c. 3000 B.C.		courtesy of erowid.org Coca chewing is practiced throughout South America. Coca is believed to be a gift from God.
1400s		Coca plantations are operated by Incas in Peru.
1505		First hand accounts of coca use made their way back to Europe. Amerigo Vespucci (1505), G Frenandez de Oviedo (1535), and Nicholas Monardes (1565).
Early 1500s		Incan coca plantations are taken over by holders of Spanish land grants. Spanish tax laws are revised to allow land owners to make their tax payments in coca leaves.
1539		The Bishop of Cuzco tithes coca, taking 1/10 of the value of each crop in taxes.
Mid 1500s		Coca production in Peru expands quickly causing a glut of leaf on the market which in turn precipitated a drop in the price of coca.
1574		Monardes' text on coca is first translated into other European languages from Spanish; Latin (1574), Italian (1576), English (1577).
c. 1575		Forced laborors working in the Spanish silver mines were kept well supplied with coca leaves. Roughly 8% of the Europeans living in Peru were involved in the coca trade.
1662		Abraham Cowley writes a poem titled "A Legend of Coca". This is the first independent mention of coca in English literature.
1708		Coca is first mentioned in a materia medica, Institutiones Medicae, written by German physician and botanist Herman Boerhaave.
1835		First accurate drawing of coca appears in popular English press. The illustration by Sir William Hooker, director of the Kew gardens, was published in Companion to the Botanical Magazine.
c. 1850		Coca tinctures used in throat surgery.
c. 1855		Cocaine first extracted from coca leaves.
1862		Merck produces 1/4 pound of cocaine.
1869		Seeds from the commercial variety of coca arrived at Kew Gardens.
1870		Vin Mariani (coca wine) is for sale throughout France, containing 6 mg cocaine per ounce of wine. Exported Vin Mariani contained 7.2 mg per ounce to compete with the higher cocaine content of American competitors.
1870s		Parke,Davis manufactures a fluid extract of coca.
1876 - 1885		Race walkers in England chew coca leaves to improve their performance.
1883		Merck produces 3/4 pound of cocaine.
1884		Cocaine's use as a local anesthetic in eye surgery is popularized.
1884		Freud publishes On Coca in which he recommends the use of cocaine to treat a variety of conditions including morphine addiction.
1884		Merck produces 3,179 pounds of cocaine.
1886		Merck produces 158,352 pounds of cocaine.
1886		Coca-Cola is first introduced by John Pemberton, containing cocaine laced syrup and caffeine.
Late 1880s		Parke,Davis starts to manufacture refined cocaine.
c. 1901		Coca-Cola removed coca from their formula.
c. 1905		Snorting cocaine becomes popular.
1910		First cases of nasal damage from cocaine snorting are written of in medical literature.
1910		First cases of nasal damage from cocaine snorting are seen in hospitals.
1912		U.S. government reports 5,000 cocaine related fatalities in one year.
1914		Cocaine banned in United States.
Early 1930s		Japan is the world's leading cocaine producer (23.3%) followed by the United States (21.3%), Germany (15%), U.K. (9.9%), France (8.3%).
c. 1976		Freebase cocaine first developed (probably in California). It would soon be popularized by dealers and glamorized by Hollywood media.
1981		Wholesale cost of 1 kg of cocaine is ,000.
1984		Wholesale cost of 1 kg cocaine is ,000.
Mid 1980's		Freebase cocaine becomes popular.