16th century		Spaniards note the use of what is later known as stevia among natives in Paraguay; indigenous people used kaa he'e to sweeten drinks, in medicine, and as a sweet snack.
1887		Moises Santiago Bertoni discovers Stevia after studying the herbs used by natives in Paraguay to sweeten their drinks.
c.1900		Stevia, also called honey yerba, is in wide use in Paraguay as a tea sweetener.
1901		The British consul at Asuncion (Paraguay's capital), C. Gosling, writes about the plant's properties, noting that a few leafs are "sufficient to sweeten a strong cup of tea."
1909		Karl Dieterich writes about stevia in "Composition of Emptorium Rebaudiana" for the June edition of Chemist & Druggist.
1921		U.S. Trade Commissioner George Brady presents stevia to the Department of Agriculture, calling it a "new sugar plant with great commercial possibilities."
1931		The chemical composition of stevia is discovered by two French chemists, who extract what they call stevioside - a white crystalline compound they say is 300 times sweeter than sugar and not as toxic.
1941		Britain, threatened with serious supply problems during the Second World War, commissions research into stevia as a possible sugar substitute.
1954		Japan, today the world's largest user of stevia, begins cultivating the plant domestically.
1970		A consortium of food manufacturers begins marketing stevia in Japan.
c.1980		Stevia becomes a major export crop globally, in use in about 12 countries.
1987		First attempt to grow stevia in Canada meets with failure when a small planting in Ontario produces poor results.
1991		The US Food and Drug Administration bans the import of stevia. Later that year the American Herbal Products Association petitions the FDA to allow stevia's use in the U.S., a bid that is rejected.
1995		The FDA modifies its import guildelines to allow stevia into the country as a dietary supplement, not a food additive.