History of Cocaine Timeline

c. 3000 B.C.		Coca chewing is practiced throughout South America. Coca is believed to be a gift from God. 1
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). 2
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. 2
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. 2
1574		Monardes' text on coca is first translated into other European languages from Spanish; Latin (1574), Italian (1576), English (1577). 2
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. 2
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. 2
c. 1850		Coca tinctures used in throat surgery. 2
c. 1855		Cocaine first extracted from coca leaves. 2

References

1 . The Encyclopedia of Psychoactive Drugs: Cocaine, A New Epidemic, by Chris-Ellyn Johanson.
2 . A Brief History of Cocaine, by Steven B. Karch
*Timeline courtesy erowid.org