Many factors influenced the transition from a hunting and gathering lifestyle too mainly agricultural based one. One factor in this change was beer. After beer was discovered, it proved to become popular worldwide, becoming somewhat of a priority to some extent. The consumption of beer soon proved to be “socially and ritually important. ” In order to keep a steady supply of raw materials for the use of making beer, hunter-gatherers resulted to deliberate farming.
With deliberate farming, enter-gatherers didn’t depend on wild grains, but grains they can use to cultivate themselves. 2. Wine was believed to bring out the inner wisdom of an individual during the consumption. Men gathered in wine-drinking parties, sharing and discussing, their thoughts and beliefs, which began the development of philosophy. However, women were totally excluded from parties and were not allowed to drink wine as they were deemed unworthy of consuming such a powerful drink. 3.
Wine was fully adopted into the Christianity belief due to its association with Jesus and Bible stories. Islam prohibited the use of alcohol due to its effect on the consumer. The teachings of the Prophet Mohammed regarded wine as the cause of incidents between people and as hated by Allah. By forbidding wine, Muslims went against the norm separating themselves from other beliefs. 4. During the boom of coffee, the Arabs were the main supplier ultimately creating a monopoly as they held the market.
As the demand increased, other countries searched for a way to Join the coffee craze as it would become a main source of revenue. The Netherlands soon came a main distributor in coffee allowing them to replace Portugal as the dominant nation ruling the East Indies, ultimately allowing them to take control of the trade overseas. Soon after, France entered the new world of coffee. By taking over of the Arab monopoly of coffee it allowed countries in South America to Join the world of coffee allowing them to take control of the monopoly later down the road.
Since then South America has continued to rule the coffee business creating a steady income for the continent. 5. Tea in China was not only a money maker but it allowed the large entry to bring its dispersed citizens together. Being such a large producer of tea it brought big time customers such as Britain and Portugal. Thanks to the production of tea, China became an important place for trade in which many countries feuded over as they wanted to take control over many key ports within the country of China 6.
Coca-Cola is the representation of the American life wherever it is present. Coca-Cola represented the American ideals of spreading consumerism and democracy. It was seen as the national drink for Americans. 7. The books main focus is on Europe, I hint this is mostly due to the fact that most modern history took place in the old world. However, there are other parts of the world mentioned in the book, though not as much as Europe. The part of the world in which the author does not focus his attention is mostly in Latin America.
The author fails to go into depth about the Latin American culture and the events that occurred in and around the region. The criticism may be true; however the book gives a general view of the course of history. 8. As said in question seven I believe Latin America was mostly forgotten about. Although it was talked about it was very brief and Standard failed to mention any of the key events that led to the development of Latin America.
There could be many reasons for the failure of mention, but one reason could be that Latin America did not affect the European life and did not affect the history of which many of us white America citizens come from. With that their only major contribution to European history was the taking over of the coffee market. Lastly European countries did not interact to much with the other side of the world to later during the slave trade as hey would use Latin America’s ports, other than those few things they never really affected Rupee’s growth. . Beer has been the beverages go to since its creation in Early Mesopotamia as it served as the national currency, a dietary staple and even an important medicine. Beer forever changed the world as it brought upon the agricultural revolution, it ended hunter-gathering and led to the world’s first ever civilization – Mesopotamia. The drive to grow more barley in order to make more beer, led to an increasing amount of inventions.
The plough, the wheel, irrigation, mathematics and even writing, all of these world-changing innovations were created to help with the production and distribution of beer. 10. I found the book rather interesting. Personally, I liked it because after you read it, you will never drink a cup of coffee or a coke the same way. It is unbelievable how you have a piece of history in your hands when you are drinking coffee, a coke, tea, or a beer. It makes you think that history is not Just a narration of things that happened in the past, but also the present.