Coca-Cola Sells First: A Global Brand Is Born
Pharmacist John Pemberton sold his new carbonated concoction, Coca-Cola, as a patent medicine for the first time in Atlanta. This single transaction launched a global empire that would eventually redefine soft drink culture and become one of the world's most recognizable brands.
May 8, 1886
140 years ago
Key Figures & Places
What Else Happened on May 8
The Zhi family thought they'd won when they flooded Jinyang's walls—until the Zhao and Wei families switched sides mid-siege and turned those same waters agains…
The emperor who famously cared more about his chickens than his empire signed tax relief for seven Italian provinces in 413—after the Visigoths had already burn…
King Reccared I convened the Third Council of Toledo to formally renounce his Arian faith in favor of Nicene Christianity. This conversion unified the Visigothi…
The bishops who walked into Toledo that May carried weapons under their robes. Visigothic Arianism had ruled Spain for two centuries—father and son weren't the …
King Edward III and King John II halted the Hundred Years' War by signing the Treaty of Brétigny, granting England sovereignty over vast swathes of southwestern…
She asked for death and got sixteen visions instead. Julian of Norwich, thirty years old and desperately ill in May 1373, received last rites from her priest. T…
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