A history of the world in 6 glasses

"Historians, understandably, devote most oftheirattention to war, politicsand,

not least, money. But history can also beseen through the prismofthe

commodities thatmoney buys. InA History of the World in Six Glasses, Tom

Standageargues that beer, wine, spirits,coffee, teaand cola haveeach, in their

ownway, helped to shapethecourse of history."—MatthewRees, Wall Street

Journal

"When Standage decided to followhis readablestudy ofan 18th-century chess￾playing automaton, The Turk, with a book aboutsix beverages that really did

changethe world, he had the graceto take both thetitleand thestory in a new

direction."—StephenMeuse, Boston Globe

"Memorablefacts . . .abound inTomStandage's delightfulA History of the World in Six Glasses."—JeffreyTannenbaum, Bloomberg.com

"Aclever, tight retelling of human history as it refracts through six beverages:

beer, wine, spirits, tea,coffeeand Coca-Cola. . . Raisea glass to Standagefor writing this one. His work allows us to ponder the history contained in the drinks we bring to our lips."—Cleveland Plain Dealer

"The book makesan easy and agreeableread, never seeming discursive or

unwieldy, despitethe vastamount of ground itcovers. I'll happily raise my glass

to that."—YilingChen-Josephson, Newsday

"Aromp, offering asystematicchronology of human affairs fromaspecific

viewpoint... An engaging thesis . . . This thesis happens to viewinstructively the

panorama of history through drink; I say skoal!"—Philip Kopper, Washington

Times

"Standagestarts with a bold hypothesis—thateach epoch, fromthe Stone Age

to the present, has had its signature beverage—and takes readers on an

extraordinary trip throughworld history. The Economist's technology editor has

theability to connect thesmallest detailto the big pictureand a knack for

summarizing vastconcepts in afewsentences."—Publishers Weekly(starred

review)

"History,alongwith a bit oftechnology,etymology,chemistry and bibulous

entertainment. Bottoms up!"—Kirkus Reviews

ALSO BYTOMSTANDAGE

The Neptune File

The Turk

The Victorian Internet

A HISTORY of the WORLD

in 6 GLASSES

TOM STANDAGE

Copyright ©2005 by TomStandage

All rights reserved. No part of this bookmay be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission fromthe publisherexcept in thecase of brief quotationsembodied in

criticalarticles or reviews. For information address Walker&Company, 104 FifthAvenue, New

York. NewYork 10011.

Published in 2006 by Walker PublishingCompany Inc. Distributed to thetrade by Holtzbrinck Publishers

All papers used by Walker&Company are natural, recyclable products madefromwood grown in well-managed forests. Themanufacturingprocessesconformto theenvironmental regulations of the

country of origin.

Art credits: theUniversity of PennsylvaniaMuseum; the original object is in theIraqMuseum(IM

# 25048). Created by theauthor. ©theTrustees of TheBritishMuseum. (Engravingbased on bust

in theUffiziGallery, Florence), (engravingafter Sir Peter Lely), (engravingby W. Hollaftera picture

by Gilbert Stewart), theMary Evans PictureLibrary. North Wind PictureArchives. Courtesy of

TheCoca-ColaCompany. Vice President Nixon in Russiaand Poland 1959 (photos); Series 1959 U.S.S.R. Trip Photographs; Pre-Presidential Papers of RichardM. Nixon;courtesy of theNational Archives—PacificRegion (TagunaNiguel).

The Library of Congress has cataloged the hardcoveredition of this book under LCCN:

2004061209

eISBN: 978-0-802-71859-4

First published in theUnited States in 2005 by Walker&Company This paperback edition

published in 2006

Visit Walker&Company's Web siteat www.walkerbooks.com

Book design by Chris Welch

Typeset by Coghill Composition Company

Printed in theUnited States of America by Quebecor World Fairfield

8 10 9 7

To my parents

Contents

Introduction. VitalFluids

Beer inMesopotamiaand Egypt

1. AStone-Age Brew

2. Civilized Beer

WineinGreeceand Rome

3. The Delight ofWine

4. TheImperialVine

Spirits in the ColonialPeriod

5. High Spirits, High Seas

6. The Drinks That Built America

Coffeein the Age ofReason

7. The Great Soberer

8. The CoffeehouseInternet

Teaand the BritishEmpire

9. Empires ofTea

10. Tea Power

Coca-Colaand the Rise ofAmerica

11. FromSodato Cola

12. Globalization in a Bottle

Epilogue. Back to the Source

Acknowledgments

Appendix. In Search ofAncient Drinks

Notes

Sources

Introduction

Vital Fluids

Thereis no history ofmankind, thereare onlymany

histories ofall kinds ofaspects of human life. —Karl Popper, philosopher of science(1902-94)

THIRST is DEADLIERthan hunger. Deprived offood, youmightsurvivefora

fewweeks, but deprived ofliquid refreshment, youwould belucky to lastmore

than afewdays. Only breathingmatters more. Tens ofthousands of yearsago,

early humans foraging in small bands had to remain near rivers, springs,and

lakes to ensurean adequatesupply offreshwater, sincestoring orcarrying it was

impractical. Theavailability ofwaterconstrained and guided humankind's

progress. Drinks havecontinued to shape human history ever since. Only in the past ten thousand years or so have other beveragesemerged to

challengethe preeminence ofwater. These drinks do not occur naturally in any

quantity butmust be made deliberately. As wellas offering saferalternatives to

con taminated, disease-riddenwater supplies in human settlements, these new

beverages havetaken on a variety ofroles. Many ofthemhave been used as

currencies, in religious rites,as politicalsymbols, oras sources of philosophical

and artisticinspiration. Some haveserved to highlight the powerand status ofthe

elite,and others to subjugate orappeasethe downtrodden. Drinks have been

used to celebrate births,commemorate deaths,and forgeand strengthen social

bonds; to seal business transactionsand treaties; to sharpen thesenses or dull

the mind; to convey lifesavingmedicinesand deadly poisons. As thetides of history haveebbed and flowed, different drinks havecometo

prominencein different times, places,and cultures, fromstone-age villages to

ancient Greek dining rooms or Enlightenmentcoffeehouses. Each one became

popular when itmeta particular need oraligned with a historicaltrend; in some

cases, it thenwent on to influencethecourse of history in unexpected ways. Just

asarchaeologists divide history into different periods based on the use of

differentmaterials—thestoneage, the bronzeage, theiron age,and so on—it is

also possibleto divide world history into periods dominated by different drinks.

Six beverages in particular—beer, wine, spirits,coffee, tea,and cola—chart the

flowofworld history. Threecontain alcohol,and threecontain caffeine, but what

they all havein common is thateach one was the defining drink during a pivotal

historical period, fromantiquity to the present day.

Theevent thatset humankind on the path toward modernitywas theadoption

offarming, beginningwith the domestication ofcereal grains, which first took

placein the Near Eastaround ten thousand yearsago and wasaccompanied by

theappearance ofarudimentary formof beer. Thefirstcivilizationsarosearound

fivethousand years later inMesopotamiaand Egypt, two parallelcultures

founded on asurplus ofcereal grains produced by organized agriculture on a massivescale. This freed asmallfraction ofthe population fromthe need to work in thefieldsand made possibletheemergence ofspecialist priests,

administrators, scribes,and craftsmen. Not only did beer nourish theinhabitants

ofthefirstcitiesand theauthors ofthefirst written documents, but their wages

and rations were paid in bread and beer,ascereal grains werethe basis ofthe

economy.

Theflourishing culturethat developed within thecity-states ofancient Greece

in thefirstmillenniumBCE spawned advances in philosophy, politics, science,

and literaturethatstill underpinmodernWestern thought. Wine was thelifeblood

ofthis Mediterranean civilization,and the basis of vastseabornetradethat

helped to spread Greek ideas farand wide. Politics, poetry,and philosophy were discussed at formal drinking parties, or symposia, inwhich the participants

drank fromashared bowl of diluted wine. Thespread ofwine drinking

continued under the Romans, thestructure ofwhose hierarchicalsocietywas

reflected in a minutely calibrated pecking order ofwinesand winestyles. Two of

the world's major religions issued opposing verdicts on the drink:The Christian

ritual ofthe Eucharist has wineat itscenter, but following thecollapse ofthe

RomanEmpireand therise ofIslam, wine was banned in the very region ofits

birth.

Therebirth ofWestern thoughta millenniumafter thefall ofRome was

sparked by therediscovery ofGreek and Roman knowledge, much ofwhich

had been safeguarded and extended by scholars in the Arab world. At thesame

time, European explorers, driven by the desireto circumvent the Arab monopoly

on trade with the East, sailed west to the Americasand east to Indiaand China. Globalsearoutes wereestablished,and European nations vied with oneanother

to carve up the globe. During this Age ofExploration a newrange of beverages

cameto thefore, made possible by distillation,an alchemical process known in

theancient world butmuch improved byArab scholars. Distilled drinks provided

alcoholin acompact, durableformidealfor seatransport. Such drinksas

brandy, rum,and whiskeywere used ascurrency to buy slavesand became

particularly popular in the NorthAmerican colonies, wherethey becameso

politically contentious that they played a key rolein theestablishment ofthe United States. Hard on the heels ofthis geographicexpansion cameits intellectual

counterpart,as Western thinkers looked beyond long-held beliefs inherited from

the Greeksand devised newscientific, political,and economictheories. The

dominant drink ofthis Age ofReasonwascoffee,a mysteriousand fashionable

beverageintroduced to Europefromthe Middle East. Theestablishments that

sprung up to servecoffee had a markedly differentcharacter fromtaverns that

sold alcoholic drinks,and becamecenters ofcommercial, political,and

intellectualexchange. Coffee promoted clarity ofthought, making it theideal

drink for scientists, businessmen,and philosophers. Coffeehouse discussions led

to theestablishment ofscientificsocieties, thefounding of newspapers, the

establishment offinancialinstitutions,and provided fertile ground for

revolutionary thought, particularly in France.

In some European nations,and particularly inBritain,coffee waschallenged

by teaimported fromChina. Its popularity inEurope helped to open lucrative

traderoutes with the Eastand underpinned imperialismand industrialization on

an unprecedented scale,enablingBritain to becomethefirst globalsuperpower. Oncetea had established itselfas Britain's national drink, the desireto maintain

theteasupply had far-reaching effects onBritish foreign policy,contributing to

theindependence ofthe United States, the undermining ofChina'sancient

civilization,and theestablishment oftea production in India on an industrialscale. Although artificially carbonated beverages originated inEuropein thelate

eighteenth century, thesoft drink cameinto its ownwith theinvention ofCoca￾Cola one hundred years later. Originally devised asa medicinal pick-me-up by

anAtlanta pharmacist, it became America's national drink,an emblemofthe

vibrantconsumercapitalismthat helped to transformthe United States into a

superpower. Traveling alongside American servicemen as they fought wars

around the world during thetwentieth century, Coca-Cola went on to become

the world's most widely known and distributed productand is nowan icon ofthe

controversialmarch toward asingle globalmarketplace. Drinks have had acloserconnection to theflowof history than is generally

acknowledged,and a greater influence on itscourse. Understanding the

ramifications ofwho drank what,and why,and wherethey got it from, requires

thetraversal ofmany disparateand otherwise unrelated fields:the histories of

agriculture, philosophy, religion, medicine, technology,and commerce. Thesix

beverages highlighted in this book demonstratethecomplex interplay of different

civilizationsand theinterconnectedness ofworld cultures. They survivein our

homes today as living reminders of bygoneeras, fluid testaments to theforces

thatshaped the modernworld. Uncover their origins,and youmay never look at

your favorite drink in quitethesame way again.

BEER in

MESOPOTAMIA

and EGYPT

1

A Stone-Age Brew

Fermentation and civilization areinseparable. —John Ciardi, American poet (1916-86)

A Pint of Prehistory

THEHUMANS WHO migrated out ofAfricastarting around 50,000 years

ago traveled in small nomadic bands, perhaps thirty strong,and lived in caves,

huts, or skin tents. They hunted game,caught fish and shellfish,and gathered

edible plants, moving fromonetemporary camp to another to exploitseasonal

food supplies. Their tools included bowsand arrows, fishhooks,and needles.

But then, starting around 12,000 yearsago,aremarkableshift occurred. Humans in the Near Eastabandoned the old hunter-gatherer lifestyle ofthe

Paleolithic period (old stoneage)and began to take up farming instead, settling

down in villages which eventually grewto becomethe world's firstcities. They

also developed many newtechnologies, including pottery, wheeled vehicles,and writing.

Ever sincetheemergence of"anatomicallymodern"humans, or Homo sapiens

sapiens, inAfricaaround 150,000 yearsago, water had been humankind's basic

drink. Afluid of primordialimportance, itmakes up two-thirds ofthe human

body,and no life onEarth can exist without it. But with theswitch fromthe

hunter-gatherer lifestyleto a moresettled way oflife, humanscameto rely on a

newbeverage derived frombarley and wheat, thecereal grains that werethefirst

plants to be deliberately cultivated. This drink becamecentralto social, religious,

and economiclifeand was thestaple beverage oftheearliestcivilizations. It was

the drink that first helped humanity along the path to the modernworld: beer.

Exactlywhen thefirst beer was brewed is not known. There wasalmost

certainly no beer before 10,000 BCE, but it was widespread in the Near East by

4000 BCE, when itappears in a pictogramfromMesopotamia,aregion that

corresponds to modern-day Iraq, depicting two figures drinking beer through

reed straws fromalarge pottery jar. (Ancient beer had grains,chaff,and other