in the birthplace of chocolate.