A brief history of alcohol - Rod Phillips
-
0:07 - 0:12This chimpanzee stumbles
across a windfall of overripe plums. -
0:12 - 0:14Many of them have split open,
-
0:14 - 0:18drawing him
to their intoxicating fruity odor. -
0:18 - 0:19He gorges himself
-
0:19 - 0:23and begins to experience some…
strange effects. -
0:23 - 0:26This unwitting ape
has stumbled on a process -
0:26 - 0:28that humans will eventually harness
-
0:28 - 0:33to create
beer, wine, and other alcoholic drinks. -
0:33 - 0:37The sugars in overripe fruit
attract microscopic organisms -
0:37 - 0:39known as yeasts.
-
0:39 - 0:44As the yeasts feed on the fruit sugars
they produce a compound called ethanol— -
0:44 - 0:47the type of alcohol
in alcoholic beverages. -
0:47 - 0:50This process is called fermentation.
-
0:50 - 0:52Nobody knows exactly when
-
0:52 - 0:55humans began
to create fermented beverages. -
0:55 - 1:00The earliest known evidence
comes from 7,000 BCE in China, -
1:00 - 1:02where residue in clay pots
-
1:02 - 1:05has revealed that people
were making an alcoholic beverage -
1:05 - 1:09from fermented rice, millet,
grapes, and honey. -
1:09 - 1:11Within a few thousand years,
-
1:11 - 1:15cultures all over the world
were fermenting their own drinks. -
1:15 - 1:20Ancient Mesopotamians and Egyptians
made beer throughout the year -
1:20 - 1:22from stored cereal grains.
-
1:22 - 1:25This beer
was available to all social classes, -
1:25 - 1:28and workers
even received it in their daily rations. -
1:28 - 1:30They also made wine,
-
1:30 - 1:33but because the climate
wasn’t ideal for growing grapes, -
1:33 - 1:36it was a rare and expensive delicacy.
-
1:36 - 1:40By contrast, in Greece and Rome,
where grapes grew more easily, -
1:40 - 1:45wine was as readily available
as beer was in Egypt and Mesopotamia. -
1:45 - 1:49Because yeasts
will ferment basically any plant sugars, -
1:49 - 1:51ancient peoples made alcohol
-
1:51 - 1:54from whatever crops and plants
grew where they lived. -
1:54 - 1:57In South America,
people made chicha from grains, -
1:57 - 2:00sometimes adding hallucinogenic herbs.
-
2:00 - 2:04In what’s now Mexico,
pulque, made from cactus sap, -
2:04 - 2:05was the drink of choice,
-
2:05 - 2:09while East Africans
made banana and palm beer. -
2:09 - 2:14And in the area that’s now Japan,
people made sake from rice. -
2:14 - 2:18Almost every region of the globe
had its own fermented drinks. -
2:18 - 2:21As alcohol consumption
became part of everyday life, -
2:21 - 2:26some authorities latched onto effects
they perceived as positive— -
2:26 - 2:29Greek physicians
considered wine to be good for health, -
2:29 - 2:32and poets
testified to its creative qualities. -
2:32 - 2:36Others were more concerned
about alcohol’s potential for abuse. -
2:36 - 2:39Greek philosophers promoted temperance.
-
2:39 - 2:44Early Jewish and Christian writers
in Europe integrated wine into rituals -
2:44 - 2:47but considered excessive intoxication
a sin. -
2:47 - 2:50And in the middle east,
Africa, and Spain, -
2:50 - 2:53an Islamic rule
against praying while drunk -
2:53 - 2:57gradually solidified
into a general ban on alcohol. -
2:57 - 3:02Ancient fermented beverages
had relatively low alcohol content. -
3:02 - 3:04At about 13% alcohol,
-
3:04 - 3:07the by-products wild yeasts
generate during fermentation -
3:07 - 3:10become toxic and kill them.
-
3:10 - 3:11When the yeasts die,
-
3:11 - 3:15fermentation stops
and the alcohol content levels off. -
3:15 - 3:19So for thousands of years,
alcohol content was limited. -
3:19 - 3:21That changed
with the invention of a process -
3:21 - 3:23called distillation.
-
3:23 - 3:279th century Arabic writings
describe boiling fermented liquids -
3:27 - 3:30to vaporize the alcohol in them.
-
3:30 - 3:33Alcohol boils
at a lower temperature than water, -
3:33 - 3:35so it vaporizes first.
-
3:35 - 3:39Capture this vapor, cool it down,
and what’s left is liquid alcohol -
3:39 - 3:44much more concentrated
than any fermented beverage. -
3:44 - 3:48At first, these stronger spirits
were used for medicinal purposes. -
3:48 - 3:51Then, spirits became
an important trade commodity -
3:51 - 3:55because, unlike beer and wine,
they didn’t spoil. -
3:55 - 3:57Rum made from sugar
-
3:57 - 3:59harvested in European colonies
in the Caribbean -
3:59 - 4:01became a staple for sailors
-
4:01 - 4:04and was traded to North America.
-
4:04 - 4:07Europeans brought
brandy and gin to Africa -
4:07 - 4:10and traded it
for enslaved people, land, -
4:10 - 4:12and goods like palm oil and rubber.
-
4:12 - 4:16Spirits became
a form of money in these regions. -
4:16 - 4:18During the Age of Exploration,
-
4:18 - 4:22spirits played a crucial role
in long distance sea voyages. -
4:22 - 4:26Sailing from Europe to east Asia
and the Americas could take months, -
4:26 - 4:29and keeping water fresh
for the crews was a challenge. -
4:29 - 4:34Adding a bucket of brandy
to a water barrel kept water fresh longer -
4:34 - 4:39because alcohol is a preservative
that kills harmful microbes. -
4:39 - 4:40So by the 1600s,
-
4:40 - 4:44alcohol had gone from
simply giving animals a buzz -
4:44 - 4:50to fueling global trade and exploration—
along with all their consequences. -
4:50 - 4:51As time went on,
-
4:51 - 4:55its role in human society
would only get more complicated.
- Title:
- A brief history of alcohol - Rod Phillips
- Speaker:
- Rod Phillips
- Description:
-
View full lesson: https://ed.ted.com/lessons/a-brief-history-of-alcohol-rod-phillips
Nobody knows exactly when humans began to create fermented beverages. The earliest known evidence comes from 7,000 BCE in China, where residue in clay pots has revealed that people were making an alcoholic beverage from fermented rice, millet, grapes, and honey. So how did alcohol come to fuel global trade and exploration? Rod Phillips explores the evolution of alcohol.
Lesson by Rod Phillips, directed by Anton Bogaty.
- Video Language:
- English
- Team:
- closed TED
- Project:
- TED-Ed
- Duration:
- 04:56
lauren mcalpine edited English subtitles for A brief history of alcohol | ||
lauren mcalpine edited English subtitles for A brief history of alcohol | ||
lauren mcalpine edited English subtitles for A brief history of alcohol | ||
lauren mcalpine edited English subtitles for A brief history of alcohol | ||
lauren mcalpine edited English subtitles for A brief history of alcohol | ||
Elise Haadsma approved English subtitles for A brief history of alcohol | ||
Elise Haadsma accepted English subtitles for A brief history of alcohol | ||
lauren mcalpine edited English subtitles for A brief history of alcohol |