John Pemberton (1831–1888), Angelo Mariani (1838–1914)
In the late 1520s, when Francisco Pizarro and his conquistadores arrived in what is now Peru, the Incan Empire was the largest sovereignty in the Americas. Architecture was the most notable of the Incan arts, as exemplified by Machu Picchu, located 50 miles (80 km) from Cuzco, the empire’s historic capital.
For hundreds of years before the Spanish appeared, the coca leaf was viewed as a divine gift, chewed only by the Incan nobility and select groups in religious ceremonies. After the conquest in 1532, coca was democratized, enabling Andeans laboring in the gold and silver mines to work harder and longer, enduring pain and hunger more successfully.
Coca leaves were brought to Spain toward the end of the sixteenth century, but almost three centuries passed before European interest was aroused. In 1863, the French chemist Angelo Mariani introduced Vin Mariani. This coca-containing tonic in Bordeaux wine, proudly bearing Pope Leo XIII’s visage on advertising posters, was marketed for insomnia, nervousness, melancholy, impotence, and influenza.
The overwhelming financial success of Vin Mariani likely did not go unnoticed by John Pemberton, a Georgia druggist. In 1885, he originated Pemberton’s French Wine Cola, which was modified the following year to the nonalcoholic Coca-Cola; the coca was retained. Cola referred to the inclusion of an extract of the African kola nut that contained 2 percent caffeine. After enactment of the Pure Food and Drug Act in 1906, Coca-Cola was reformulated to substitute “decocainized” coca leaves for the natural leaves.
The coca leaf (Erythroxylon coca) grows on small trees native to the lower slopes of the Andes. As in earlier times, the leaves are sold in local markets and widely used by the indigenous people of the central Andean highlands of Bolivia, Colombia, Ecuador, and Peru. Several leaves are chewed at once, producing a favorable numbing and tingling sensation and mild stimulation, while suppressing feelings of hunger and pain.
SEE ALSO Cocaine (1884), Novocain (1905), Pure Food and Drug Act (1906), Xylocaine (1948).
Growing on the lower slopes of the Andes, coca leaves continue to be chewed or imbibed as brewed teas by the indigenous people. Over the years, the leaves have been used not only as a stimulant but also for a variety of medical conditions and as a component of worship services.