scovered the
virtues of the berry on a journey to Abyssinia, sanctions the use
of coffee in Arabia Felix.

1470-1500--The use of coffee spreads to Mecca and Medina.

1500-1600--Shallow iron dippers with long handles and small
foot-rests come into use in Bagdad and in Mesopotamia for roasting
coffee.

1505[L]--The Arabs introduce the coffee plant into Ceylon.

1510--The coffee drink is introduced into Cairo.

1511--Kair Bey, governor of Mecca, after consultation with a
council of lawyers, physicians, and leading citizens, issues a
condemnation of coffee, and prohibits the use of the drink.
Prohibition subsequently ordered revoked by the sultan of Cairo.

1517--Sultan Selim I, after conquering Egypt, brings coffee to
Constantinople.

1524--The kadi of Mecca closes the public coffee houses because of
disorders, but permits coffee drinking at home and in private. His
successor allows them to re-open under license.

1530[L]--Coffee drinking introduced into Damascus.

1532[L]--Coffee drinking introduced into Aleppo.

1534--A religious fanatic denounces coffee in Cairo and leads a mob
against the coffee houses, many of which are wrecked. The city is
divided into two parties, for and against coffee; but the chief
judge, after consultation with the doctors, causes coffee to be
served to the meeting, drinks some himself, and thus settles the
controversy.

1542--Soliman II, at the solicitation of a favorite court lady,
forbids the use of coffee, but to no purpose.

1554--The first coffee houses are opened in Constantinople by
Shemsi of Damascus and Hekem of Aleppo.

1570[L]-80[L]--Religious zealots in Constantinople, jealous of the
increasing popularity of the coffee houses, claim roasted coffee to
be a kind of charcoal, and the mufti decides that it is forbidden
by the law. Amurath III subsequently orders the closing of all
coffee houses, on religious grounds, classing coffee with wine,
forbidden by the _Koran_. The order is not strictly observed, and
coffee drinking continues behind closed shop-doors and in private
houses.

1573--Rauwolf, German physician and botanist, first European to
mention coffee, makes a journey to the Levant.

1580--Prospero Alpini (Alpinus), Italian physician and botanist,
journeys to