Coca-Cola is one of the most popular soft drink in the world. Dr.John Pemberton fist made it in Atlanta, America, in 1886. Dr.Pemberton was not a real doctor but he sold syrups to people who wrer ill. He made his fist Coca-Cola drink with syrup and soda water. He gave it to his frinds to try. They liked it but asked him to make it even better.
Although Dr.Pemberton's drink was 99% sugar and soda water, 1% of it was coca leaves and cola nuts (that is why he called the drink 'Coca-Cola') and some other things. Dr.Pemberton would not tell anyone what these other things were. He kept them a secret. The drink did not sell well at first, so he sold the secret. Two years later he died.
In 1892 Asa Candler bought the secret and started. The Coca-Cola Company. Until 1899 people could not take the soft drink away from shops to drink at home. They had to drink it in the shops. However, when the Coca-Cola drink became very popular, people wanted to take home bottles of it, so Mr.Candler agreed to sell it in bottles.
In 1919 Mr.Candler sold his part of the company for US $25 million!
Today, The Coca-Cola Company is one of the largest companies in America. In 1992 it sold 506 million bottles of Coca-Cola each day. People can buy it in 195 countries. It is still the same drink that Dr.Pemberton made in 1886.