Edward R. Murrow High School Tasfia Tabassum

Ms. Bluestone DUE: August 15, 2013

A.P. European History: Summer Assignment

Certain drinks have advanced history in many ways. Not only have they caused people to

change their ways, but have provided them with intellectual, social, and political knowledge. Tom

Sandage, the author of A History of the World in Six Glasses, discusses how each unique yet

influential drink, beer, wine, spirits, coffee, tea, and Coca Cola, have left a mark from ancient

times to the modern day. Each beverage has their own individual significance in their time period

but has connected world history together, showing the impact they have on each other. In the book,

A History of the World in Six Glasses by Tom Standage, the sales of the six various beverages left

social, economic, and political impacts in ancient times and in European history.

Beer has caused social, economic, and political impacts in Mesopotamia and Egypt by

changing the lifestyle of the ancient nomads. Discovered during the Neolithic Period in the Fertile

Crescent, beer was a drink made out of cereal grains. Once it had become popular among the

nomads, the nomads took upon farming and left their hunter-gatherer lifestyle behind to continue

getting a supply of beer and cereal grains. This transition and social change led to an increase in

agriculture, an increase in settlements, and the start of societies. The Mesopotamians and

Egyptians soon made beer a part of their daily diet and started using it as medicine. Therefore, they

understood that it was safe and nutritional, unlike the contaminated water available. Before long,

cities started rising and people used beer and bread as wages for jobs, used it as currency, and used

it as tax. Thus economically, beer brought edible wealth. Furthermore, beer was used religiously to

please the gods. The religious activities, as well as public activities, were directed by

administrator-priests, hence, setting up the basis of a system of government and leaving a political

impact. The discovery of beer impacted the first civilizations in various ways, while leading the

ancient world down a path of modernity like the drinks that

came after it.

The sale of wine had great impacts on Greece and Rome. Produced during the Neolithic

period, the exotic wine was only available to countries like Mesopotamia. The Greeks wanted a

hold of the expensive drink, so they started cultivating grapevines, later influencing the Romans to

do the same. In Greece and Rome, the increase in wine production caused a lot of long distance

trade to different countries, helping them control trade routes like the Mediterranean Sea. As a

result, this economic change allowed these countries to get very wealthy, become powerful centers

of trade, increase in population, and cause cultural diffusion. However, when wine became widely

available, both the upper and lower classes drank it, creating the need for social distinctions. The

Greek and Roman classes differentiated themselves based on the age and type of wine drunk,

which showed one’s status, wealth, and power. Therefore, the rank of society had changed. Along

with this, wine caused drinking parties where men would mix wine with water. The Greeks had

symposiums, where ‘privileged’ men would drink from the same krater and show equality amongst

them, whereas the Romans had conviviums, where men were individually served different wine

based on their place in society, showing a class system. This social change modified the way

people got together. Additionally, wine had also caused a political change once the Roman Empire

had fallen. After the fall of the empire, wine production still continued. Since wine was closely

connected to Christianity, it spread religion throughout Europe. As a result, the Christian churches

had power over its people and Europe became Christian Europe. Moreover, wine changed Greece

and Rome and there are more drinks that do the same to other countries.

Spirits, an alcoholic beverage, left impacts in the Colonial Period. Produced by the process

of distillation, spirits, such as brandy and rum, became drinks that played major roles in the Age of

Exploration and the slave trade. The Age of Exploration was a time when European explorers set

out to sea to set up colonies and empires in different countries. These distilled drinks set to sea

with the explorers and provided them with alcohol and other uses because they didn’t spoil on long

voyages. For example, brandy was used as currency and bought slaves from the African traders to

be used for sugar production in the established colonies. This drink was what started the slave

trade. But once rum was produced from the unused products of sugar production, it replaced

brandy and strengthened the slave trade. This economic change brought a lot of profit to the

Europeans because they used rum to buy slaves that produced sugar and the unused products could

be made into more rum to buy more slaves. Therefore, the supply of slaves, sugar, and rum all

increased. Rum was also used as currency and was used to pay slaves, guards, and canoemen.

However, after rum became a popular drink in the colonies, a political change came about. For

example, Britain and the Americans fought the American Revolution in 1775 partially due to

unfair taxes on rum and molasses, prohibition to trade with other countries, and the many acts that

were passed. As a result, after many years, the colonies became the United States of America, a

new nation, and ruled their own way. Spirits changed the course of history by impacting the Age of

Exploration and the slave trade, which started a new beginning.

Coffee, a non-alcoholic beverage, has caused social, economic, and political impacts during

the Age of Reason. First appearing in the Arab world, coffee has spread throughout Europe in the

17th century, advancing thinkers. It was the first non-alcoholic drink next to water and was

preferred over alcoholic drinks because it was safe due to being boiled. Therefore this was a social

change because people chose coffee over drinks like beer and wines, helping them stay alert. Once

coffee became popular in other countries, Arabia was the supplier of the coffee beans and they

increased their production. This economic change brought a lot of money to the Arabs and gave

them control of the coffee market for the whole world depended on them. However, their

monopoly soon ended when the Dutch and French started to set up coffee plantations and supplied

coffee. With coffee, though, came coffeehouses, which played a major role in creating changes.

Coffeehouses were public places where people drank coffee and discussed things like the latest

news, politics, philosophy, business, and science. Another social change that coffeehouses brought

was that it brought people together and made them be all socially equal. This is because in

coffeehouses, people left all of their social differences outside and came into a calm and friendly

environment. Coffeehouses also acted as stock markets, helping people with finance. This was an

economic change because it allowed coffeehouse trade and soon led to the London Stock

Exchange. Furthermore, in the 18th century, coffee causes a revolution known as the

Enlightenment. The Enlightenment was a movement where people opened up to new ideas in

philosophy, science, politics, and religion, transitioning from the knowledge of the Old World.

This historical event came about in coffeehouses, where people expressed their thoughts freely

without being in fear. This led to a political change in Paris and London, where the government

became strict and sent spies around in coffeehouses to make sure nobody spoke or printed

newspaper against them. This was a political change because the government changed the way

they acted and set up really strict rules. Overall, coffee and coffeehouses helped modernize the

Age of reason which helped advance history like many drinks.