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Winston Churchill even once declared,
“The gin and tonic drink has saved more Englishmen’s lives, and minds, than all the doctors in the Empire.”
India: the jewel of the British Empire. While Britain colonized this vast country throughout the 19th century, a large part of travelers and colonists suffered from malaria. The fever has a history of ravaging scores of Europeans, but in the 17th century the Spanish discovered that indigenous peoples in present-day Peru used a bark to treat various fevers. A stolen cinchona bark became a favored treatment for malaria in Europe. It was soon learned that it not only treated malaria, it worked preventatively.
The active ingredient within the bark, quinine, became a powerful weapon for the British Empire, as it allowed its soldiers to rule in distant lands. However, there was one problem. Quinine powder was intensely bitter and hard to swallow. Naturally, the Brits diluted it in sugar water and “tonic water” in its earliest form was born.
“The gin and tonic drink has saved more Englishmen’s lives, and minds, than all the doctors in the Empire.”
India: the jewel of the British Empire. While Britain colonized this vast country throughout the 19th century, a large part of travelers and colonists suffered from malaria. The fever has a history of ravaging scores of Europeans, but in the 17th century the Spanish discovered that indigenous peoples in present-day Peru used a bark to treat various fevers. A stolen cinchona bark became a favored treatment for malaria in Europe. It was soon learned that it not only treated malaria, it worked preventatively.
The active ingredient within the bark, quinine, became a powerful weapon for the British Empire, as it allowed its soldiers to rule in distant lands. However, there was one problem. Quinine powder was intensely bitter and hard to swallow. Naturally, the Brits diluted it in sugar water and “tonic water” in its earliest form was born.
History of Gin and Tonic that Kept British Empire Healthy
Winston Churchill once said Gin and Tonic has saved more lifes of Englishmen and kept the British empire healthy. Know more about the history of life saving gin and tonic.
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