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10,000 BCE
The First Settlements
People now had a surplus of grain and they didn't have to stand guard of it 24/7 so they began to settle. The first settlements were along the eastern coast of the Mediterranean. Soon villages of two hundred or three hundred people had begun to form and the first cities were underway of being formed. -
Period: 7000 BCE to 5000 BCE
Farming
Since people weren't going from place to place anymore they had time to grow their own food tend to it and raise animals. Many animals such as sheep and goats were domesticated which gave people the options of meat, milk, and wool. Since there were dry spots irrigation techniques were put into place so people could water their crops. -
3400 BCE
Beer as Writing
The earliest writing is from the ancient city of Uruk. They are small tablets of clay that have symbols pressed into them and the marking for beer is a jar on it's side with diagonal linear markings inside it and it appears on all sorts of documents. The symbols became more simple over time and is the acestor of modern Western alphabets used today. -
2500 BCE
Beer as Payment
Although it was once thought that the Egyptian pyramids were built by slaves, it is now suspected that they were built by state employees. The state employees were paid with beer in both solid and liquid form. It is one of the best uses of beer that can be found in the Giza plateau, people for years to come would be able to use the idea of paying employees in rations of goods such as beer rather than currency. -
2000 BCE
City-States
As settlements grew they developed into cities and soon most of the southern population was living in just a few city states. The biggest of the cities had populations of up to 50,000 people in it and was even surrounded by a ten mile radius of fields. -
700 BCE
Decorated Wine Vessels
Drinking vessels were very heavily decorated and most wine was drunk from pottery vessels. The vessels were painted black and had details that were made by lines that were cut into the vessel before it was fired. This technique came from Corinth and spread all the way to Athens. -
600 BCE
Symposion
Greek wine was transported all over to places like Italy. Not only did Italy pick up Greece's wine, but they also picked up some of their traditions such as symposion. They picked up this tradition to show that they too were sophisticated. -
424 BCE
Peloponnesian War
Due to the increase in the production of wine there were more vineyards than ever before and they became a target. During the Peloponnesian war vineyards were burned and trampled. The trampling and burning of vineyards put a hold on the production of wine and for the sake of their grapes one city even switched their allegiances to avoid their vineyard getting destroyed. -
146 BCE
The Rule of Rome
The Greeks had shared wine with the Romans, but as time went on they wanted their own. Rome soon became one of the biggest wine producing areas in the world and with the sack of the Greek City state of Corinth they became the leader of power in the Mediterranean. -
500
Trade of Wine
Wine no longer existed in just the city states of Greece it was transported all over. It was exported to France, Egypt, the Crimean Peninsula, and the Danube region. Wine was making it's way across the world. -
650
Tea Causes Population Increase
Tea wasn't just useful as a drink to have at social gatherings it had more uses. It was safer to drink than rice or millet beer even if the water wasn't properly boiled because it had strong antiseptic properties. The antiseptic properties had enough power to kill the bacteria that cause cholera, typhoid, and dysentery. Due to the decrease of these diseases the rate of infant survival went up therefore the population as a whole increased. -
1000
The Age of Exploration
As Europeans made their way overseas and established colonies they needed drinks that wouldn't go bad and that were safe to drink. Distilled drinks gave them that option because it was a durable and compact option to transport. The people on board the ship didn't just drink the alcohol they found other uses for it too. -
1500
Slaves and Sugar
Slave labor was a huge part of making islands in the Atlantic beneficial to the Europeans. Slaves turned Madeira into the largest sugar exporter in the entire world. They had several sugar mills and two thousand slaves working. The sugar produced by slaves greatly increased when Christopher Columbus discovered the New World. -
1557
Chinese Ports
The Chinese made sure that only they could be the ones that made and exported tea, which insured that they were the leading tea producer in the world. After the Portuguese agreed to pay a fee to the Chinese emperor they were allowed to trade with them. Not long after trade was established with the Portuguese China let them open up a small trading post in Macao which allowed Chinese to indirectly trade with foreigners,however other Europeans were excluded from all trade. -
Rum in the Navy
Rum didn't only become popular among slaves and island people it also became popular among sailors and the Royal Navy soon picked up on that. The Royal Navy substituted rum for the traditional ration of beer that was on Royal Navy ships. In less than a century rum would take over as the navy's preferred drink for uses on long cruises because it was much easier to store and did not go bad as soon as beer did. -
Half-formed Theories
Many scientist, astronomer, and architects went to coffee shops after meetings with other people to share what they had learned,. Hooke, an astronomer, went to a coffee house one day after a meeting a shared an improved form of astronomical quadrant, and repeated sharing his idea at more coffee houses which resulted in discussion, speculation, and change of ideas. With the exchange of ideas happening half-formed theories and ideas starting popping up. -
Coffee Plantations in Java
The Arabs had gone to great lengths to make sure that no one but them could produce coffee beans, but Dutch sailors found a sneaky way around the Arabs. The Dutch sailors stole cuttings from Arab coffee trees and took them back to Amsterdam where they successfully grew coffee trees in a greenhouse. Soon coffee plantations had sprouted up in Java and the Dutch gained control of the coffee trade because Arab couldn't compete with the prices. -
The Grog
Many sailors fell sick and died at sea because of scurvy a disease that is now known to be caused by a lack of vitamin C. There are ways to cure the disease but they are often forgotten about until Admiral Edward Vernon came up with a cocktail that contained rum mixed with water, sugar, and lime juice called the Grog. The cure for scurvy was a regular dosage of lime or lemon juice so, the grog helped keep the Royal Navy healthier overall. -
News by Word not Paper
People read news papers, socialized, and drank coffee at coffee houses. Most people had one coffee house they went to normally and people even had their mail sent there, but most people stayed at one coffee house they for each one had it's own vibe and had different interest. The coffee houses only communicated when they had to spread word of something like war or a death because it was so much quicker than reading it in a newspaper. -
Tea for Women
The owner of a coffeehouse, Thomas Twining, realized that women couldn't go out to buy tea at coffee houses because they were only for men and giving their servants large amounts of money to go out and buy tea wasn't a good idea so he found a way around it. He opened a shop next to his house where women could buy tea by the cup and he even made special blends to fit their taste. Along with their cup of coffee women could buy dry tea leaves to bring home and use at a later time. -
The Coffee House Spirit
With people buzzing around coffee house all over the place ideas were being spread and people were motivated. New businesses appeared out of nowhere from entrepreneurs that worked with scientist and while some were a complete success others were huge failures. One major failure was the South Sea Bubble which was a fraud investment scheme that collapsed and ruined thousandth of investors -
Rum in the Colonies
As the Europeans were settling in America and establishing colonies ships were going back and forth across the ocean to bring them supplies such as drinks. They settlers came across a problem though, most of the beer that was brought to them was mostly drunken by the sailors or was spoiled by the time it got to them. They soon learned rum would be their solution as it was much more available now. The rum was cheaper than beer or brandy and didn't have to be shipped so it wouldn't go bad. -
The Boston Tea Party
The colonist were in fear for their livelihoods especially the ones who were involved in tea smuggling such as merchants. They did not want to pay tax on tea nor did they want to buy tea directly from the British. After the colonist dumped the tea in the harbor the British closed the port as an act of authority, but it in fact only sparked what would nearly ruin them- the Revolutionary War. -
The French Revolution
The financial crisis in France was getting increasingly worse and everyone knew. The meeting of Versailles did nothing but confuse people more so they decided that things would be settled at the Cafe de Foy. A laywer named Camille Desmoulins was the person who set the French Revolution in motion. -
Soda Water on the Streets
In America soda water was strictly used for medicinal purposes only unlike in Europe where it was sold in bottles for people to drink everyday. When Benjamin Silliman visited Europe to get books and materials for his chemistry class he saw how the soda water was being sold and decided to try it at home. He made and bottled the soda water for his friends and soon more and more people wanted it so he decided to manufacture it. -
Spa Rooms
Selling soda water in bottles was much more of a hassle than having it come out of a soda fountain. Joseph Hawkins saw this being done in other cities and decide to come up with his own way back in Philadelphia. Apothecaries began using soda fountains to prepare and dispense soda water on the spot and this became a standard thing. -
Tea Mania
People frantically tried to grow their own tea and make their own tea company once it was confirmed you could grow tea in India and not only China. Many people failed to start their own business and as these people were weeded out of the tea business people who were successful had workers on a schedule of when to eat sleep and pick tea. As a result of this India's tea costed the same as China's and Britain became the world's main supplier of tea. -
Pemberton goes Bankrupt
In his attempts to patent medicine he hit a rough spot and went bankrupt and couldn't seem to get himself going again. So he starts making new patents in hopes that one will turn out good and get him rolling again and in 1884 he gets somewhere with a new patent-medicine ingredient called coca. Soon he was making tablets, elixirs, and ointments out of coca. -
Coca-Cola Across the Country
When Asa Chandler first had total control of the company he was selling the drink just as if it was another one of his patent medicines. As sales increases he abandoned his other medicines and focused on advertising coca-cola because the drink was even selling in the winter which was outside the usual season for fountain soda. By the end of 1895 coca cola was being sold in every state in America and more than 76,000 gallons were being sold. -
Bottled Coca-Cola
Two business men who were up for the job that Chandler thought was a waste of time took up the idea of bottling coca-cola and selling it. Chandler had always been opposed to this idea and didn't think it would work so he didn't even make the men pay for the bottling rights. They were successful at producing it and it became a game changer because now people could buy it anywhere like sprting events or grocery stores not just at soda fountains.
