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J.C. Mayfield

J.C. Mayfield

J.C. Mayfield, an American businessman, bought one third of the rights to the Pemberton Medicine Company (founded by John Pemberton) in 1888. Mayfield was under the mistaken impression that he had acquired the rights to Coca-Cola, but in fact Pemberton had already sold a stake to the formula to two other individuals, Margaret Dozier and Woolfolk Walker. Moreover, Pemberton sold the rights to manufacture Coca-Cola a second time that year, to Asa Candler. Mayfield nevertheless reincorporated the Pemberton Medicine Company in 1894, as the Wine Coca Company, and attempted to continue selling Coca-Cola (under the name of Pemberton's French Wine Coca, but with the formula modified to resemble Coke). His ex-wife, under the pseudoname Diva Brown also attempted to sell a Coca-Cola imitation, called My-Cola. She claimed her beverage used Pemberton's original formula, although Mayfield disputed it.

United States

:For alternative meanings, see the disambiguation page for US, USA, United States, or American. The United States of America is a federal democratic republic situated primarily in central North America. It comprises 50 states and one federal district, and has several territories. It is also referred to, with varying formality, as the United States, the U.S., the U.S.A., the States, or simply and most commonly, America. The official founding date of the United States is July 4, 1776, when the Second Continental Congress—representing thirteen British colonies—adopted the Declaration of Independence. However, the structure of the government was profoundly changed in 1788, when the states replaced the Articles of Confederation with the United States Constitution. The date on which each of the fifty states adopted the Constitution is typically regarded as the date that state "entered the Union" (became part of the United States). Since the mid-20th century, following World War II, the United States has emerged as a dominant global influence in economic, political, military, scientific, technological, and cultural affairs.

Geography and climate

The United States shares land borders with Canada (to the north) and Mexico (to the south), and territorial water boundaries with Canada, Russia, the Bahamas, and numerous smaller nations. It is otherwise bounded by the Pacific Ocean and the Bering Sea, in the west; the Arctic Ocean, in the northernmost areas; and the Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Caribbean Sea, in the eastern and southeastern areas. Forty-eight of the states are in the single region between Canada and Mexico; this group is referred to, with varying precision and formality, as the continental or contiguous United States, sometimes abbreviated CONUS, and as the Lower 48. Alaska, which is not included in the term contiguous United States, is at the northwestern end of North America, separated from the Lower 48 by Canada. The archipelago of Hawaii is in the Pacific Ocean. The capital city, Washington, District of Columbia is a federal district located on land donated by the state of Maryland. (Virginia also donated land, but it was returned in 1847.) The United States also has overseas territories with varying levels of independence and organization. When inland water is included in the total area, only Russia and Canada are larger than the United States; if inland water is excluded, China ranks third and the U.S. ranks fourth. The United States' total area is 3,718,711 square miles (9,631,418 km²), of which land makes up 3,537,438 square miles (9,161,923 km²) and water makes up 181,273 square miles (469,495 km²). The United States' landscape is one of the most varied among those of the world's nations: among its many features are temperate forestland and rolling hills, on the east coast; mangrove, in Florida; the Great Plains, in the center of the country; the Mississippi–Missouri river system; the Great Lakes, four of the five of which are shared with Canada; the Rocky Mountains, west of the Great Plains; deserts and temperate coastal zones, west of the Rocky Mountains; and temperate rain forests, in the Pacific northwest. Alaska's tundra, and the volcanic, tropical islands of Hawaii add to the geographic diversity. Hawaii The climate varies along with the landscape, from tropical in Hawaii and southern Florida to tundra in Alaska and atop some of the highest mountains. Most of the North and East experience a temperate continental climate, with warm summers and cold winters. Most of the South experiences a subtropical humid climate with mild winters and long, hot, humid summers. Rainfall decreases markedly from the humid forests of the Eastern Great Plains to the semi-arid shortgrass prairies on the high plains abutting the Rocky Mountains. Arid deserts, including the Mojave, extend through the lowlands and valleys of the southwest, from westernmost Texas to California and northward throughout much of Nevada. Some parts of California have a Mediterranean climate. Rainforests line the windward mountains of the Pacific Northwest from Oregon to Alaska.

History

American history started with the migration of people from Asia across the Bering land bridge approximately 12,000 years ago following large animals that they hunted into the Americas. These Native Americans left evidence of their presence in petroglyphs, burial mounds, and other artifacts. It is estimated that 2-9 million people lived in the territory now occupied by the U.S. before European contact, and the subsequent introduction of foreign diseases such as small pox that greatly diminished the native populations. Some advanced societies were the Anasazi of the southwest, who inhabited Chaco Canyon, and the Woodland Indians, who built Cahokia, located near present-day St Louis, a city with a population of 40,000 at its peak in AD 1200. Vikings first visited North America around 1000, but did not settle permanently. Following the discovery voyages of Christopher Columbus around 1492, other Europeans began to explore and settle there. During the 1500s and 1600s, the Spanish settled parts of the present-day Southwest and Florida, founding St. Augustine, Florida in 1565 and Santa Fe (in what is now New Mexico) in 1607. The first successful English settlement was at Jamestown, Virginia, also in 1607. Within the next two decades, several Dutch settlements, including New Amsterdam (the predecessor to New York City), were established in what are now the states of New York and New Jersey. In 1637, Sweden established a colony at Fort Christina (in what is now Delaware), but lost the settlement to the Dutch in 1655. This was followed by extensive British settlement of the east coast. The British colonists remained relatively undisturbed by their home country until after the French and Indian War, when France ceded Canada and the Great Lakes region to Britain. Britain then imposed taxes on the 13 colonies, widely regarded by the colonists as unfair because they were denied representation in the British Parliament. Tensions between Britain and the colonists increased, and the thirteen colonies eventually rebelled against British rule. British Parliament, George Washington (1789-1797).]] In 1776, the 13 colonies split from Great Britain and formed the United States, the world's first constitutional and democratic federal republic, after their Declaration of Independence of that year, and the Revolutionary War (1775 to 1783). The original political structure was a confederation in 1777, ratified in 1781 as the Articles of Confederation. After long debate, this was supplanted by the Constitution in 1789, forming a more centralized federal government. Prior to all these was the Albany Congress in 1754, in which a union was first seriously proposed. From early colonial times, there was a shortage of labor, which encouraged unfree labor, particularly indentured servitude and slavery. In the mid-19th century, a major division occurred in the United States over the issue of states' rights and the expansion of slavery. The northern states had become opposed to slavery, while the southern states saw it as necessary for the continued success of southern agriculture and wanted it expanded to the territories. Several federal laws were passed in an attempt to settle the dispute, including the Missouri Compromise and the Compromise of 1850. The dispute reached a crisis in 1861, when seven southern states seceded¹ from the Union and formed the Confederate States of America, leading to the Civil War. Soon after the war began, four more southern states seceded. During the war, Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation, mandating the freedom of all slaves in states in rebellion, though full emancipation did not take place until after the end of the war in 1865, the dissolution of the Confederacy, and the Thirteenth Amendment took effect. The Civil War effectively ended the question of a state's right to secede, and is widely accepted as a major turning point after which the federal government became more powerful than state governments. Thirteenth Amendment). The title of the painting, from a 1726 poem by Bishop Berkeley, was a phrase often quoted in the era of Manifest Destiny, expressing a widely held belief that civilization had steadily moved westward throughout history. [http://americanart.si.edu/t2go/1lw/1931.6.1.html (more)] ]] During the 19th century, many new states were added to the original 13 as the nation expanded across the continent. Manifest Destiny was a philosophy that encouraged westward expansion in the United States. As the population of the Eastern states grew and as a steady increase of immigrants entered the country, settlers moved steadily westward across North America. In the process, the U.S. displaced most American Indian nations. This displacement of American Indians continues to be a matter of contention in the U.S. with many tribes attempting to assert their original claims to various lands. In some areas American Indian populations were reduced by foreign diseases contracted through contact with European settlers, and US settlers acquired those emptied lands. In other instances American Indians were removed from their traditional lands by force. Though some would say the U.S. was not a colonial power until the Spanish-American War when it acquired Puerto Rico, Guam and the Philippines, the dominion exercised over land in North America the United States claimed is essentially colonial. The Philippines became independent in 1946. During this period, the nation also became an industrial power. This continued into the 20th century, which has been termed "the American Century" because of the nation's overriding influence on the world. The US became a center for innovation and technological development; major technologies that America either developed or was greatly involved in improving include the telephone, television, computer, the Internet, nuclear weapons, nuclear power, aviation, and aeronautics. In addition to the Civil War, another major traumatic experience for the nation was the Great Depression (1929 to 1939). The nation has also taken part in several major foreign wars, including World War I and World War II (in both of which the US later joined the Allies). During the Cold War, the US was a major player in the Korean War and Vietnam War, and, along with the Soviet Union, was considered one of the world's two "superpowers". With the collapse of the Soviet Union, the US emerged as the world's leading economic and military power. Beginning in the 1990s, the United States became very involved in police actions and peacekeeping, including actions in Kosovo, Haiti, Somalia and Liberia, and the first Persian Gulf War driving Iraq out of Kuwait. After attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon on September 11, 2001, the United States and other allied nations found themselves involved in what has come to be called the "War on Terrorism," which has primarily encompassed military actions in both Afghanistan and Iraq.

Government

Iraq of the United States.]]

Republic and suffrage

The United States is an example of a constitutional republic, with a government composed of and operating through a set of limited powers imposed by its design and enumerated in the United States Constitution. Specifically, the nation operates as a presidential democracy. There are three levels of government: federal, state, and local. Officials of each of these levels are either elected by eligible voters via secret ballot or appointed by other elected officials. Americans enjoy almost universal suffrage from the age of 18 regardless of race, sex, or wealth. There are some limits, however: felons are disenfranchised and in some states former felons are likewise. Furthermore, the national representation of territories and the federal district of Washington, DC in Congress is limited: residents of the District of Columbia are subject to federal laws and federal taxes but their only Congressional representative is a non-voting delegate.

Federal government

The federal government is the national government, comprising the Legislative Branch (led by Congress), the Executive Branch (led by the President), and the Judicial Branch (led by the Supreme Court). These three branches were designed to apply checks and balances on each other. The Constitution limits the powers of the federal government to defense, foreign affairs, the issuing and management of currency, the management of trade and relations between the states, and the protection of human rights. In addition to these explicitly stated powers, the federal government—with the assistance of the Supreme Court—has gradually extended these powers into such areas as welfare and education, on the basis of the "necessary and proper" clause of the Constitution.

The Congress

necessary and proper The Congress of the United States is the legislative branch of the federal government of the United States. It is bicameral, comprising the House of Representatives and the Senate. The House of Representatives consists of 435 members, each of whom represents a congressional district and serves for a two-year term. House seats are apportioned among the states by population; in contrast, each state has two Senators, regardless of population. There are a total of 100 senators, who serve six-year terms. The powers of Congress are limited to those enumerated in the Constitution; all other powers are reserved to the states and the people. The Constitution also includes the necessary-and-proper clause, which grants Congress the power to "make all laws which shall be necessary and proper for carrying into execution the foregoing powers."

The President

necessary-and-proper clause At the top level of the executive branch is the President of the United States. The President and Vice-President are elected as 'running mates' for four-year terms by the Electoral College, for which each state, as well as the District of Columbia, is allocated a number of seats based on its representation (or ostensible representation, in the case of D. C.) in both houses of Congress (see U.S. Electoral College). The relationship between the President and the Congress reflects that between the English monarchy and parliament at the time of the framing of the United States Constitution. Congress can legislate to constrain the President's executive power, even with respect to his or her command of the armed forces; however, this power is used only very rarely—a notable example was the constraint placed on President Richard Nixon's strategy of bombing Cambodia during the Vietnam War. The President cannot directly propose legislation, and must rely on supporters in Congress to promote his or her legislative agenda. The President's signature is required to turn congressional bills into law; in this respect, the President has the power—only occasionally used—to veto congressional legislation. Congress can override a presidential veto with a two-thirds majority vote in both houses. The ultimate power of Congress over the President is that of impeachment or removal of the elected President through a House vote, a Senate trial, and a Senate vote. The threat of using this power has had major political ramifications in the cases of Presidents Andrew Johnson, Richard Nixon, and Bill Clinton. The President makes around 2,000 executive appointments, including members of the Cabinet and ambassadors, which must be approved by the Senate; the President can also issue executive orders and pardons, and has other Constitutional duties, among them the requirement to give a State of the Union address to Congress once a year. Although the President's constitutional role may appear to be constrained, in practice, the office carries enormous prestige that typically eclipses the power of Congress: the Presidency has justifiably been referred to as 'the most powerful office in the world'. The Vice President is first in the line of succession, and is the President of the Senate ex officio, with the ability to cast a tie-breaking vote. The members of the President's Cabinet are responsible for administering the various departments of state, including the Department of Defense, the Justice Department, and the State Department. These departments and department heads have considerable regulatory and political power, and it is they who are responsible for executing federal laws and regulations. George W. Bush is the 43rd President, currently serving his second term.

The Courts

George W. Bush The highest court is the Supreme Court, which consists of nine justices. The court deals with federal and constitutional matters, and can declare legislation made at any level of the government as unconstitutional, nullifying the law and creating precedent for future law and decisions. Below the Supreme Court are the courts of appeals, and below them in turn are the district courts, which are the general trial courts for federal law. Separate from, but not entirely independent of, this federal court system are the individual court systems of each state, each dealing with its own laws and having its own judicial rules and procedures. A case may be appealed from a state court to a federal court only if there is a federal question; the supreme court of each state is the final authority on the interpretation of that state's laws and constitution.

State and local governments

supreme court of each state. Note that Alaska and Hawaii are shown at different scales, and that the Aleutian Islands and the uninhabited Northwestern Hawaiian Islands are omitted from this map.]] The state governments have the greatest influence over people's daily lives. Each state has its own written constitution and has different laws. There are sometimes great differences in law and procedure between the different states, concerning issues such as property, crime, health, and education. The highest elected official of each state is the Governor. Each state also has an elected legislature (bicameral in every state except Nebraska), whose members represent the different parts of the state. Of note is the New Hampshire legislature, which is the third-largest legislative body in the English-speaking world, and has one representative for every 3,000 people. Each state maintains its own judiciary, with the lowest level typically being county courts, and culminating in each state supreme court, though sometimes named differently. In some states, supreme and lower court justices are elected by the people; in others, they are appointed, as they are in the federal system. The institutions that are responsible for local government are typically town, city, or county boards, making laws that affect their particular area. These laws concern issues such as traffic, the sale of alcohol, and keeping animals. The highest elected official of a town or city is usually the mayor. In New England, towns operate directly democratically, and in some states, such as Rhode Island and Connecticut, counties have little or no power, existing only as geographic distinctions. In other areas, county governments have more power, such as to collect taxes and maintain law enforcement agencies.

Political divisions

With the Declaration of Independence, the thirteen colonies proclaimed themselves to be nation states modeled after the European states of the time. Although considered as sovereigns initially, under the Articles of Confederation of 1781 they entered into a "Perpetual Union" and created a fully sovereign federal state, delegating certain powers to the national Congress, including the right to engage in diplomatic relations and to levy war, while each retaining their individual sovereignty, freedom and independence. But the national government proved too ineffective, so the administrative structure of the government was vastly reorganized with the United States Constitution of 1789. Under this new union, the continued status of the individual states as sovereign nation states fell into dispute in 1861, as several states attempted to secede from the union; in response, then-President Abraham Lincoln claimed that such secession was illegal, and the result was the American Civil War. Since the Union victory in 1865, the independent status of the individual states has not been broached again by any state, and the status of each state within the union has been deemed by mainstream officials and academics to be settled as being subordinate to the union as a whole. In subsequent years, the number of states grew steadily due to western expansion, the purchase of lands by the national government from other nation states, and the subdivision of existing states, resulting in the current total of 50. The states are generally divided into smaller administrative regions, including counties, cities and townships. The United States–Canadian border is the longest undefended political boundary in the world. The U.S. is divided into three distinct sections:
- the "continental United States," also known as "the Lower 48" and more accurately termed the conterminous, coterminous or contiguous United States
- Alaska, which is physically connected only to Canada
- the archipelago of Hawaii, in the central Pacific Ocean. The United States also holds several other territories, districts, and possessions, notably the federal district of the District of Columbia, which is the nation's capital, and several overseas insular areas, the most significant of which are American Samoa, Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands, Puerto Rico, and the United States Virgin Islands. The Palmyra Atoll is the United States' only incorporated territory; it is unorganized and uninhabited. The United States Navy has held a base at a portion of Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, since 1898. The United States government possesses a lease to this land, which only mutual agreement or United States abandonment of the area can terminate. The present Cuban government of Fidel Castro disputes this arrangement, claiming Cuba was not truly sovereign at the time of the signing. The United States argues this point moot because Cuba apparently ratified the lease post-revolution, and with full sovereignty, when it cashed one rent check in accordance with the disputed treaty.

Foreign relations and military

sovereign] The immense military and economic dominance of the United States has made foreign relations an especially important topic in its politics, with considerable concern about the image of the United States throughout the world. Reactions towards the United States by other nationalities are often strong, ranging from uninhibited admiration and mimicking of all things American to anti-Americanism. US foreign policy has swung about several times over the course of its history between the poles of strict isolationism and imperialism and everywhere in between. Three of the nation's four military branches are administered by the Department of Defense: the Army, the Navy (including the Marine Corps), and the Air Force. The Coast Guard falls under the jurisdiction of the Department of Homeland Security in peacetime, but is placed under the Department of the Navy in time of war. The combined United States armed forces consist of 1.4 million active duty personnel, along with several hundred thousand each in the Reserves and the National Guard. Military conscription ended in 1973. The United States Armed forces are considered to be the most powerful military (of any sort) on Earth and their force projection capabilities are unrivaled by any other nation. The 2005 defense budget amounted to $401.7 billion, which is an increase of 4% over 2004 and of 35% since 2001. Over 50% of that number is spent in research & development. (For comparison, in 2004 the European Union (considered as the second-largest military force) had a combined total of 1.6 million troops, and a defense budget of €160 billion, with less than 10% of that being spent on R&D.)

Largest cities

The United States has dozens of major cities, including 11 of the 55 global cities of all types — with three "alpha" global cities: New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago. The figures expressed below are for populations within city limits. A different ranking is evident when considering U.S. metro area populations, although the top three would be unchanged. Note that some cities not listed (such as Atlanta, Boston, Las Vegas, Miami, Nashville, New Orleans, Seattle, and Washington, D.C.) are still considered important on the basis of other factors and issues, including culture, economics, heritage, and politics. The twenty largest cities, based on the United States Census Bureau's 2004 estimates, are as follows:

Economy

The United States has the largest single-country economy in the world, with a per-capita gross domestic product of $40,100. In this market-oriented economy, private individuals and business firms make most of the decisions, and the federal and state governments buy needed goods and services predominantly in the private marketplace. gross domestic product The largest industry of the U.S. is now service, which employs roughly three quarters of the U.S. work force. The United States has many natural resources, including oil and gas, metals, and such minerals as gold, soda ash, and zinc. In agriculture, the U.S. is a top producer of, among other crops, corn, soy beans, and wheat; the United States is a net exporter of food. The U.S. manufacturing sector produces goods such as, cars, airplanes, steel, and electronics, among many others. Economic activity varies greatly from one part of the country to another, with many industries being largely dependent on a certain city or region; New York City is the center of the American financial, publishing, broadcasting, and advertising industries; Silicon Valley is the country’s primary location for high-technology companies, while Los Angeles is the most important center for film production. The Midwest is known for its reliance on manufacturing and heavy industry, with Detroit, Michigan, serving as the center of the American automotive industry; the Great Plains are known as the "breadbasket" of America for their tremendous agricultural output; the intermountain region serves as a mining hub and natural gas resource; the Pacific Northwest for fish and timber, while Texas is largely associated with the oil industry; the Southeast is a major hub for both medical research and the textiles industry. Several countries continue to link their currency to the dollar or even use it as a currency (such as Ecuador), although this practice has subsided since the collapse of the Bretton Woods system. Many markets are also quoted in dollars, such as those of oil and gold. The dollar is also the predominant reserve currency in the world, and more than half of global reserves are in dollars. The largest trading partner of the United States is Canada (19%), followed by China (12%), Mexico (11%), and Japan (8%). More than 50% of total trade is with these four countries. In 2003, the United States was ranked as the third most visited tourist destination in the world; its 40,400,000 visitors ranked behind France's 75,000,000 and Spain's 52,500,000. Labor unions have existed since the 19th century, and grew large and powerful from the 1930s to the 1950s. See Labor history of the United States. Since 1970 they have shrunk in the private sector and now cover fewer than 8% of the workers. However union membership has grown rapidly in the public sector, especially among teachers, nurses, police, postal workers, and municipal clerks. There have been few strikes in recent years. The United States' imports exceed exports by 80%, leading to an annual trade deficit of $700,000,000,000, or 6% of gross domestic product. It is the largest debtor nation in the world, with total gross foreign debt of over $13,000,000,000,000 (2005 estimate); and it absorbs more than 50% of global savings annually. Since the 1980s, the U.S. has increased the use of neoliberal economic policies that reduce government intervention and reduce the size of the welfare state, backing away from the more interventionist Keynsian economic policies that had been in favor since the Great Depression. As a result, the United States provides fewer government-delivered social welfare services than most industrialized nations, choosing instead to keep its tax burden lower and relying more heavily on the free market and private charities. Sixteen states and the District of Columbia have minimum wages higher than the national level ($5.15 per-hour), including the highest, Washington State at $7.35. Twenty-six states are the same as the federal level; two--Ohio and Kansas--are below; and six do not have state laws. America's wealth is relatively highly concentrated. The average C.E.O. earns 500 times the typical amount a worker grosses, this is up from 25 times in the late 1970s. In terms of wealth the top 1% of Americans own 40% of all assets and 50.1% of the country's income goes to the top twenty percent of households. Average wages for the majority of employees have been largely stagnating since the 1970s. America's poverty line defined as a family of four earning less than $19,157 is at 12.7% of the general population. Approximately one out of every five children in the United States grows up below the official poverty line. Among racial groups; African Americans have the lowest median income while Asians had the highest. Regionally, the southern states had the lowest median incomes while the West Coast and New England had the highest. The current Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan remarked that the U.S.’s growing income inequality since the 1970s is, "not the type of thing which a democratic society - a capitalist democratic society - can really accept without addressing."[http://www.csmonitor.com/2005/0614/p01s03-usec.html?s=itm] However, Greenspan also noted, "...you can look at the system and say it's got a lot of problems to it, and sure it does. It always has. But you can't get around the fact that this is the most extraordinarily successful economy in history."

Transportation

Alan Greenspan ]] Because the United States is a relatively young nation, most of the development of U.S. cities has taken place since the invention of the automobile. To link its vast territory, the United States built a network of high-capacity, high-speed highways, of which the most important element is the Interstate Highway system, commissioned in the 1950s by President Dwight D. Eisenhower and modeled after the German Autobahn. The United States also has a transcontinental rail system, which is used for moving freight across the lower forty-eight states. Passenger rail service is provided by Amtrak, which serves forty-six of the lower forty-eight states. Many cities in the United States have extensive mass-transit systems. New York City operates one of the world's largest and most heavily used subway systems. The regional rail and bus networks that extend into Long Island, New Jersey, Upstate New York, and Connecticut are among the most heavily used in the world. Air travel is often preferred for destinations over 300 miles (500 kilometers) away. In terms of passengers, seventeen of the world's thirty busiest airports in 2004 were in the U.S., including the world's busiest, Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport; in terms of cargo, in the same year, twelve of the world's thirty busiest airports were in the U.S., including the world's busiest, Memphis International Airport. There are several major seaports in the United States; the three busiest are the Port of Los Angeles, California; the Port of Long Beach, California; and the Port of New York and New Jersey. Others include Houston, Texas; Charleston, South Carolina; Savannah, Georgia; Miami, Florida; Portland, Oregon; San Francisco, California; Boston, Massachusetts; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania; and Seattle, Washington; plus, outside the contiguous forty-eight states, Anchorage, Alaska, and Honolulu, Hawaii.

Society

Demographics

Hawaii The mean center of the U.S. population continues to drift farther west and south. The fastest growing region is the western United States followed by the southern portion. According to Census 2000, the states that saw the greatest increases from 1990 were: Nevada (66.3%), Arizona (40%), Colorado (30.6%), Utah (29.6%), Idaho (28.5%), Georgia (26.4%), Florida (23.5%), Texas (22.8%), North Carolina (21.4%), and Washington (21.1%). [http://www.census.gov/population/cen2000/phc-t2/tab03.pdf]

Ethnicity and race

:Main article: Racial demographics of the United States The United States is a very racially diverse country. According to the 2000 census, it has 31 ethnic groups with at least one million members each, and numerous others represented in smaller amounts. The majority of Americans descend from white European immigrants who arrived at the establishment of the first colonies (most after Reconstruction). This majority--69.1% in 2000--decreases each year, and is expected to become a plurality within a few decades. The most frequently stated European ancestries are German (15.2%), Irish (10.8%), English (8.7%), Italian (5.6%) and Scandinavian (3.7%). Many immigrants also hail from Slavic countries such as Poland and Russia. Other significant immigrant populations came from eastern and southern Europe and French Canada. Russia Hispanics from Mexico and South and Central America are the largest minority group in the country, comprising 12.5% of the population (2000 census). People of Mexican descent made up 7.3% of the population in the 2000 census, and this proportion is expected to increase significantly in the coming decades. About 12.3% (2000 census) of the American people are African Americans (Blacks). African Americans are spread throughout the country, but their presence is largest in the South. Asian Americans--including Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders--are a third significant minority (3.7% of the population in 2000). Most Asian Americans are concentrated on the West Coast and Hawaii. The largest groups are immigrants or descendants of emigrants from the Philippines, China, India, Vietnam, South Korea, and Japan. Indigenous peoples in the United States, such as American Indians and Inuit, make up 0.9% of the population (2000 census). About 35% live on Indian reservations.

Religion

Polls estimate that just under 80 percent of Americans are Christians of various denominations. The other 20 percent comprises other religions such as Hinduism, Judaism, Islam, and Buddhism, other various faiths, and those without a specific religion. The United States is noteworthy among developed nations for its relatively high level of religiosity. According to a 2004 Gallup poll, about 44% of Americans attend a religious service at least once a week. However, this rate is not uniform across the country; attendance is more common in the Bible Belt—composed largely of Southern and Midwestern states—than in the Northeast and West Coast. In the Southern states, Baptists are the largest group, followed by Methodists; Roman Catholics are dominant in the Northeast and in large parts of the Midwest due to their being settled by descendants of Catholic immigrants from Europe (such as Germany, Ireland, Italy, and Poland) or other parts of North America (mainly Quebec and Puerto Rico). The rest of the country for the most part has a complex mixture of various Christian groups.

Education

West Coast's home at Monticello and the University of Virginia (library building shown above, and designed by Jefferson), the only collegiate campus on the list. Both sites are located in Charlottesville, Virginia.]] In the United States, education is a state, not federal, responsibility, and the laws and standards vary considerably. However, the federal government, through the Department of Education, is involved with funding of some programs and exerts some influence through its ability to control funding. In most states, all students must attend mandatory schooling starting with kindergarten, which children normally enter at age 5, and following through 12th grade, which is normally completed at age 18

John Pemberton

: For the American Civil War general, see Joseph G. Pemberton Dr. Joseph Graham Pemberton (July 8, 1831–August 16, 1888) was an American druggist who invented Coca-Cola. He was the son of James Clifford Pemberton (b. 1803 in North Carolina) and Martha L. Worsham Gent (b. about 1791 in Virginia). James and Martha married July 20, 1828, in Crawford County, Georgia. Martha was the daughter of Archer Worsham (born in Virginia) and Nancy Clark Smith from Baldwin County, Georgia. The Pemberton family moved to Rome, Georgia, and John attended medical school in Macon, receiving his degree at the age of 19. Pemberton rejected heroic medicine, popularized by Benjamin Rush, which attempted to cure through bloodletting. Rather, he attended a school in the tradition of Samuel Thompson, a controversial herbalist who cured through steam baths and the ingestion of lobelia. John also received a graduate degree in pharmacy. Thompson, like Pemberton, made his living selling patent medicines of dubious value (but, no more dubious than the prevailing medicine of the time). John married Wesleyan College student Ann Eliza Clifford Lewis and moved to Columbus, Georgia in 1853. The couple had a son, Charley Pemberton, born in 1854. John worked as a druggist in Columbus and built a laboratory where he made and sold medicines, photographic chemicals, and cosmetic products, including a popular perfume he called Sweet Southern Bouquet. He moved his family to Atlanta in 1870. Pemberton served on the first pharmacy licensing board in the state, established a modern chemical laboratory that was the first state-run facility to test soil and crop chemicals, and was a trustee of Emory University School of Medicine. He fought for the Confederacy, rising to the rank of lieutenant colonel in the 3rd Georgia Cavalry regiment. His severe wounds from the war led him, as many other civil war veterans wounded in battle, to morphine addiction. When he was a druggist and chemist in Columbus, John began work on a coca and cola (kola) nut-based nerve tonic called Pemberton's French Wine Coca, (a cocawine). In 1885 he was selling the product through Atlanta druggists when the city passed a prohibition law, so he adjusted the formula, renamed the product Coca-Cola (as suggested by partner Frank Robinson), and marketed it as both a "delicious, exhilarating, refreshing and invigorating" soda fountain beverage and a "temperance drink." He also made many health claims for his product and marketed it as a cure for a myriad of diseases. John was plagued by his morphine addiction and imbibed his cocawine and soda in an effort to control the addiction (both beverages contained coca leaf, which in turn contains cocaine—believed at the time to be helpful in combating dependence on opiates). Indeed, Coca-Cola was originally advertised (in part) as a cure for morphine addiction. Pemberton's behavior grew increasingly erratic as he neared the end of his life. He purportedly sold the rights to manufacture Coca-Cola twice. First, to two investors, from whom Asa Candler acquired his stake in the business. Then, to three more investors who had no knowledge of the previous sale and were left without a dime when Candler acquired exclusive rights to the formula in 1888. John Pemberton's son Charley returned to Atlanta that same year and claimed his father had promised him a stake in the business. At first, John insisted that Charley be included in the enterprise that also included Candler and Robinson. However, a principal investor grew tired of the alcoholic young man's antics. In an effort to make peace, Pemberton declared that Charley owned the rights to the name, but not the formula. Charley then began to manufacture his own version of the popular beverage. This complex situation was resolved when Candler acquired the formula from John and two investors to whom John had sold partial rights in order to fund his addiction, Margaret Dozier and Woolfolk Walker. However, later handwriting analysis revealed that John's signature on the bill of sale was most likely a forgery, and the Pemberton family long after suspected foul play. John died August 16, 1888, only a few months after Candler incorporated the first Coca Cola Corporation. He is buried in Linwood Cemetery in Columbus, Georgia. Pemberton, John Pemberton, John Pemberton, John Pemberton, John Pemberton, John Pemberton, John Pemberton, John

1888

1888 is a leap year starting on Sunday (click on link for calendar). In Germany, 1888 is known as the 1888 Year of Three Emperors.

Events

- January 3 - 91cm telescope first used at Lick Observatory
- January 12 - Blizzards in Dakota and Montana, Minnesota, Nebraska and Texas - 235 dead, many of which were children on their way home from school
- January 24 - Jacob L. Wortman patents the typewriter ribbon.
- January 26 - Australia celebrates the first centennary of European settlement.
- January 27 - In Washington, DC the National Geographic Society is founded.
- March 11 - The "Great Blizzard of '88" begins along the eastern seaboard of the United States, shutting down commerce and killing more than 400.
- March 22 - The Football League is formed
- April 11 - The Concertgebouw in Amsterdam is inaugurated.
- May 13 - Brazil abolishes slavery.
- May 28 - Celtic played their first official match against Rangers and won 5-2
- June 3 - "Kingdom of Sedang" formed in modern-day Vietnam
- June 19 - In Chicago, Illinois, Republican Convention opens at Auditorium Building. General Benjamin Harrison & Levi Morton will win the nominations.
- July 27 - British parliament passes an act that permits bicycles on road on condition that they are equipped with a bell that should be rung while on the carriageway. The law is abolished 1930
- August 7 - The body of Martha Tabram was found, a possible murder victim of Jack the Ripper
- August 31 - Mary Ann Nichols is murdered. She is perhaps the first of Jack the Ripper's victims.
- September 4 - George Eastman registers the trademark Kodak, and receives a patent for his camera which uses roll film.
- September 6 - Charles Turner becomes the first bowler to take 250 wickets in an English season - a feat since accomplished only by Tom Richardson (twice), J.T. Hearne, Wilfred Rhodes (twice) and Tich Freeman (six times).
- September 8 - In London, the body of Annie Chapman is found. She is generally considered the second victim of Jack the Ripper.
- September 8 - In England the first 6 Football League matches ever were played.
- September 30 - In London, the bodies of Elizabeth Stride and Catherine Eddowes are found. They are generally considered Jack the Ripper's third and fourth victim respectively.
- October 9 - The Washington Monument officially opens to the general public.
- November 6 - U.S. presidential election, 1888: Democrat incumbent Grover Cleveland wins the overall popular vote, but is voted out of office because he loses in the Electoral College to Republican challenger Benjamin Harrison.
- November 9 - In London the body of Mary Jane Kelly is found. She is typically considered the fifth and last of Jack the Ripper's victims. A number of similar murders actually follow, but police attribute them to copycat killers.
- Gramophone patented by Emile Berliner
- Annie Besant organizes a match girl strike
- John Robert Gregg first published Gregg Shorthand
- Slavery abolished in Brazil
- Sarawak and Borneo become British protectorates
- Susan B. Anthony organizes a congress for women's rights in Washington DC
- National library in Athens, Greece
- First railways in China
- Kodak camera increases the popularity of photography as a hobby.
- The first recorded film, Roundhay Garden Scene, is made in Roundhay in Leeds, West Yorkshire, England. The film is two seconds (4 frames) in length.
- First sightings of the dolphin Pelorus Jack in Cook Strait, New Zealand

Births

January-March

- January 1 - Victor Goldschmidt, Swiss geochemist (d. 1947)
- January 8 - Matt Moore, Irish-born actor (d. 1960)
- January 24 - Vicki Baum, Austrian writer (d. 1960)
- Ernst Heinkel, German aircraft designer (d. 1958)
- February 2 - Frederick Lane, Australian swimmer (d. 1969)
- February 17 - Otto Stern, German physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1969)
- February 19 - José Eustasio Rivera, Colombian writer (d. 1928)
- February 20 - Georges Bernanos, French writer (d. 1948)
- February 25 - John Foster Dulles, United States Secretary of State (d. 1959)
- February 27 - Lotte Lehmann, German singer (d. 1976)
- March 1 - Ewart Astill, English cricketer (Leicestershire) (d. 1948)
- March 4 - Knute Rockne, American football player and coach (d. 1931)
- March 10 - Barry Fitzgerald, Irish actor (d. 1966)
- March 12 - Vaslav Nijinsky, Ukrainian ballet dancer (d. 1950)
- March 17 - Frank Buck, big game hunter (d. 1950)
- March 26 - Elsa Brändström, Russian nurse (d. 1948)

April-June

- April 4 - Tris Speaker, Baseball Hall of Famer (d. 1958)
- April 6 - Hans Richter, German filmmaker (d. 1976)
- April 18 - Duffy Lewis, Major League Baseball player (d. 1979)
- April 26 - Anita Loos, American writer (d. 1981)
- April 27 - Florence La Badie, Canadian actress (d. 1917)
- May 10 - Karl Barth, Protestant theologian (d. 1968)
- Max Steiner, Austrian-American composer (d. 1971)
- May 11 - Irving Berlin, American composer (d. 1989)
- May 17 - Tich Freeman, English cricketer (d. 1965)
- May 23 - Zack Wheat, Baseball Hall of Famer (d. 1972)
- May 25 - Miles Malleson, English actor (d. 1969)
- May 27 - Louis Durey, French composer (d. 1979)
- June 3 - Tom Brown, American jazz musician (d. 1958)
- June 6 - Pete Wendling, American composer, pianist, and piano roll recording artist (d. 1974)
- June 9 - Ida Rentoul Outhwaite, Australian illustrator (d. 1960)
- June 13 - Fernando Pessoa, Portuguese writer (d. 1935)
- June 24 - Gerrit Rietveld, Dutch architect (d. 1964)

July-October

- July 5 - Herbert Spencer Gasser, American physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1963)
- July 10 - Giorgio Chirico, Italian painter (d. 1978)
- July 16 - Frits Zernike, Dutch physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1966)
- July 17 - Shmuel Yosef Agnon, Israeli writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1970)
- July 22 - Selman Waksman, Ukrainian-born biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine (d. 1973)
- July 23 - Raymond Chandler, American novelist (d. 1959)
- August 14 - John Logie Baird, Scottish inventor (d. 1946)
- August 16 - Armand J. Piron, American jazz musician (d. 1943)
- September 5 - Sarvepalli Radhakrishnan, President of India (d. 1975)
- September 6 - Joseph P. Kennedy, Sr., American politician (d. 1969)
- September 12 - Maurice Chevalier, French singer and actor (d. 1972)
- September 16 - Frans Eemil Sillanpää, Finnish writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1964)
- September 26 - J. Frank Dobie, American folklorist and journalist (d. 1964)
- September 26 - T. S. Eliot, American-born writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1965)
- October 6 - Roland Garros, French pilot (d. 1918)
- October 7 - Henry A. Wallace, Vice President of the United States (d. 1965)
- October 8 - Ernst Kretschmer, German psychiatrist (d. 1964)
- October 9 - Nikolai Ivanovich Bukharin, Russian politician (d. 1938)
- October 16 - Eugene O'Neill, American writer, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1953)
- October 16 - Paul Popenoe, American eugenicist (d. 1979)

November-December

- November 7 - Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman, Indian physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (d. 1980)
- November 15 - Harald Sverdrup, Norwegian scientist (d. 1957)
- November 23 - Harpo Marx, American comedian (d. 1964)
- November 26 - Francisco Canaro, Uruguayan-born violinist and composer (d. 1964)
- November 30 - Ralph Hartley, American electronics researcher and inventor (d. 1970)
- December 4 - King Alexander of Yugoslavia (d. 1934)
- December 19 - Fritz Reiner, Hungarian conductor (d. 1963)
- December 28 - F.W. Murnau, German film director (d. 1931)

Deaths

- January 19 - Anton de Bary, German biologist (b. 1831)
- January 29 - Edward Lear, British artist and writer (b. 1812)
- February 3 - Henry Maine, British jurist (b. 1822)
- March 6 - Louisa May Alcott, American novelist (b. 1832)
- March 9 - German Emperor Wilhelm I (b. 1797)
- March 12 - Henry Bergh, founder of the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (b. 1811)
- April 15 - Matthew Arnold, English poet (b. 1822)
- April 15 - Father Damien, Belgian priest (b. 1811)
- June 15 - German Emperor Friedrich III (b. 1840)
- July 20 - Paul Langerhans, German pathologist and biologist (b. 1847)
- August 9 - Charles Cros, French poet (b. 1831)
- August 23 - Philip Henry Gosse, British scientist (b. 1810)
- August 24 - Rudolf Clausius, German physicist, contributions to thermodynamics (b. 1822)
- October 16 - John Wentworth, Mayor of Chicago (b. 1815)
- December 31 - Samson Raphael Hirsch, German rabbi (b. 1808)

Marriages

- January 1 - Elias Disney & Flora Disney
- April 11 - Henry Ford & Clara Jane Bryant
- May 2 - Josephus Daniels & Addie Worth Bagley
- September 5 - Billy Sunday & Helen Amelia Thompson
- September 11 - Robert Homans & Agnes Mary Josephine Mellon
- November 29 - Axel Blixen-Finecke & Bertha Henriette Marie Castenschiold
- December 20 - Charles Urban & Julia Avery Category:1888 ko:1888년 ms:1888 simple:1888 th:พ.ศ. 2431

Coca Cola

Coca-Cola (also known as Coke, a name which was trademarked by The Coca-Cola Company after it was discovered many people called it by that particular name) is a very popular cola, a carbonated soft drink sold in stores, restaurants and vending machines in more than 200 countries. It is produced by the Coca-Cola Company (NYSE:KO), which is also often referred to as simply Coca-Cola or Coke. Coke is one of the world's most recognizable and widely sold commercial brands; its major rival is Pepsi. Originally intended as a patent medicine when it was invented in the late 19th century, rumoured to be originally green; Coca-Cola was bought out by shrewd businessman Asa Griggs Candler, whose aggressive marketing tactics led Coke to its dominance of the world soft drink market throughout the 20th century. Although faced with critiques of its health effects and various allegations of wrongdoing by the company, Coca-Cola has remained a popular soft drink well into the first decade of the 21st century. The company actually produces concentrate for Coca-Cola, which is then sold to various Coca-Cola bottlers throughout the world. The bottlers, who hold territorially-exclusive contracts with the company, produce finished product in cans and bottles from the concentrate in combination with filtered water and sweeteners. The bottlers then sell, distribute and merchandise Coca-Cola in cans and bottles to retail stores and vending machines. Such bottlers include Coca-Cola Enterprises, which is the single largest Coca-Cola bottler in North America and Europe. The Coca-Cola Company also sells concentrate for fountain sales to major restaurants and food service distributors.

History

Early years

Coca-Cola Enterprises Coca-Cola was invented in Columbus, Georgia, by John S. Pemberton, originally as a cocawine called Pemberton's French Wine Coca. He was inspired by the formidable success of European Angelo Mariani's cocawine, Vin Mariani. In 1885, after Coca-Cola moved, when Atlanta and Fulton County passed Prohibition legislation, Pemberton responded by developing Coca-Cola, essentially a carbonated, non-alcoholic version of French Wine Cola. The beverage was named Coca-Cola because originally, the stimulant mixed in the beverage was coca leaves from South America. In addition, the drink was flavored using kola (Cola) nuts, the beverage's source of caffeine. Pemberton called for 5 ounces of coca leaf per gallon of syrup, a significant dose, whereas in 1891 Candler claimed his formula (altered extensively from Pemberton's original) contained only a tenth of this amount. Favorable to popular belief, Coca-Cola did actually contain cocaine at one point ([http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a2_033.html], [http://www.lewrockwell.com/jarvis/jarvis17.html]) per se, which is a highly refined extract of coca leaves and was always far too expensive to use in a mass-market beverage. However, as cocaine is one of numerous alkaloids present in the coca leaf, it was nevertheless present in the drink. Today, the flavoring is still done with kola nuts and the coca leaf; however, the coca leaves used today are "spent" leaves - the leftovers of the cocaine-extraction process - however, one cannot extract cocaine out of the leaf at a molecular level; therefore, the drink still contains trace amounts of the stimulant. Coca-Cola was initially sold as a patent medicine for five cents a glass at soda fountains, which were popular in the United States at the time thanks to a belief that carbonated water was good for the health. Pemberton claimed Coca-Cola cured myriad diseases, including morphine addiction, dyspepsia, neurasthenia, headache, and impotence. The first sales were made at Jacob's Pharmacy in Atlanta, Georgia, on May 8, 1886, and for the first eight months only nine drinks were sold each day. Pemberton ran the first advertisement for the beverage on May 29 of the same year in the Atlanta Journal. By 1888, three versions of Coca-Cola — sold by three separate businesses — were on the market. Asa Griggs Candler acquired a stake in Pemberton's company in 1887 and incorporated it as the Coca Cola Company in 1888. The same year, while suffering from an ongoing addiction to morphine, Pemberton sold the rights a second time to three more businessmen: J.C. Mayfield, A.O. Murphey and E.H. Bloodworth. Meanwhile, Pemberton's alcoholic son Charley Pemberton began selling his own version of the product. In an attempt to clarify the situation, John Pemberton declared that the name Coca-Cola belonged to Charley, but the other two manufacturers could continue to use the formula. So, in the summer of 1888, Candler sold his beverage under the names Yum Yum and Koke. After both failed to catch on, Candler set out to establish a legal claim to Coca-Cola in late 1888, in order to force his two competitors out of the business. Candler purchased exclusive rights to the formula from John Pemberton, Margaret Dozier and Woolfolk Walker. However, in 1914, Dozier came forward to claim her signature on the bill of sale had been forged, and subsequent analysis has indicated John Pemberton's signature was most likely a forgery as well. In 1892, Candler incorporated a second company, The Coca-Cola Company (the current corporation), and in 1910 Candler had the earliest records of the company burned, further obscuring its legal origins. Regardless, Candler began aggressively marketing the product — the efficiency of this concerted advertising campaign would not be realized until much later. By the time of its 50th anniversary, the drink had reached the status of a national icon for the USA. Coca-Cola was sold in bottles for the first time on March 12, 1894, and cans of Coke first appeared in 1955. The first bottling of Coca-Cola occurred in Vicksburg, Mississippi, at the Biedenharn Candy Company in 1891. Its proprietor was Joseph A. Biedenharn. The original bottles were Biedenharn bottles, very different from the much later hobble-skirt design that is now so familiar. Asa Candler was tentative about bottling the drink, but the two entrepreneurs who proposed the idea were so persuasive that Candler signed a contract giving them control of the procedure. However, the loosely termed contract proved to be problematic for the company for decades to come. Legal matters were not helped by the decision of the bottlers to subcontract to other companies — in effect, becoming parent bottlers.

World War II

Before and during World War II, Coca-Cola adopted an apparent policy of ignoring the practice of eugenics and anti-Semitism by Nazi Germany. Several of Coke's top executives in Germany were prominent members of the National Socialist German Workers Party. The difficulty of shipping Coca-Cola concentrate to Germany eventually led to the creation of a new drink under the Coca-Cola brand, Fanta. When the United States entered World War II, Coke began to represent itself as a patriotic drink by providing free drinks for soldiers of the United States Army. The United States Army permitted Coca-Cola employees to enter the front lines as "Technical Officers" when in reality they rarely if ever came close to a real battle. Instead, they operated Coke's system of providing refreshments for soldiers, who welcomed the beverage as a reminder of home. As the Allies of World War II advanced, so did Coke, which took advantage of the situation by establishing new franchises in the newly occupied countries. Coca-Cola set up bottling plants in several locations overseas to assure the drink's availability to soldiers, setting the stage for the company's post-war overseas expansion. The popularity of the drink exploded as American soldiers returned home from the war with a taste for the drink. The beverage had become synonymous with the American way of life. For more corporate history, see The history of the Coca-Cola Company.

New Coke to the present

The history of the Coca-Cola Company. The original formula was reinstated as Coca-Cola Classic within a few months of the new Coke's introduction into the market.]] In 1985, Coca-Cola, amid much publicity, attempted to change the formula of the drink, without changing its name. Some authorities believe that New Coke, as the reformulated drink was marketed, was invented specifically to respond to its commercial competitor, Pepsi. Double-blind taste tests indicated that most consumers preferred the taste of Pepsi (which has more lemon oil, less orange oil, and uses vanillin rather than vanilla) to Coke. In taste tests, drinkers are more likely to respond positively to sweeter drinks, and Pepsi had the advantage over Coke because it is much sweeter. Coca-Cola tinkered with the formula and created the new Coke. Follow-up taste tests revealed that most consumers preferred the taste of New Coke to both Coke and Pepsi. The reformulation was led by the then-CEO of the company, Roberto Goizueta, and the president Don Keough. It is unclear what part long-time company president Robert W. Woodruff played in the reformulation. Goizueta claims that Woodruff endorsed it a few months before his death in 1985; others have pointed out that, as the two men were alone when the matter was discussed, Goizueta might have misinterpreted the wishes of the dying Woodruff, who could speak only in monosyllables. It has also been alleged that Woodruff might not have been able to understand what Goizueta was telling him. The commercial failure of New Coke therefore came as a grievous blow to the management of the Coca-Cola Corporation. It is possible that customers would not have noticed the change if it had been made secretly or gradually, and thus brand loyalty could have been maintained. Coca-Cola management was unprepared, however, for the nostalgic sentiments the drink aroused in the American public; some compared changing the Coke formula to rewriting the American Constitution. The new Coca-Cola formula subsequently caused a public backlash. Gay Mullins, from Seattle, Washington, founded the Old Cola Drinkers of America organization, which attempted to sue the company, and lobbied for the formula of Old Coke to be released into the public domain. This and other protests caused the company to return to the old formula under the name Coca-Cola Classic on July 10, 1985. The company was later accused of performing this volte-face as an elaborate ruse to introduce a new product while reviving interest in the original. Donald Keough, company president at the time, responded to the accusation by declaring: "Some critics will say Coca-Cola made a marketing mistake. Some cynics will say that we planned the whole thing. The truth is we are not that dumb, and we are not that smart." The Coca-Cola Company is the world's largest consumer of natural vanilla extract. When New Coke was introduced in 1985, this had a severe impact on the economy of Madagascar, a prime vanilla exporter, since New Coke used vanillin, a less-expensive synthetic substitute. Purchases of vanilla more than halved during this period. But the flop of New Coke brought a recovery. Meanwhile, the market share for New Coke had dwindled to only 3% by 1986. In 1992 the company renamed the product "Coke II" (not to be confused with "Coke C2", a reduced-sugar cola launched by Coca-Cola in 2004). However, sales falloff caused a severe cutback in distribution. By 1998, it was sold in only a few places in the Midwestern U.S. On February 7, 2005, the Coca-Cola Company announced that in the second quarter of 2005 they planned a launch of a Diet Coke product sweetened with the artificial sweetener sucralose ("Splenda"), the same sweetener currently used in Pepsi One. On March 21, 2005, it announced another diet product, "Coca-Cola Zero", sweetened partly with a blend of aspartame and acesulfame potassium.

Coca-Cola formula

The exact formula of Coca-Cola is famously a trade secret. The original copy of the formula is held in SunTrust Bank's main vault in Atlanta. Its predecessor, the Trust Company, was the underwriter for the Coca-Cola Company's initial public offering in 1919. A popular myth states that only two executives have access to the formula, with each executive having only half the formula. The truth is that while Coca-Cola does have a rule restricting access to only two executives, each knows the entire formula and others, in addition to the prescribed duo, have known the formulation process.

Coca-Cola's advertising

initial public offering give a seasonal twist to these Coca-Cola bottles. The characteristic shape of the bottles is trademarked. It was designed to be universally recognizable, even when broken.]] Coca-Cola's advertising has had a significant impact on American culture, and is frequently credited with the "invention" of the modern image of Santa Claus as an old man in red-and-white garments; however, while the company did in fact start promoting this image in the 1930s in its winter advertising campaigns, it was already common before that. In the 1970s, a song from a Coca-Cola commercial called "I'd Like to Teach the World to Sing", produced by Billy Davis, became a popular hit single, but there is no evidence that it did anything to increase sales of the soft drink. Coca-Cola has a policy of avoiding using children younger than the age of 12 in any of its advertising as a result of a lawsuit from the beginning of the 20th century that alleged that Coke's caffeine content was dangerous to children. However, in recent times, this has not stopped the company from targeting young consumers. In addition, it has not been disclosed in exact terms how safe Coke is for consumption by young children (or pregnant mothers). Coke's advertising has been rather pervasive, as one of Woodruff's stated goals was to ensure that everyone on Earth drank Coca-Cola as their preferred beverage. Advertising for Coke is now almost ubiquitous, especially in southern areas of North America, such as Atlanta, where Coke was born.

Sport Event Sponsorships

Coca-Cola was the first-ever sponsor of the Olympic games, at the 1928 games in Amsterdam and has been an Olympics sponsor ever since. This corporate sponsorship included the 1996 Summer Olympics hosted in Atlanta, which allowed Coca-Cola to spotlight its hometown. Since 1978 Coca-Cola is the main sponsor of FIFA and has sponsored each FIFA World Cup and other competitions organised by FIFA. In fact, one of the FIFA tournament trophy: FIFA World Youth Championship from Tunisia in 1977 to Malaysia in 1997 was called "FIFA - Coca Cola Cup". In addition, Coca Cola sponsors the annual Coca-Cola 600 for the NASCAR Nextel Cup auto racing series at Lowe's Motor Speedway in Charlotte, North Carolina. Coca-Cola has a long