Six Drinks that Shaped Human History

History of the World in Six Glasses essay

The author of History of the World in Six Glasses proves that what we drink can affect history so much or than you then you think. The author shows us that beer caused nomads to settle down. He also tells us on how Greek wine affected how we socialize in public. He also expresses on how spirits started the Atlantic slave trade. Finally he shows us how coffee in England inspired revolution and thinking. This all together majorly these all together make human history as we know today.
The creation of beer in 10,000 BCE was the first major changing point in human civilization. Beer began as an accident it was found when water was left fermenting with wild grains for a few days this

made a drink that is safe to drink and easy this was called beer, this ‘malted” drink effected the diet of the nomads which was mostly wild animals such as deer, boars, gazelles and also had a plant based diet of acorns, lentils, chickpeas and wild cereals that were gathered than cultivated. This caused nomads to want to settle down to cultivate the cereal grains to beer and to make pottery to store beer, they made specialized rooms underground to store the beer this is because beer is a lot safer than normal water. Another reason nomads wanted to make and drink beer is because they believed it had divine origins from a greater god this was also a huge turning point in religious history. After beer became a staple drink in Mesopotamia and everywhere else in the world it was used in everything from wages to religious ceremonies. Since beer was used in wages, people needed a way to keep track of what they were paid, this is believed to have largely affected the creation of writing. Beer was the first to change human history and it made a big effect on throughout history.
Wine was thought to have been discovered around in the Neolithic age around 9000-3000 BCE but the effect of wines discovery has lasted to modern times. wine like its predecessor beer was discovered by accident when man in Zagros mountains where modern day northern Iraq is where grape vines naturally grow and after the invention of pottery attempts to keep and store grapes resulted in wine. Although when wine was first discovered it was believed like beer to have divine origins, the Greeks believed that the gods drank nectar and introduced wine for human consumption. the knowledge of winemaking was spread throughout the zagros mountains and the Mediterranean sea from Greece to Anatolia modern day turkey and Levant modern day Israel and Syria but its consumption was not popular but its religious use was very popular. Wine also was not used as an everyday drink, it was how wealthy people would show a large amount of wealth at their funerals, and kings were often buried with a large sum amount of wine. Wine was very expensive in the beginning this was it not cultivated as much as cereal grains and could only be grown in certain conditions. Different types of wine emerged as its popularity grew there was wine for slaves and wine for wealthy. Wine also helped with improvements to medicine, Galen proposed that illness was caused by imbalance in the body's four humors which were blood, phlegm, yellow bile and black bile these humor were affected the food you eat, food regarded as cold and wet would produce phlegm while hot and dry food would make yellow bile. Wine also affected the way we socialize and get together with the Greek symposion and it roman counterpart the convivium, these are equal to modern day parties where friends will get together and talk and play game. Wine also was used in many religious ceremonies, wine is in every religion, and in the bible Christ’s first miracle was turning six jar of water into wine. Wine was one of the most influential drink in history and its influence continues to today modern civilization.
Brandy, whisky, and rum all affected the colonization and exploration of America and changed how modern maps look.

distillation of these drink began originally in Arabic city of Cordoba the most cultured city at the time in the world it had parks paved roads palaces oil lamp to light the streets and advanced drainage and sewage systems and one of the biggest libraries at the time. Arab scholars were building upon the knowledge of the Greeks, Indians and the Persians, in their studies the made the astrolabe, algebra and the modern numerical system they also invented new medicines with herbs and invented new navigation techniques using the magnetic compass from the Chinese such as trigonometry and the nautical map, the Arabs also found a technique that gave rise to many new drinks this was distillation the process in which you vaporize a liquid and recondensing it to purify and separate its constituent parts. This was important because it made wine stronger because alcohol has a higher boiling point than water making it contain more alcohol and less water, doing this many times is called rectification. Spirits began as a technique known to a very few people. Spirits became very popular during the age of exploration because they were a durable compact form of alcohol, so popular that the taxation and control became political matters. Like the past 2 drinks spirits were used for medicinal purposes it was reputed to have miraculous healing powers. Exploration began with Portugal around the coast of West Coast of Africa and nearby Atlantic island, the Azores for example had the perfect climate for growing sugar a valuable resource. sugar was needed to make spirits and beer but sugar cane was extremely hard to grow unless the right climate also sugar cane needed a lot of manual labor although the Arabs made devices that make harvesting sugar easier it still needed lots of manpower. Slaves in Africa were originally kidnapped and forced to work on sugarcane farms

but the Portuguese’s so agreed to buy slaves from African traders this was the first time mass slavery had been seen since the roman times for religious reasons. over 11 million slaves were shipped to the new world during the Atlantic slave trade in 4 centuries the slave traders who took slaves traded for textiles, jugs, bowls, metals but by far the most were strong alcoholic drinks. Spirits were also used in wages for slaves and soldiers alike, this because it was so easy to transport overseas. After the popularity of spirits grew to unbelievable proportions many countries were trying to output the most amount of molasses possible and they also tried to out sell other opposing countries in an attempt to stop this England issued the molasses act, this act says that all molasses imported from foreign countries has a tax of six pence. In retaliation the American colonies often smuggled molasses for the French colonies the English officer who were trying to keep the act in place were in England and paid people to do their jobs in the Americas, England caught onto this very quickly and they cracked down on this by forcing the officers to travel to the Americas strictly monitoring them. Who knew that molasses and sugar could cause so many events both good and bad in history?
Coffee paved its way into history through