Ever since I was a kid we've been calling these drinks - coke, sprite, mirinda e.t.c mineral. But now I can't seem to get why it's called mineral..
Abeg any history behind it?

i checked its etymology.. and the british are the cause..

the irish refer to anything thats not animal or vegetable as mineral..
and mineral was coined from minera which means ore

minerals are inorganic substance occuring naturally

ore is the concentration of this inorganic substances

na dem papa dem wan confuse sha

I've wondered about that too, You know Nigerians and their namings...Some decades back, a Northern politician was asked, "what Mineral resources does your state have?"... The man was like..." kano is blessed with so much minerals such as Pepsi, Brama, Mirinda, 7up....". T'was a long time ago

I think it has to do with etymology of the word minerals.

The answer is exactly why we call every detergent omo or every candy sweet

i think it has to do with the so called wise men that told the white people to leave us alone so we can rule ourselves,then the white men left,and then they came back to us and started teaching us rubbish,and now we are addicted to the stupid names,,its a shame that some of my close friends after living in europe for more than 20years,they still come to my house,and when i ask them,what can i offer u,one would say beer,they other hot drink,and then the other,just give me minara, try and seee the spelling of the minara because this is how he usually sounds

Mineral waters and spirits were the drinks of the british... Things like Lucozade were common in those early days of bringing coca ola to Nigeria and thats just what they were, mineral waters.. They were literally enhanced with substances that came in powder form as was always the case from long ago.. Sometimes it was mineral salts, medicinal substances and concentrates ground from spices... Thats also what comprised tonics... Tonic water...
Eventually the beverages evolved as sugar and concentraded flavorings were developed, but they were still served in the same bottled form as the old fashioned Mineral waters and tonic waters.... Tonic was from the school of being a healthy benefit and the medical practice favored it, while mineral waters were more favored by the main stream casual beverage consumers... Gin and Tonic, tonic water with bitters such as quinine, still exist today from the old practice of colonial days when quinine was discovered from the natives in south america and began to be a favorite additive to drinks for health benefits like warding off parasites and such as the ones causeing malaria.. It would be in a powder form and resemble mineral salts... Thus Mineral water or tonic water...

Because the earliest form of carbonated or fizzy water was from pressurized mineral springs and was therefore sold as mineral water, later people worked out how to add gas to tap water but the name stuck, its also called 'pop' in england because that was the noise the top made when you opened it.