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13,000 BCE
Aqua Vitae
An Italian alchemist Michael Salernus learned from Arab texts that a certain preparation of wine created a liquid that could be set on fire,known as aqua ardens meaning burning water.When ingested the liquid causes burning,but afterwards it was worth the invigoration and satisfaction.Since aqua ardens was really only distilled wine people decided that it could be used as a medicinal drink.A firm believer of the therapeutic power of wine renamed it aqua vitae meaning water of immortality. -
10,000 BCE
The Discovery of Beer
Beer was not man-made but rather discovered. After the last ice age the discovery of beer was pretty much inevitable because the gathering of wild grain occurred in many places. Beer came from malted cereal grain after the cereal grain became wet. The malted grain then became fermented which was beer. Beer made Egyptian and Mesopotamian lives better as a whole. Even today beer is still a drink that people use to celebrate and socialize. -
10,000 BCE
Nomadic to Civilized
Some of today's most well-known cities or towns would not be here today if we had not switched from being nomadic to being civilized. We went from gathering food on the go to farming and the domestication of animals. We began to form communities and were able to expand our population.This affected history a lot, if we never switched we may have never of formed our cultures or adopted our own ways. -
9000 BCE
Food Surpluses
In the nomadic, hunter-gather ways there would not be enough food or there would be just enough. When we settled farming and the domestication of animals arose. Since farming can not happen on the go it forced nomadic people to settle and stay in one place. Food surpluses allowed people to become specialized in a specific job, not everybody had to be farmers. This put us on the path to today's modern world. -
8000 BCE
The Seeds of Writing
Since everyone had to pull their weight, putting their contributions to the common storehouse, records were kept on small clay tokens. These contributions were viewed as religious offerings for some. Administrator-priests directed some construction and maintenance of irrigation systems to pull their weight. These thing eventually led to accountancy, writing, and bureaucracy. -
6000 BCE
The Invention of Pottery
The invention of pottery was important for the making, storing, and serving of wine. Grape juice or grapes left in pottery vessels for long periods of time would turn to wine. The invention of pottery was essential to the existence of wine. -
4300 BCE
Forming a Community
Some villages turned into towns in which turned to cities. Since settled people began forming a sense of community with each other it was easy to collaborate and contribute to everybody's well being. Smaller villages would band together forming towns and towns would band together to from cities. This helped against invasions which happened frequently due to the geography of Mesopotamia. Today we live in our own communities big or small, helping each other to thrive. -
3000 BCE
Vineyards in the Nile Delta
Knowledge of wine spread, once the pharaohs acquired a taste for wine they began their own vineyards in the Nile Delta and limited domestic production of wine started by 3000 BC. In Mesopotamia consumption of wine was restricted to the elite because the climate of the area was not suitable for large scale production. In tombs you can find paintings of wine making but this does not really represent much since the only ones that had lavish tombs were the elite who were the only ones drinking wine. -
1430 BCE
The Printing Press
The printing press invented by Johannes Gutenburg was very beneficial. It helped books be copied and information to be spread about. It sped up the process of advertising and made records easier to keep. -
170
Wine and Medicine
In history medical knowledge was not always the best. They believed that certain foodstuffs promoted wellness. They could reduce things such as phlegm, bile, and blood issues. One doctor regularly prescribed wine to the emperor, the doctor felt that the best wine must be used. The doctor checked each and every wine and finally came to Falernian wine. The Falernian wine and therefore was fit to be used by the king, they believed that the wine actually was medically effective. -
618
Beginning of Tang Dynasty Golden Age
During the golden age China was at its best. It was the largest wealthiest and most populated empire in the world. The city was a cultural magnet. China was open to outside influence. Trading thrived on the silk road and they did especially well with their silk trade. Clothes, hairstyles and sports were imported. Also musical instruments and wine were also imported. -
632
Islam Became the Dominant Faith in Arabia
At the age 40 Muhammad felt called to be a prophet. In a message he had gotten from Allah the Koran was unveiled. Unpopular for his teachings at first the teachings of Islam soon became widespread in Arabia. The Islam religion would soon dominate and cause some conflict. -
870
The Greatest Feast in History
King Ashurnasirpal II of Assyria threw one of the greatest feast to celebrate the completion of his new capital at Nimrud. The feasting lasted 10 days and 69,574 people attended. The king had large quantities of animals served along with vegetables. One of the more impressive things about the feast was that the king drank wine instead of beer from his Mesopotamian heritage and served 10,000 skins of wine at his feast. This was a very impressive display of wealth. -
970
First Public Library
In Cordoba some great achievements took place. The most impressive being the library. It contained nearly half a million books, more books then any other European library. Anyone could access the knowledge of the books. Cordoba became the jewel of the world. -
1440
Slaves
In the 1440's Portuguese began to ship black slaves. They needed labor for all of the sugar plants. The slaves were mistreated and abused and never got the best deal. Luckily the Arabs had techniques and labor saving devices. Lack of manpower during war and other times increased the demand for slaves. This was only the beginning of the cruel, harsh slave trade. -
First Permanent English Colony
There were many hardships for the first colony, the climate was harsh and cold. There was not any special thing that could be produced and they would need to import a lot. Through it all the colonists were glad to have alcohol. The population grew but they complained that there was not any good drink. Eventually they had tons of beer shipped to them. I think its safe to say that alcohol carried the colonists through rough times. -
Medicinal Benefits of Tea
Many doctors researched the benefits of tea and found many. Some doctors even recommended the consumption of several cups a day. People who were ill could take up to 50 cups a day to feel better. Companies liked what the doctors were saying, the more tea people consumed the more money they made so their sales kept on rising. Nobody really knows if it helped or not. -
First Coffeehouses opened in Britain
The first coffeehouses opened in Britain in 1650. A coffeehouse became known as a more respectable, intellectual, and nonalcoholic alternative to taverns. Coffeehouses had mirrors, bookshelves, pictures in frames, and good furniture. They became places of intellectual exchange and to swap ideas and opinions. Coffeehouses became centers for political debate and socializing. -
The Royal Society
One coffeehouse opened in a university. Very early a connection between coffee and academia was made, very often coffee was served in between sessions and conferences. One leading scientist who was also part of the royal society had seen the coffeehouse in Oxford and wanted to see it brought to his scientific institution. When it did members of the royal society would often decamp there. They could talk of their discoveries and findings. -
Principia
In 1687 the Mathematical principles of natural philosophy was published by Newton. In this book Newton demonstrated how his idea of universal gravitation affected other things. He also talked about how gravity applied to the orbit of planets. To this day we know that Newtons theory was correct. -
Coffee Plantations
At Batavia in Java the Dutch East India Company established a few coffee plantations. Within a couple years coffee was being shipped from Java all over. The company had control of the coffee market. Since coffee was in such high demand these types of company could make a lot of money. -
Magazines and Pamphlets
In 1709 the London magazine Tatler was founded. Magazines were a very efficient way of spreading information. Before the Tatler there were also many other magazines and newspapers that did the same thing. Coffeehouses really helped to sell these things because so many people went to coffeehouses and magazines and other things easily sold. -
Tea Smuggling
As tea became more popular the government wanted a way to make money too, they decided to tax tea. Many people were outraged, to get around the tax they would buy tea from smugglers at a cheaper price because smugglers did not pay customs. The political power of the tea company sometimes outweighed the power of the government. -
First Artificially Carbonated Water
Thomas Henry was the first to offer artificially carbonated water as a medicine. He was convinced of their health benefits and made a machine of his own to produce up to 12 gallons of the liquid at a time. He was the first to recommend flavored soda water by telling people to mix it with lemonade. -
Soda Water Book
In 1772 Joseph Priestly published a book on how to make soda water. He was the first person to know how. (He figured it out.) He started by finding carbonation in the first place by doing experiments with heavy air. He was able to get the gas to be contained in the liquid. -
Boston Tea Party
In December of 1773 in revolt of the Tea Act protesters dumped 3 shiploads of tea into the Boston Harbor. The american colonists wanted to go about their trade unfettered they did not want London to get in their business, so when they did the citizens were outraged. The colonists wanted to buy things from whomever and wherever they wanted. The tea act ultimately pushed the colonists to do something and they did. -
Artificial Mineral Waters
After soda water became popular many business popped up everywhere to sell the drinks that everyone wanted. Some businesses were more successful than others. Some of the companies still exist today like Pepsi, Coca-Cola, and Schweppe. -
French Wine Coca
French wine coca was created by Pemberton it was a coca infused wine, it was one of many attempts to imitate a patent medicine. Just as Pembertons French Wine Coca was taking off Atlanta and Fulton County passed a no alcohol for two years act. He had to find a way to keep going so he decided to add his formula to soda water becoming very successful. -
Coca-Cola Versus Harvey Washington Wiley
Bottled Coca-Cola came out just as health concerns about additives and the dangers of patent medicines. The one who brought up the concerns and problems was Wiley. Wiley wanted to investigate Coca-Cola and brought the company to trial. At the trial Wiley argued that there was to much caffeine in the soda. The problem with Wiley's side was that it was based on moral than actual facts. In the end Coca-cola was deemed safe by scientific evidence.