History Told Through 6 Beverages
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Politics and Activism

History Told Through 6 Beverages

Here's a look at the changes and continuities in beverages and their diffusion throughout history.

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History Told Through 6 Beverages
Coca-Cola Company

Something as common and trivial as the bottle of soda in your refrigerator has had a major impact on the entire world. One of the oldest issues in the world has been trying to maintain a fresh supply of water. This one goal led to the development of six alternate beverages to water. These six beverages have caused long-lasting effects on the antiquity of the ancient civilizations of Africa, Arab countries, Europe and America. Each drink has an intertwining connection with the other. While the drinks, beer, wine, coffee, tea and Coca-Cola developed throughout history, they brought about social, medicinal, political and economic changes since the first ancient civilization and still are today.


Beer

Beer was the first alternative to water discovered in ancient Mesopotamia. After the discovery of beer, people purposefully started cultivating wheat and barley so that they could make more of it. Beer led to changes, such as the domestication of plants. Beer matured the capabilities of medicine in ancient Mesopotamia and Egypt. A number of medical recipes started being made with beer. Medicine was made up of mostly basic mixtures, so cures to health issues were still needed. This is why the people of the era began using it for medical purposes and as remedies for whatever they could. The production of beer caused the cultivation of grain in the Fertile Crescent, which was what gave birth to the earliest of civilizations.

Writing, business, and health were all affected by beer. Beer eventually made its way to Europe, where the British created structures like taverns where beer would be sold and drunk with others. The effects of beer led to the discovery of wine.

Wine

In ancient Greece and Rome, wine was used in many ways that changed the culture of the people back then. Society was dictated by wine. The wealthiest were distinct from the poorest based upon the amount of wine people owned. Wine introduced a class system that didn’t exist among people before. Conviviums and Symposia were a product of how wine affected them. Wine diffused throughout Greece and Rome. It eventually reached other countries and became a new fragment of their cultures.

Spirits

Córdoba, a city in the south of Spain is where the science of making spirits came from. This was just the start of economical and health changes. Spirits became the main goods among people. Spirits were such a central economic product that their taxation and regulation became matters of great political prominence. Global problems like scurvy were fought against with the help of this beverage. Aside from the positive, there were also negative changes due to spirits. Spirits had a hand in the enslavement and dislocation of thousands of people. Furthermore, Native Americans were exploited by the British colonists for their eagerness for distilled drinks, which was a tactic used to control them. The use of spirits died down at the introduction of coffee.

Coffee

Coffee came from a city in Yemen where it first gained popularity. English travelers would observe the Arab coffeehouses. In a matter of time coffee had moved to the West. Coffee had great significance in Europe. The changes that coffee brought led to important events such as the Scientific Revolution, the financial revolution and even the French Revolution. People would trade shares and stocks in coffeehouses. It contributed to new business models of schemes. such as insurance. Coffee helped in the appearance of a prosperous commercial empire. Coffee was a prevalent business. Coffeehouses eventually became an epicenter to social, political and commercial life in England. Similar to the drinks before it, coffee assisted in global issues.

Tea

Though coffee was booming, the same could not be said about tea when it first established itself in people’s cups. This was because people didn’t drink tea like they did coffee. It was only a luxury item in the beginning. After Europeans started getting their tea from China, the prices went down. Similar to coffee, tea had become a consumable drink for pretty much all of the European and Asian population. Different countries developed different rituals and ceremonies for how to prepare, drink and serve tea. In England, tea parties had become a new part of society. Tea also had a political influence, like in the Boston Tea party. The continuity of the drinks through history had big impacts around the world, as each country handled it differently.

Coca-Cola

The most recent of the influential drinks, Coca-Cola, was created by John Pemberton. The drink itself has changed throughout history. Coca-Cola used to advertise its supposed medicinal value. It was to be used as not just a beverage, but also a brain tonic. Since its creation, Coca-Cola has been a part of numerous significant periods, such as being a patriotic symbol in World War II. It was being drunk while America was establishing itself as a global superpower. Along with the Coca-Cola of today, bottled water has also become a popular drink.

Water

Water is what ties the history of all the drinks together. Now water is purified, and the risks of contamination from the times of the ancient Egyptians and Mesopotamians is no longer a big problem. Substitute drinks are no longer needed as the modern era is reached. The continuity between each drink shaped and changed mankind throughout history.

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This article has not been reviewed by Odyssey HQ and solely reflects the ideas and opinions of the creator.
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