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10,000 BCE
Neolithic Revolution
The Neolithic Revolution began. People stopped being hunters and gatherers and settled down in villages, starting in the Fertile Crescent. They started farming and made many new advancements in technology. People in these settlements switched from only drinking water to drinking a mix of barley and wheat, beer. -
8000 BCE
The Use Of Small Tokens
To make sure everyone was doing equal amounts of work the villages throughout the Fertile Crescent started the use of small tokens. Using small tokens in order to get bread and beer was a smart innovative idea because it helped prevent food shortages, made sure everyone got enough beer and keep a food surplus in the storehouse. -
4300 BCE
The Urban Revolution
Villages began to combine, forming large cities. For example, the largest city was Uruk. Each city had it's own system of fields and irrigation channels. Egypt took the lead of the cities. The cities emerged due to a surplus of food, primarily in grain. Grain made the people beer and bread and became the currency for these cities and a medium of exchange. -
2700 BCE
Epic of Gilgamesh
Gilgamesh was a Sumerian King who ruled. His story with his friend Enkindu starts off as a naked man running in the woods and he is shown the ways of a civilization by a women. She takes him to a shepard's village and showed him bread and beer. She told him to eat first, and he did but when he drank the beer he instantly fell in love with the taste. Enkindu rubbed the beer all over himself, which turned him into a civilized human. -
2650 BCE
"Pyramid Texts"
The Egyptians created there own form of writing. They used this new form of writing to record mundane transactions and kingly exploits. The varieties of beer are mention in the "Pyramid Texts." -
424 BCE
Peloponnesian War
War between Athens and Sparta. One time during this war Spartans arrived in Acanthus just before harvesting time. A wine producing city allied with the Athens, Macedonia. The Spartans were so worried about their wine vines and grapes that they switched alliances. -
400 BCE
Defeat of the Persians
Alexander the Great united Greece and defeated the Persian. The Greeks defined themselves as opposites of the Persians, and they thought of themselves to be superior to Persians due to there love for wine. -
250 BCE
Romans gain dominant power over Greeks
The Romans gained the power of the Mediterranean basin. Even though Rome won over Greece, Romans still kept most of the Greek customs and culture. This made people think that Romans owed the Greece because they copied Greece so much. Wine offered the solution to this problem because the cultivation and take in of wine created a connection of Greek and Roman values. -
161 BCE
Sumptuary Laws
The sumptuary laws were passed to try to control the luxurious taste of Rome's rich people. One law that was passed was for the amount of money that could be spent on food, wine and, entertainment daily and monthly. -
87 BCE
Death of Marcus Antonius
Marcus Antonius was in trouble with Roman power. Marcus Antonius hid from the Roman general who was hunting him in a refuge house. The host wanted to get Marcus wine so he sent out his servant to get him wine. When the servant was questioned by the vinter who the wine was for he spilled the truth and they let the general know. The general then found Marcus and beheaded him. -
1191
Minamoto Sanetomo falls ill
Minamoto Sanetomo was a Japanese shogun. When the shogun fell ill Eisai, a Buddhist monk gave him the remedy to drink tea to heal the sickness. After drinking tea the shogun was cured and was a huge advocate for tea. -
1300
The Mongols rule over China
Genghis Khan was the ruler during the Mongol Empire. He and his sons established the largest empire. During the Mongol time the traditional drink was koumiss. Nobody during this time drank tea, unlike other years in China and the following years in China. -
1368
Death of "Charles the Bad"
"Charles the Bad," the ruler of northern Spain was sick with a fever and paralysis. When the doctors went to Charles's room that was lit by candlelight they soaked his sheets in aqua vitae to cure his paralysis. But, the aqua vitae on the sheet went into the flame of the candle and the king went up in flames and died. -
1430
Printing Press
The printing press was invented by Johannes Gutenberg. The process of distillation was spread through books. The first book was written by Micheal Puff von Schrick about distillation and was very popular. -
1440
Slave Trade
The Portuguese began to ship black slaves from West Africa due to the colonization of new land and the need of laborers for sugar production. This is the most use of slaves since Roman times due to religious reasons, but the explorers believed they were converting the black slaves to Christianity so it was sanctioned by the Bible. Distilled drinks were a big reason behind slave trade because the need of sugar. -
1450
Age of Exploration
European explorers are now making voyages on the sea. The European explorers are discovering new land and colonizing the new land. Distilled drinks started to pop up during the Age of Exploration. It first showed up in the western coast of Africa when the discovery of the Atlantic Islands begun. Prince Henry was in charge of these expeditions. -
1511
Attempts to ban coffee in Mecca
Religious leaders tried numerous times to ban coffee in Mecca. Muslim scholars believed it had the same intoxication affect as alcohol, which was already banned for Muslims. The local governor, Kha'ir Beg put coffee on trial, and the council agreed that it should be banned. But, only a few months later it was openly consumed again. -
Great Fire of London
In London by 1663 there had been 83 coffee shops in London. But, in 1666 there was a huge fire, the Great Fire of London. The fire destroyed almost all of the coffee shops. After this London rebuilt coffee shops and there was hundreds of the shops in London. -
The Women's Petition Against Coffee
Women were not allowed inside the coffee shops, only men. The women argued that it was a major inconvenience due to their sex. The women said their husbands were drinking too much coffee, and spending so little time outside of coffee shops "the whole race was in danger of extinction." -
Taking a coffee tree back to Martinique
A Frenchman Gabriel Mathieu de Clieu, a naval officer traveled to the French West Indies in search of a coffee tree. Clieu then carefully put it in a glass box and sent it to the West Indies. Two years later he gathered his first harvest from the plant. -
Molasses Act
The British passed this law in London because the British sugar producers were losing out to the French with the Europeans sugar. The act didn't let sixpence per gallon on molasses into North America from France sugar plantations. This was intended to encourage New England to buy from the British. -
Industrial Revolution
The first factory was started by using ideas from John Kay, a clockmaker. Arkwright built the first spinning mill powered by horses which brought wealth that could be used towards building larger factories. This was the beginning of the Industrial Revolution. The workers that worked in these factories were powered through the drinking off tea. Tea kept the work flow consistent. -
Boston Tea Party
The Boston Tea Party was a group of protesters that dressed up as Mohawk Indians and they dumped 342 chests of tea into the Boston Harbor. What invoked this was the tax on tea for American Colonists from the British. Most of the people who joined the Boston Tea party were tea smugglers that were angry because there livelihoods were at danger. -
French Revolution
Camille Desmoulins a French lawyer started the French Revolution due to financial crisis that King Louis could not figure out. A group of people met together in front of Palais Royal. One person leaped onto a cafe table with a pistol shooting yelling "To arms, citizens! To arms!" -
Opium War
The Opium War was a battle between Britain and China. The cause of this war was the British trade in China of opium. Chinese officials never wanted opium to be traded with China, but Chinese smugglers would trade with the British to get the opium to smoke, and in return Britain would use the profits from this trade towards tea. This unwanted trade is what lead to the defeat of China in the war. -
Prohibit of the selling of Alcohol
Atlanta and Fulton County banned the sale of alcohol in 1886. This caused Pemberton to quickly change the recipe for his popular soft drink Coca-Cola to be alcohol free. Pemberton did make the changes needed to his drink so he could continue selling the drink. -
Tax on Patent Medicines
There was a tax placed on patent medicines in 1898. Coca-cola was initially was thought to be apart of this tax, so the Coca-Cola company fought to disagree. Coca-Cola was now thought to be a drink rather than a drug. -
Coca-Cola on Trial
Wiley put Coca-Cola on trial in the federal case, The United States v. Forty Barrels and Twenty Kegs of Coca-Cola. Opposers of the soft drink were saying Coca-Cola had way too much caffeine in it and was being wrongly advertised. In the end the court was in Coca-Cola's favor. -
Pearl Harbor
Japans attack on Pearl Harbor is what launched World War II. Before this America was going to isolate themselves from European conflicts, but this put the US right in the middle of it. During World War II there were more than sixteen million servicemen sent out to fight, all with a Coca-Cola in hand. -
Iraq War
The Iraq War was fought between Iraq and America. Due to the conflict, anti-Americanism in Iraq had been targeting Americas soft drinks, Coca-Cola. Young Muslims would pour Coca-Cola onto the ground to protest America.
