As North America's first distilled drink, and its first commercially-produced alcohol, tequila's history is long and rich. Its roots reach back into pre-Hispanic times when the natives fermented sap from the local maguey plants into a beer-like drink called pulque, also made from the agave.
People sometimes speak of tequila's 400-year history. This is somewhat misleading. Before the introduction of above-ground, steam-heated ovens, the product was really a mezcal. Tequila's history should be dated from the late 19th century when those ovens came into use. But no one can deny that tequila's mezcal ancestry goes much further back.
The history of tequila's development from the traditional beverage to the modern spirit parallel's the often turbulent, chaotic growth of Mexico itself - and is equally obscure and complicated to outsiders.
Mezcal wine - tequila's grandparent - was first produced only a few decades after the Conquest that brought the Spaniards to the New World in 1521. No one has ever come up with an exact date, but it was likely around 1535. It was variously called mezcal brandy, agave wine, mezcal tequila and finally, after a couple of centuries, one variety was simply called tequila - appropriately named after Tequila, a small town in a valley west of Guadalajara, in Jalisco state, Mexico.
The word tequila itself is a mystery. It is said to be an ancient Nahuatl term. The Nahuatl were the original people who lived in the area. The word means means (depending on the authority) "the place of harvesting plants," "the place of wild herbs," "place where they cut," "the place of work" or even "the place of tricks." According to Jose Maria Muria, tequila comes form the Nahuatl words tequitl (work, duty, job or task) and tlan (place).
The legend states Mayahuel was a young and beautiful Aztec goddess, who ran away to marry Quetzalcoatl, god of redemption, and both of them turned into two branches of a leafy tree so they would not be found by their terrible grandmother, "Tzintzimitl" who ordered their execution after finding them. Quetzalcoatl stayed alive, but Mayahuel died eaten up by the stars and after burying her remanents in the ground, the first plant of Agave was born, which was striken down by a lightning bolt from a great storm sent by the gods on their rage for what Mayahuel had done. Afterwards, once the storm had finished and the fire was out, the long and thorny leafs of the Agave had been consumed, leaving only the Heart of the Plant pouring out the Blood of Mayahuel, a sweet nectar which tastes like honey and smells seductively. Ever since, the nectar became a ritual beverage and a ceremonial offer to the Gods.
The agave plant plays a much larger role than just being the source of an alcoholic drink. Its leaves are harvested for a hemp-like fibre that was used for mats, clothing, rope and paper. It was also the source of the nutrient and vitamin rich brew, pulque. The plant was aptly described as "el arbol de las maravillas" - the tree of marvels - in a 1596 history of the Indians of Central America.
The agave plant has been part of human culture almost since the continent was first colonized and is still used for its fibre. Human remains dating back at leas 9,000 years (some ethnobotanists say 11,000) show the early uses of agave for food and fibre. No remains record when humans learned to ferment the sap from the heart of the maguey into an alcoholic drink, but it is at least 1,000 years old. Known as pulque in the earliest written records, it was already ancient when the Spaniard Conquistadors arrived. By 1520, they had exported it into the Old World.