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The Golden Age of Stimulants
Four plants helped the early modern world stay wired
In 1662, the 24-year-old Catherine of Braganza left her native Portugal to marry English King Charles II. The marriage was, like so many other royal unions of the time, not a love match. It was a political arrangement, in which England would get the islands of Bombay, Tangier, and cash in exchange for military aid to Portugal as it fought against Spain. The fact that Catherine would have to spend the rest of her life with a man she’d never met was incidental.
By all accounts, Catherine’s 23 years of marriage to the king were relatively unhappy. She was Catholic at a time of great religious turmoil in England, which sparked suspicion among the British. At one point, she was accused of being part of a treasonous plot to assassinate her husband on behalf of the Pope.
She suffered several miscarriages, never producing an heir, while Charles blatantly sought the company of other women (Catherine reportedly passed out when Charles presented one of his mistresses to her).
She seems to have been a relatively unhappy, misunderstood, and isolated figure, trapped in an arranged marriage far from her homeland.
Catherine is one of those semi-tragic figures who wanders in and out of history without having much effect. In fact, one of her biggest impacts may not have been something she did but something she brought with her to England.
In addition to a bunch of cash and some territory, Catherine brought in her dowry a chest of tea.
The vigorous Portuguese trade with China had introduced the new drink to Europe in the 1500s, but tea was still exotic in England.
Catherine changed that. King Charles got hooked on tea, and so did many of the members of the British court who wanted to emulate the royal couple. Soon the East India Company was importing tea by the ton.
The long British love affair with tea was underway.
But tea wasn’t the only stimulating substance that spread around the world in this period. In fact, the 1600s and 1700s were a veritable golden age of stimulants.
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