In their early history, strawberries were already known during the Christian era, and were widely spread in the Roman culture, where they were used in festivals and with grapes as a food of choice.
They underwent a period of relative hiatus when the Roman empire fell, only to reemerge during Medieval times, when they were prized for their medicinal qualities more than for their culinary value. This is thought to be a result of the relatively light taste of the American varieties being cultivated at the time: the berries weren't as tasty as they are today and this hampered their popularity.
In modern times, strawberries regained popularity during the 18th century, when some mutations improved their taste and appearance, gaining them widespread acceptance as a tasty and healthy fruit.
In 1714, a new species of strawberries (much larger than the ones currently being cultived in Europe) was discovered by a Franch engineer, in Chile and Peru. He was originally sent there to monitor Spanish activities. The engineer brought the seeds of these large strawberries back to France , where they began being cultivated.
Initially, they didn't seem to grow properly, but soon they were cross-bred with a North American strawberry variety planted in the vicinity. The resulting fruit was very similar to the ones we eat today, boasting both a very sweet and pleasant taste and a luscious appearance and large size. This new hybrid gained a lot of popularity in Europe and spread fast to many countries.
Until about 1850, strawberries were only enjoyed by wealthy people, and were still considered an elite fruit, until the development of efficient transportation methods, such as railways, that greatly lowered shipping prices and let them be accessible to larger slices of society.
During the 20th and 21st century, several scientific studies proving the high nutritional value of strawberries helped improve their popularity even more and now they are considered one of the most popular berry fruits in the world. As of 2009, the largest commercial producers of strawberries are the USA, Russia, Spain, Turkey, South Korea, Japan and Poland.