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10,000 BCE
Agricultural Revolution
Humans began to leave their hunter-gatherer lifestyles to settle down in organized groups that manipulated their environment in order to survive. Domestication of plants, animals, etc. in the natural world and a sedentary lifestyle enabled surplus food production which in turn enabled a larger population. Farming became a livelihood for some. This also enabled the production of beer, which at first was closely linked to the production of bread. -
Period: 10,000 BCE to
History of the World in 6 Glasses
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8000 BCE
Neolithic Revolution
As a result of the new agricultural sedentary lifestyle, early cities and civilizations developed. Populations continued to grow, and there were advancements in technology, art, and education. As a result of ever-increasing populations in the same space, governmental, political, and social systems also developed. -
3300 BCE
The Origins of Taxes
Ancient civilizations used their newfound writing and record-keeping skills to support the new economic system, collecting taxes and rationing supplies. Beer is shown as a valid way of paying taxes, and also as a valid way to pay a worker's wages. -
2700 BCE
The Sumerians and Gilgamesh
The Sumerians lived in Southern Mesopotamia and developed what is often considered the world's first writing system. Gilgamesh, a king wrote a book that morphed into legend called The Epic of Gilgamesh, in which the act of drinking beer was considered to be a sign of being civilized, which was a high honor. The Sumerians even looked upon being drunk in a more humorous light than later, more civilized peoples did. -
2500 BCE
Ancient Egypt
The ancient Egyptians also developed their own writing system, in which they used to write about beer, and believed it had great social, religious, and cultural connotations. During this time, social structures became more defined and respected, and approval from the gods was highly sought after. Beer was seen as the drink of choice for both kings and gods/goddesses. However, it was also affordable by pretty much everyone and as such became very much a social drink. -
2500 BCE
Geographic Advantages In Trade
Unique factors in topology and location allowed certain locations to discover and develop certain goods that others couldn't due to their geographic restrictions, which gave them an up in the new trading economy. For the peoples in what is now modern Iran and Armenia, their good happened to be wine. This also occurred in some parts of Greece. Other areas had to adapt by creating wine products based off of food they could find in their natural environment. -
870 BCE
The Assyrians and Ashumasirpal II
Ashumasirpal II, an Assyrian king who had many military successes and conquered most of Northern Mesopotamia, which was of increasing importance as land became highly valued, constructed a palace on the new capital of Nimrud, which showed off his vast wealth. One of the signs of this vast wealth was serving wine to all of his guests. He even grew it on palace grounds. Wine was quite expensive at the time, making it a drink associated with the wealthy. -
625 BCE
The Birth of Islam
Muhammad, an Arabian man who felt called from Allah (God) to share his teachings, wrote the Koran and spread his faith throughout the Arab world. Muslim traditions hold that Muhammad received wisdom on the consumption of alcoholic drinks after some of his followers got drunk at a social event and got involved in a fight shortly after. After that, supposedly, is where the ban on gambling and alcoholic drinks came about. Other theories are Bedouin cultural influences and wine being 'Christian'. -
400 BCE
The Ancient Greeks
The Ancient Greeks laid a foundation for 'Western thought', challenging ideas previously set in stone, from philosophy, science, and politics. They also believed in the spirit of competition, and in the competition of which civilization was the most civilized, in their minds, it was clearly the Greeks. The Greeks believed that wine was the drink of the civilized, intellectual person, not wine and drunk it at social gatherings where sophisticated topics were discussed, often in a humorous manner. -
200 BCE
The Ancient Romans
Even though the Romans defeated the Greeks, they adopted several aspects of Greek culture, and blended it with their own. Their soldiers and administrators were not the type to spend hours on the couch drinking wine while discussing an obscure philosophical theory, but still wanted to appear civilized. The Romans were more down-to-earth and practical than the Greeks. Cultivating wine was deemed both symbolic of Greek and Roman values, and as such, wine became the preferred drink. -
Jan 1, 1000
Arab Advancements In Knowledge
The Arabs had taken over a large area of land covering Asia, Africa, and Europe. While a lot of the learning from past generations in Europe was becoming lost in the early Middle Ages, the Arabs flourished. They built a very, very large library in Southern Spain (Cordoba specifically, which was a developed city for that time). New discoveries in the physical and natural sciences, math, and medicine happened. They preserved texts describing how to distill wine, and refined this process. -
Jan 7, 1386
Europe in the Middle Ages
After the fall of the Roman Empire, much of Western and Northern Europe were divided into smaller kingdoms with a strict feudal economic and social structure created, with kings at the top. A lot of knowledge was lost at the time, and the culture became more superstitious regarding medical treatments. A king during the time fell ill and his doctors gave him a 'miracle cure', which was distilled wine. -
Sep 7, 1450
The Columbian Exchange
Developments in navigation and ship-building allowed the Europeans to travel to Southern Africa and the West Indies. They found land and people to exploit, and developed an intercontinental trade network in where people, raw materials, and goods where shipped across the ocean. One of the most highly sought after currencies in the slave trade were spirits, which were given to Africans who sold slaves to Europeans. -
Sep 7, 1515
Religious and Social Ideas Challenged
Coffee was originally objected to by religious authorities, by the Muslims for it's caffeine content and by Christians for it's connection to Islam, but both of these problems were eventually resolved, as Muslims argued for a looser interpretation of the Koran's rule on substances with mood-altering effects, and Christians argued that not everything has to have a religious connotation. The extent of religious and social attachments to non-religious things is still debated today. -
The Seeds of Globalization
Slaves who newly arrived to the Americas were given rum purposefully by their European captors to make them more obedient, willing, and ignorant of their struggles, and also as a reward for doing good work, hoping to keep them in a cycle of addiction. Spirits were even used as medicine. Rum and spirits were also popular among sailors at the time, and the British variant decreased scurvy, which has been said to have an indirect effect on the naval power of the British. -
The Scientific Revolution
After the Reformation had challenged the authority of the Roman Catholic Church, a new generation of thinkers began to challenge the notion that the scientific views of the ancients and the church were correct, and encouraged people to have a more skeptic mindset, which resulted in lots of new discoveries and a new respect for intellectualism. -
Integration of Business and Science
Both businessmen and intellectuals frequented coffeehouses to share the most recent news on their domains of expertise, and it's also where these two groups began to collaborate on a large scale to create new inventions, refine processes, and travel to new places. Seemingly useless mathematical theory became valuable to industry, and the partnership between the two created new industries and set a precedent for years to come. -
Rebellion in the Colonies
The British government, wanting to increase the usage of non-foreign molasses, an ingredient in rum, passed a law which taxed imports of non-British, namely French molasses, which resulted in angry distillers who smuggled in molasses instead. This became widely accepted, and began to show a discontent of British rules, After the French and Indian War, they passed the Sugar Act, and heavily enforced tax laws in order to pay off debts, which angered colonists even more, encouraging them to rebel. -
Financial Revolution
As coffee became the drink that people woke up to, productivity increased as people's brains and bodies were energized before they went to work, causing a higher quality and quantity output. Trade became more globalized. New insurance models were developed, stock exchanges created, and industry news shared at coffeehouses, and as a result, London established itself as the financial capital of the world. -
The Boston Tea Party
The British East India company had an immense amount of political power, and used that to craft policies that helped their bottom line, showing the dangers of corporate over-influence on the government. This lead to the passing of the Tea Act of 1773, which gave the company a monopoly, and had an averse effect on the colonists, who saw their trade network disrupted, and this resulted in a series of boycotts and refusals to pay taxes, and then the dumping of tea into Boston harbor. -
The Industrial Revolution
As factories grew larger and demanded a more efficient source of power, replacing human and animal power with water and steam to power machines. Good production processes were optimized for higher and cheaper output, and factory workers were given tea to drink during work hours. Britain became the world's industrial superpower and would remain so for more than a century. -
The French Revolution
At French coffeehouses, existing political systems were challenged and the idea that every man was entitled to freedom and equality. Books spread around that suggested that the power of the ruling class and the religious authorities should be diminished. Despite blocks on free press, these ideas spread to many French and eventually resulted in the overthrowing of the monarchy. -
Opium War
After the East India Company's monopoly on Asian trade was removed, they had opium to fall back onto. Tea did not provide enough profit for them. Opium is highly addictive, and even after it was banned in China, it was illicitly traded and sold on the black market with the help of the British authorities, who were once again looking to lessen their debts. Corrupt Chinese were easily bribed, but one such man named Lin was intent on shutting down the opium trade, and after a fight broke out, Lin -
Opium War (cont.)
kicked out the British from Canton (Chinese city). After that, the British went to war and quickly won, ensuring them favorable trade agreements. China was forced to open up and give the British virtually unfettered access, but ultimately, they would lose their position as top tea maker anyways. -
India in the 1800s
The East India Company soon discovered that India was an even cheaper place to make tea than China, and even at the same quality. They began colonizing India, establishing their own leaders for the intent and gaining political and economic control over Eastern India. The company was shut down after an uprising and the British government took direct control. -
American Industrial Revolution
The Americans improved on the British process of manufacturing, optimizing it even further for efficiency, and were able to produce more products at a faster and cheaper rate than ever, enabling a larger market. American consumer culture began to develop in the early 1900s as a result of these changes. -
The Great Depression
The Great Depression presented many challenges to the American people and corporations alike. The stock market crashed, unemployment soared, and evictions became a normal sight. Coca-Cola also found they had two new competitors, alcoholic beverages, which were banned in previous decades, and Pepsi. Coca-cola found a way to establish Coke as the drink that all ages could drink in a more upbeat social setting where one could forget about, at least for a short time, the struggles of the time. -
World War II
After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, the country mobilized for the war effort, and a renewed economy fueled by patriotism. As American soldiers and associates traveled to far-off lands, they brought bits of American culture wherever they went, and one of the well-loved items was Coke, which was considered vital to the war effort. It was shared to non-Americans and even after the war, resulted in a new, global market for Coca-Cola. -
Conflict in the Middle-East (MENA, etc.)
Much like the Soviet military leader that couldn't resist the taste of soda, it was also loved by Arabs, who were critical of America's support of Israel. After Coca-Cola took a hit from Jewish communities for supposed anti-Semite intentions, as they had avoided the Israeli market to stay favorable with the Arab one, they began to sell to Israelis, which resulted in the Arabs boycotting them. Much as companies in the 1800s got involved in foreign policy issues, the makers of a soft drink did. -
The Cold War
After World War II, the Soviet Union became hostile to the United States, and as a result, America and the Soviet Union became involved in a battle that was fought economically and culturally, along with proxy wars littered in. Coca-Cola became a symbol of Western values, and as such was attacked by the East. A Soviet military leader who was spared death received a custom made version of Coke that appeared to be a Russian drink to hide the fact that he was drinking it. The West eventually 'won'.