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6000 BCE
Beer In Mesopotamia and Egypt (1)
Farming was beginning to become popular in the Fertile Crescent, and people began to stay in one place rather than moving like the old hunter-gatherer method. Since people stayed in one place now, they had one main source they used for water. If somehow their water source got contaminated, it could be extremely deadly for the people living there. Beer, since it is made by boiling water, provided a safer way to stay hydrated, and reduced the amount of sickness and death by contaminated water. -
3400 BCE
Beer In Mesopotamia and Egypt (3)
In Mesopotamia/ the city of Uruk, clay tablets were pressed by tokens or carved using a stylus to track rations of bread and beer. The symbols are very different to modern writing, but it was used for many years to follow before an easier way of writing came about. Eventually, around 3000 BC, the system of writing evolved, and certain symbols began to mean different sounds. -
2350 BCE
Beer In Mesopotamia and Egypt (2)
Egyptians created their own form of writing soon after the Sumerians did. They used their writing for "Pyramid Texts", or funerary texts. The Egyptian word for beer, hekt, is mentioned more times in these texts than any other food or drink. Egyptians believed strongly that bread and beer was important to their well-being in the afterlife. Small jars of beer can be found in the tomb of Tutankhamen, who died around 1335. -
2350 BCE
Beer In Mesopotamia and Egypt (4)
Beer was used in some places surrounding Akkad and Sumer as part of a "bride price", a payment made by the groom's family to the bride's family. Beer was also used as payment to women and children who did work at the temple, children received one sila and women received two. Slaves and prisoners would also be given rations of beer monthly. -
1550 BCE
Beer In Mesopotamia and Egypt (5)
"The Ebers Papyrus" was an Egyptian medical text that was full of many remedies, and majority of the remedies listed involve beer. To cure labor pains, the text says to mix saffron and beer and massage it into the woman's abdomen. -
400 BCE
Wine in Greece and Rome (1)
In the 4th century BC, Alexander the Great united the Greeks and defeated Persia. The Greeks show their love for competition in their everyday life as well. Symposions were venues where Greeks would drink wine, and then compete with others in wit, poetry or rhetoric. -
146 BCE
Wine In Greece and Rome (2)
The Italian Peninsula became the biggest wine producing region. They transported wine to people all across the Mediterranean, including Rome, which was now the leading Mediterranean power, after the fall of Carthage in northern Africa and the sack of the Greek city of Corinth. A Roman writer even estimated that 2 thirds of the Wine in Rome came from the Italian Peninsula. -
87 BCE
Wine In Greece and Rome (3)
Gaius Marius seized power in Rome and intended to kill all supporters of his opponent, Marcus Antonius being one of them. He wanted to hide somewhere where Marius would not find him, so he hid in a poor man's house. When his host was shopping for wine, he asked the vendor for a far more expensive and fancier wine. The vendor asked why, and the host confessed that Antonius was staying with him. The vendor told Marius and he sent people to kill Antonius. -
50 BCE
Wine In Greece and Rome (4)
Wine was used to distinguish between social classes at social events. The best wine would be served to the host and his friends, second rate wine would be served to the rest of the guests and third rate wine would be served to the freedmen, who were once slaves. -
160
Wine In Greece and Rome (5)
Galen created the idea of humorism, which was that anytime someone was sick it was caused by the imbalance of one of the body's 4 humors. This theory was believed all the way through 1500 AD. Galen also was a strong believer of using wine as a medical treatment. He prescribed wine and wine-based remedies to the emperor on a regular basis. -
1300
Spirits In the Colonial Period (1)
Arnold of Villanova, a professor at the French medical school of Montpellier, was the first person to distill wine. He called this new invention aqua vitae. Him and his colleague, Raymond Lully, both grew to be the age of 70, which was very uncommon at this time. Aqua vitae began to grow more popular because of this, as people used it medically because they thought it would make them live as long as Arnold and Lully. -
1487
Spirits In the Colonial Period (2)
Johannes Gutenberg invented the printing press in the 1430s in Europe. With the use of the printing press, Michael Puff von Schrick, an Australian doctor, wrote a book about distillation, and it became so popular that fourteen editions of the book were made. The book states that drinking half a spoon of aqua vitae could warn off illness. -
1510
Spirits In the Colonial Period (3)
African slave traders who supplied Europeans accepted many things, but mostly they wished for alcohol. At first, they preferred wine, but soon they realized that brandy was much better, since it packed more alcohol in a smaller dosage. -
Tea and the British Empire (1)
Tea was very popular in ancient China. Once the Mongols had lost power over China, tea became popular, which was during the Ming Dynasty. Tea was seen as spiritual and bodily refreshment, so it was important that whoever made tea in China made it exactly right, or it was a dishonor. -
Coffee In the Age of Reason (2)
Shortly before Pope Clement VIII's death, he spoke out about his opinions on coffee. He stated that it is evil, and since it was created by Muslims, who refuse to drink wine, the holy drink of Christians, coffee must be the drink of the devil, although this wasn't set in stone. Clement decided he should try coffee before stating that anything was official. When he tried it, we was so pleased with the taste he took back his words. That was around 1605, and after that, coffee only grew popularity. -
Spirits In the Colonial Period (4)
Slaves were issued 2 or 3 gallons of rum each year. With this, they were able to either drink it themselves or sell it for food. Rum also eventually became sailors preferred drink over beer. -
Spirits In the Colonial Period (5)
Settlers in the third colony, Massachusetts, were focused on bringing over enough beer and cereal crops to make beer. Once rum became available, it popularized fast in the colonies. It was cheaper than brandy, and was also stronger and contained more alcohol. -
Tea and the British Empire (2)
As tea was introduced in Europe, many people raged over the medical benefits of tea, and about how it helps you to live an old age. Even though this was popular belief, tea still wasn't insanely popular, due to the high expense of getting it to Europe from China. And some people argued that the long journey negatively effected the quality of the tea. -
Coffee In the Age of Reason (3)
Coffeehouses grew in popularity from the 1650s through the 1660s. After Oliver Cromwell, King of England at the time, passed away, discussion of bringing back a monarchy with Charles II in 1660 was popular in coffeehouses. Most people spoke in favor of Charles II being King, and so he was. It is said that if it weren't for coffeehouses, he may not have won over the throne. -
Coffee In the Age of Reason (4)
1671 was the year the first coffeehouses were opened in Marseilles. At this same time, doctors were in discord over whether or not coffee is good for people's health. No matter how much the doctors fought, nothing could stop the growing popularity of coffee. -
Coffee In the Age of Reason (1)
In Europe during the Age of Reason, coffee became a popular drink to scientists, intellectuals, merchants and clerks. This was because of the clarity and sharpness of thought that coffee provided due to it's containment of caffeine. It was used by these workers to help them wake up in the morning and keep their high energy throughout the day. -
Coffee In the Age of Reason (5)
One January evening in 1684, Hooke, Halley and Wren spoke of the topic of gravity. They wondered if a gravitational force is what caused the elliptical shapes of planetary orbits. Halley visited Cambridge and spoke with Newton of his theory, and Newton dedicated many nights to prove this theory, when finally he got it. Then, Hooke tried to tell his colleagues one day, also while in a coffeehouse, he had the idea first, but no one believed him. -
Tea and the British Empire (3)
As tea grew popular, it was drank in everyday life in Britain. Tea was even served to common maid servants. Price was no longer a problem, despite the fact it came from the other side of the world. It actually was the second cheapest drink in Britain, second only to water. -
Tea and the British Empire (4)
Smuggling of tea in Britain and American parties were at it's peak in the early 1770s. The result was the Tea Act of 1773. -
Tea and the British Empire (5)
To protest the Tea Act, colonists dumped 342 chests of tea overboard. In response, the British government closed the port of Boston until all the money lost from the tea was repaid. This was the British governments first attempt to show their dominance, but it only ended in the Revolutionary war. -
Coffee In the Age of Reason (6)
On July 12, 1789 in Cafe de Foy, Camille Desmoulins set the French Revolution in motion, when he leaped on a table outside the cafe with a pistol in hand, and shouted "To arms, citizens! To arms!" -
Coca-Cola and the Rise of America (1)
Coca-Cola originally was being sold for medical use, to cure headaches. That was how it was advertised as well. In 1898, a tax was to be put on all patent medicines, and this included coke, since at the time it was being sold as a headache treatment. Coca-Cola quickly changed their advertisement to being sold as a refreshment rather than a drug, and it was freed from the tax. -
Coca-Cola and the Rise of America (2)
Coca-Cola persisted through many challenges, such as depression, weather change and competition, but it somehow always seemed to have a constantly increasing demand. -
Coca-Cola and the Rise of America (3)
The United States tried to stay out of international conflict, but when Japan attacked Pearl Harbor in December 1941, the United States was dragged into WWII. Soldiers who fought in the war all drank Coca-Cola as a refreshing, non-intoxicating drink. -
Coca-Cola and the Rise of America (4)
It wasn't long before other countries wanted Coca-Cola as well. In 1943, North Africa, an ally of the US, wished to start selling Coca-Cola. -
Coca-Cola and the Rise of America (5)
Coca-Cola was supposed to be the drink of the Olympics, until Americans decided to boycott, since it was located in Moscow. Coca-Cola continuously failed to spread into Soviet-bloc countries, which seems to be a set back, but it ultimately helped them. With the fall of the Berlin Wall, East Germans quickly moved to America, and were greeted with Coca-Cola. The joy they all felt while sharing a coke caused them to continuously buy Coca-Cola products.
