The first coffeehouse opened in Constantinople

Coffee brewing likely originated in Ethiopa and the Arabian Peninsula

A mixture of merchants and colonialism then launched the drink across Europe and the New World. Many European coffee traditions, like the Viennese custom of serving it alongside a small cup of water, are remnants of how coffee has been prepared in the Middle East for centuries.

In the 1600s, coffee had religious significance

In the 1600s, coffee was important in multiple religious traditions. In Yemen, it was the drink of choice for Sufi mystics to improve their focus and fuel their grueling meditations. Pope Clement VIII's approval spread coffee’s popularity from the Muslim to the Christian world, paving the way for the cappuccino.

The aqueducts and cisterns of Constantinople

The system of aqueducts that supplied Byzantine Constantinople with water had more than 500 kilometers of channels. These channels fed hundreds of cisterns. The largest were open pools (one, now drained, houses an entire modern shopping center); but the most impressive were vast covered chambers like the Basilica Cistern, still a highlight of any visit to Istanbul.

After the Boston Tea Party, colonists switched to coffee, which became the main morning drink for revolutionaries.

After the Boston Tea Party (1773), colonists boycotted tea and turned to coffee, with coffeehouses becoming hubs for revolutionary discussions. The stimulating import from the Caribbean helped shape the nascent American taste.

The history of coffee

From its likely origins in what is now Ethiopia to today's worldwide consumption, this video uses a map to show how coffee conquered the world. Follow along and see how pilgrimages and centuries of trade influenced the spread of the beverage we all know so well.

Before it was a drink, coffee was used for handwashing.

The unusual connection between Venice and Byzantium

This article explores the complicated relationship between Venice and the Byzantine Empire. Venice grew up in the shadow of Byzantium, serving as a trade partner and faithful ally for centuries. Gradually, relations grew hostile, and Venetian ships would carry the Fourth Crusade to its fateful rendezvous with Constantinople. Visitors to San Marco can still see marble and porphyry from Constantinople, built into the walls of Venice’s preeminent church.

Visualizing Byzantium in the year 1200

This is a computer reconstruction of the Byzantine capital at its apogee, just before the Fourth Crusade. Alongside detailed renderings of the Hippodrome and Hagia Sophia, it includes dozens of the imperial city’s less famous monuments, many of which can still be found in modern Istanbul. The reconstruction is a work in progress, and the Byzantium 1200 X account routinely posts updates.

The Chora Church, the height of Byzantine art

The Palaeologan Renaissance took place in the final centuries of Byzantium, and in the face of steep political and economic decline. Perhaps the movement’s most famous artistic product is the Chora Church in Istanbul. Renovated in the early fourteenth century by Theodore Metochites, a learned court official, the church features remarkably vibrant mosaics and frescoes. Although the building was recently reconverted into a mosque, most of its decorations are still visible.

Turkish delight recipes were initially kept secret

The chewy confection dates back to the 1700s, and initially was served at the sultan's court. The palace's secret recipes were eventually published in one of the earliest Ottoman cookbooks by Mehmet Kamil.

Rise and fall of the Byzantine Empire in 60 seconds

In 330 CE, Emperor Constantine made the bold move of shifting the Roman capital to Byzantium and renaming it Constantinople. This decision helped shape the Eastern Roman Empire, or what we now call the Byzantine Empire. Here’s how the city rose to global prominence, and why its legacy lingers today.

Exploring the Hippodrome of Constantinople

The Hippodrome had room for about 80,000 spectators (more than the Colosseum, but less than Rome’s Circus Maximus). It was simultaneously Constantinople’s premier entertainment venue and its greatest political theater: the emperor routinely watched the games, and sometimes communicated with the crowd through a herald. The worst riot in Byzantine history, the Nika Revolt, began when the factions of the Hippodrome united in opposition to Justinian.

European colonization contributed to coffee's spread

European colonization created channels for large-scale coffee exports with workforces based in Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean. Trade routes throughout the Middle East and the rest of the world carried the drink to new shores and changed the agricultural and economic landscapes of the countries in the Bean Belt.

In 1694, a Sicilian in Paris opened the first gelateria, a precursor to the ice cream parlor.

The impressive walls of Constantinople

This video explores the land walls of Constantinople, built on the orders of Theodosius II in the mid-fifth century. They consisted of a triple line of defenses, studded with hundreds of towers and supplemented with a moat. The walls were besieged dozens of times, but were only broken in 1453 by the power of Ottoman cannons. As repaired by the Ottomans, the walls are still largely intact today.

Historians believe the first modern restaurant was opened in 1765

A Parisian soup salesman named Boulanger is often credited with opening the first modern restaurant and was renowned for serving meat in poulette sauce.

Hagia Sophia, Istanbul's most famous and controversial landmark

A short video about the iconic Byzantine church. Still Istanbul’s most famous and, since its reconversion to a mosque, most controversial building. The recognizable dome has partially collapsed several times over the centuries, but remains a marvel of engineering. The mosaics, though fragmentary, are among the finest ever created and trace both the gradual evolution and the remarkable continuity of Byzantine art.

A medieval Italian visits Constantinople

In the tenth century, the Holy Roman Emperor Otto I sent Liudprand of Cremona, an Italian bishop, to Constantinople on a diplomatic mission. He was not successful. But the very undiplomatic report he sent back to the emperor about his experiences provides a unique – and often very entertaining – look at life and ceremony in the Byzantine capital, dramatically different from anything in Liudprand’s Italy.

Over one million people are estimated to travel to Istanbul each year for hair transplants.

Toasting goes back to at least ancient Greece

The Greeks regularly held symposia featuring wine, food, music, entertainment, and intellectual conversation, hosted by a symposiarch, who acted as emcee. The wine was often drunk in honor of Dionysus, the god of wine and ritual madness, which often led to excess.

The underground cities of the Byzantine Empire

This TED-Ed video explores the mysterious cave cities of Cappadocia. Although their oldest sections may go back to the Bronze Age, most of these subterranean complexes were excavated during the Byzantine period, when the locals went underground to take shelter from Arab raiders. Monasteries were also cut into pinnacles of the local tufa, and decorated with frescoes that have often survived to the present.

In 1963, a basement renovation in Turkey revealed a passageway to a hidden, multilevel underground city that once housed as many as 20,000 people.

The medieval influencer who convinced people to drink tea

This article explains how the world shifted from mostly eating tea, whether as leaves to be chewed or caffeinated soup to be slurped, to drinking it. Lu Yu's first exposure to tea in the 700s didn't go so well, with him reviewing the concoction as...

Why did the Ottoman Empire violently target Armenians during WWI?

In anticipation of threatened Allied landings at the strategically important Gallipoli peninsula, Ottoman authorities arrested 240 Armenian leaders in Constantinople on April 24, 1915, and deported them east. This roundup is commemorated today by Armenians as the beginning of the genocide, according to this article.

The first-ever IPO was issued by the Dutch East India Co., a spice company.

It first offered shares to the public in the 1600s on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange to help finance its passages. The Dutch East India Co. succeeded in part due to its monopolistic hold over the East Indies at the time.

The Middle Ages produced inventions that still affect our lives today, like coffee houses and improved agricultural techniques.

The century-long debate over religious images in Byzantium

The iconoclast controversy, which tore Byzantium apart in the eighth and ninth centuries, centered on the use of sacred images (or icons) in Christian worship. The Iconoclasts (literally, “icon smashers”) regarded sacred images as sacrilegious; their opponents, the Iconophiles (“icon lovers”), defended icons as aids to personal devotion. After decades of struggle, the Iconophiles prevailed; their victory ensured that icons, and the brilliant mosaics inspired by them, remained a feature of Byzantine churches.

The Silk Road was an ancient series of trade routes between East Asia and Europe

Founded by the Han Chinese in 130 BCE, the Silk Road was a series of trade routes connecting eastern China with the Mediterranean and the rest of Europe. The Persians created a predecessor series of routes, but the Chinese solidified the Silk Road, where travelers traded commerce, ideas, and more.

The world's first webcam was invented in the early 1990s by scientists at Cambridge Computer Laboratory to monitor a coffee pot for researchers working in different labs on various floors.

The origin and history of stock exchanges

When were stocks first sold? Though debt was first sold in Venice in the 14th century, stocks proper began in the Netherlands. To fund its spice trade across the world in 1602, the Dutch East India Company sold stocks to individual investors, a novel approach to raising funds. It was the Dutch West India Company that founded New York—the site of some of the world’s greatest stock exchanges. Listen to a concise historical overview here.

London bankers created the first clearinghouse to process checks in 1770

Until that time, each banker was required to bring that day's checks to every other bank for settlement. Perhaps understandably, the first place bankers opted to gather to clear and settle checks was a tavern known as the Five Bells. The innovation gave rise to what would become clearinghouses, key institutions that facilitate payments.

Pompeii had cafés, nightlife, public baths, and even local elections

This BBC History guide highlights how recognizably modern Pompeii was, from its cafés and bustling public bathing complexes to its theaters, bars, and active voting culture. Historian Mary Beard reveals the city’s surprisingly contemporary feel.

The word 'toasting' goes back to the 17th century and likely refers to an outdated tradition about placing toast in wine.

Opium's history traces from religious use to mass-market commercial products

Religious or medical use of opium was present across Europe and Asia as early as 5000 BCE. By the 16th century, humanity had come to see opium as more than medicine: It was a marketable product. This perspective also defines today's relationship with opioids, highly addictive painkillers at the heart of an ongoing drug crisis.

Medieval taverns offered patrons a limited menu

Inns, taverns, and alehouses were more like bars than restaurants, though they did offer patrons (often travelers) food, it wasn't laid out on a diverse menu. Instead, the establishments offered a limited menu, often consisting of a single stew, and hungry customers could grab a bowl to go along with their alcohol.

Tour the ancient world via beer

What did the people of yesterday make of beer, and how exactly did they make it? Explore the timeless beverage in this guide to ancient beers from around the world. Archaeological evidence suggests the rise of beer brewing may have coincided with humanity's shift from hunters to farmers. According to this article, beer was first enjoyed in ancient Mesopotamia, where paintings, poems, and myths glorified the porridge-like brew.

The Greek city of Alexandria in Egypt helped form the template for modern cities by considering function, commerce, culture, and politics.

Cookies were originally used as low-stakes ways to test the temperature of an oven

In 7th century Persia, bakers used small mounds of dough to test the heat in ovens before baking larger cakes. Afterward, they'd add honey, nuts, and other items to the small mounds, creating early cookies.

During the Medieval Period, urban populations grew significantly

As workers moved from fields to cities throughout the era, large metropolises of enduring strategic importance were formed from Paris, France, to Baghdad, Iraq.

The first ATM—dubbed a 'cash dispenser'—was installed in 1967 in London

Specifically, the first ATM (which stands for “automatic teller machine”) made its debut at a Barclays bank in London. A timeline of ATM history can help illustrate and visualize other key events in ATM history.

Turkey likely wasn't served at the first Thanksgiving

There is no record of turkey on that first table, though one account vaguely refers to "fowl." The meal mostly consisted of seafood and venison.

Turkey likely wasn't served at the first Thanksgiving

There is no record of turkey on that first table, though one account vaguely refers to "fowl." The meal mostly consisted of seafood and venison.

Starbucks operates more than 38,000 stores on six continents

The brand started with a single Seattle cafe and grew into an international sensation, thanks to former CEO Howard Schulz’s bold move toward “reigniting the emotional attachment with customers” rather than focusing on expansion.

Coffee production took off in the 1800s

Coffee production in South America took off in the 1800s, with Brazil establishing itself as the largest global producer in the 1840s. Today, the country grows over one-third of the world's beans and consistently leads in global coffee production, with other Latin American countries like Colombia and Guatemala.

The oldest restaurants in the US

This list features several establishments that have been around since before the Declaration of Independence, including the White Horse Tavern, in Newport, Rhode Island, and New York's Fraunces Tavern, where George Washington dismissed his troops at the end of the Revolutionary War.

Five happy hour stories from around the world

If you need some fun facts to make conversation at your next office happy hour, look no further than this video. It includes five stories about pub life, from a look inside a company that turns tap handles into works of art to a search for the oldest pub in the world.

What was the Fourth Crusade?

Originally destined for Jerusalem, the Crusaders became entangled in a Byzantine civil war, and found themselves besieging the greatest city in Christendom. After breaching the sea walls and subjecting the city to the worst sack in its history, they installed a Flemish nobleman as Latin emperor of Constantinople.

Trade and conquest carried chess into Europe by the 11th century

After spreading through Persia, chess traveled along Islamic military and trade routes into North Africa and Moorish Spain by the 10th century. By the 11th century, it had taken root across much of Europe, flourishing in courts and monasteries.

The company building Irish pubs across the globe

The Irish Pub Company is a Dublin-based business specializing in designing Irish pubs around the world. The outfit has created over 2,000 custom Irish pubs in over 100 countries, each with its own distinctive flair incorporating essential features of the classic Irish pub. Read about the founders and their clients here.

Europe’s first universities emerged from medieval church school

The modern university can be traced back to the Middle Ages, when schools in Italy, France, and England initially trained clergy before expanding to include lay students. By the 10th and 11th centuries, they taught law, medicine, and theology across Europe.