In the 1880s, the pharmacist John Pemberton invented Coca-Cola syrup, using the kola nut – a bitter, caffeine-rich seed which originates in West Africa – and coca leaf – the raw form of the South America drug cocaine. In 1893, the chemist Caleb B. Braham in North Carolina created Pepsi-Cola, also using the kola nut. In Scotland and England, pharmacists, too, produced a variety of kola-infused goods from 1887, including wines, lozenges and chocolates. In 1909, the explorer Ernest Shackleton consumed a combination of kola and coca in the form of Forced March tablets to allay hunger and increase endurance during his expedition to Antarctica. Later, these were also supplied to British soldiers during the First World War.
Coca-Cola and Pepsi-Cola both derive their names from an African word for kola, indicating how African cultures shaped the modern world. Among Temne speakers of West Africa, the nut is known as kͻla. This name was adopted by Europeans in the fifteenth century as they traded in the region. The word for kola in several European languages (Portuguese: cola, and English and French: kola) therefore reveals the legacy of West Africans, the first producers and traders of kola.
Your organisation does not have access to this article.
Sign up today to give your students the edge they need to achieve their best grades with subject expertise
Subscribe
