Essay The History of the World in Six Glasses

1. One of the many acheivments of the arabs was a technique that gave rise to a new range in drinks(distillation). It involved vaporizing and then re-condensing a liquid in order to separate and purify its constituent parts. The Greeks became familiar with this technique, it became dominant. European explorers established colonies and then empires around the world.

Something that has an impact on world history caused important events in that history. In regards to beverages, spirits caused notable events that influenced the course of history. Spirits had the biggest impact on world history because of spirits’ important roles in the slave trade, the American Revolution, and the Whiskey Rebellion.

A) Unlike alcohol’s intoxicating effect, which made people sleepy and dulled their minds, coffee woke people up and made scientists, clerks, merchants and other businessmen more alert throughout the long workday. Coffeehouses also became places for people to exchange and listen to new ideas and theories in areas such as natural history, chemistry,

Spirits helped build and shape America through trade. Rum played a big role in the triangular

Plantation owners also used rum as an incentive for slaves to work harder. Rum made plantations more profitable as well; plantation owners distilled molasses, consisting of waste products from the cane refining process, into rum, which was then “used to buy slaves, with which to produce sugar, and so on and so on” (Standage 110). The triangle trade and the Middle Passage were not possible without rum. Caribbean sugar plantations bought slaves either directly or indirectly from Africa; they then sold molasses to distilleries in New England. Merchants from New England, in turn, bought slaves with the newly distilled rum, making the slave trade “self-fueling and far more profitable” (Standage 111). More slaves meant more sugar, which meant more rum - which, in turn, meant more slaves to produce sugar. Ergo, the introduction of rum started a self-catalytic reaction which increased

Europe has had a long history of slave trade already by the time the 16th century came around. Many slaves worked on various types of plantations where they would grow sugar, tobacco, and coffee beans, creating large amounts of profit. All of

When the Americas were just beginning to form, spirits accelerated their colonialism. At first, sugarcane production was introduced to the Western Indies or Caribbean Islands by Christopher Columbus. The West Indies land was not suitable to grow wine vines or grains for beer, instead Columbus introduced sugar canes to the Indies, creating a major sugar plantation in the West

A History of the World in 6 Glasses by Tom Standage is a non-fiction historical novel, whose main purpose is to show the surprisingly pervasive influence of certain drinks on the course of history. Then it takes the reader on a journey through time to show the history of mankind through the lens of beverages.

1. From which advanced civilization/culture did Europeans get the “science” of how to make spirits?

The perspectives of African slave merchants, the female slaves, and the plantation workers in the Americans which are missing in this collection might add other dimensions to our understanding of this commerce in people. Knowing the perspective of the African slave merchants who were present during the slave trade in Africa would have

Saffron proved to be an equally important trade because of the high value that was placed on it. Not only did it add intense and wonderful flavor to food, but during a time where there were no refrigerators, saffron helped preserve food. Slaves, another major source of trade, had the strongest influence since they were the most valuable “goods” and they were the most traded/bought goods. Slavery not only played a key factor then, but would do so in centuries to follow as well.

The primary source I selected was “ Alexander Falconbridge’s account of the slave trade”. This story gave insight into the treatment of slaves on the slave ships and the trade process that occurred upon arrival at the intended destination. Walter Johnson’s “Slavery” is supported by the details listed in Alexander Falconbridge account of the slave trade. In paragraph two of Slavery, Johnson writes about the purpose of slavery and the context that they were used in. This relates to Falconbridge’s depiction but the details from the latter allowed us to get an impression into the experiences slaves endured. In reading Slavery the author was trying to relay the message about the horrors of slavery and it as a necessity to the development of the American culture. While Falconbridge’s account does not indicate anything about the effect of slavery on America it does give a meticulous atmosphere for what it was like from the time slaves entered the slave ships to the arrival and trade.

Slavery became an established activity in America by 1600’s. The slaves were mostly to provide free and cheap labor. Apart from America, slavery was practiced in other parts of the world throughout history, and in fact it can be traced back to the time of the ancient civilization. With industrial revolution especially with the rise of sugar plantations, the slaves were used to grow sugar in the periods from 1100. This intensified between 1400 and 1500 when Portugal and Spain ventured into sugar growing in the eastern Atlantic regions. The growth of the plantations required labor, hence African slaves were bought from Africa, to provide labor.

The slave trade was very important to the British economy. Without the slave trade, the triangular trade would not have taken place. This is because there would have been no reason to trade slaves from Africa for goods in the West Indies and the USA. Because there were so many slaves being traded, there was plenty of sugar being exported from the sugar plantations to Britain (3,750 tons in 1951 to 9,525 tons in 1669) due to the increase in labour. This trade of sugar had a big impact on the British economy. Because of the large quantities of sugar being produced by African slaves, sugar was able to become a staple food in Britain. “The poorest English farm labourer’s wife took sugar in her tea” which suggests that even the poorest of

In the Renaissance, slaves were starting to be used in plantations, mostly in America, but also in plantations in Italy and off the coast of Africa (Gascoigne). So, in both the Renaissance and the Industrial Revolution, at least some slaves were used for hard labor. The Portuguese were the first to put slaves to work in plantations, and slaves soon came to be used on plantations in the Americas by nations such as Spain, Holland, France, England, and the Netherlands. The first slaves they enslaved in these colonies were the native peoples, but soon, the native population began to dwindle. Since Portugal had been exploring the coast of Africa and since Africa had a booming population of people, Africans became the people they predominantly enslaved (Guild). Thus, racial slavery was started. Blacks came to be viewed as lower than human, and this view spread to all the nations which came to have plantations in America. Millions of blacks were imported to plantations for sugar, spices, tobacco, coffee, etc. during the span of the Renaissance (Hornsby).