History.— The early history of coffee is ob scure; as an article of diet, its introduction is recent ; to the Greeks and Romans it was wholly unknown. It was first introduced into Persia from Abyssinia, and next in the 15th century by a Mohammedan priest at Aden. From Aden it was carried to Mecca, where first the pil grims or Hadjis, and then the rest of the peo ple, began to use it. From Arabia it was taken to Cairo, Egypt, where in 1511 it was prohibited because it was believed to be an intoxicant and came within the class of things forbidden as food by the Koran. The Sultan Causon re moved the prohibition, and coffee passed along the coast by way of Syria and around to Con stantinople. Again it was opposed as one of the articles not to be used as food according to the Koran. Thus its use was sometimes forbidden, sometimes allowed, for many years. The Turks are now immoderate coffee-drinkers.
Prior to the 18th century all the coffee used in Europe was brought from Arabia Felix via the Levant. In 1652 Edward, a merchant, in trade with Turkey, introduced coffee into Eng land; in 1697 Van Horn introduced it into Ba tavia, and from there it was taken to France and the West Indian Islands. In 1754 Father Villaso, a Franciscan monk, took a plant to Rio de Janeiro and cultivated it in the garden of the monastery of Saint Anthony. This one plant
was the means of introducing coffee into Brazil. See article BRAZIL: Agriculture.
The great increase of the coffee trade in the United States within the past few years is shown in the following table: Year Total importation From Brazil From Colombia 1913 852,529,498 lbs. 625,002,095 lbs. 87,176,447 lbs.
1914 1,001,071,873 " 725,800,529 " 99,189,096 " 1915 1,228,761,626 ' 898,175,974 " 111,413,170 The total coffee stocks in Europe on 31 July 1916 amounted to 3,555,000 bags, of which 2, 877,000 bags came from Brazil and 678,000 bags from other sources. These stocks were dis tributed as follows: Havre, 2,376,000 bags; Mar seilles, 255,000 bags ; Bordeaux, 90,000 bags ; Eng land, 601,000 bags; and the Netherlands, 228,000 bags.
Bibliography.— Cook, 'Shade in Coffee Culture' (United States Botany Division, Bul letin 25) ; Hangwitz, 'The World's Coffee Trade in 1898' (United States Consular Reports, Vol. LX 258) ; • Hewitt, 'Coffee, Its History, Cultiva tion and Uses' • Lock, 'Coffee, Its Culture and Commerce in all Caswell, 'Coffee Culture in Our New Islands' (in the Overland Monthly, new series Vol. XXXII, 459) ; and United States Bureau of American Republics, 'Special Report on Coffee Culture in Central and South America.)