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The early history of TOBACCO
Tobacco is a plant that grows natively in North and
South America. It is in the same family as the potato,
pepper and the poisonous nightshade, a very deadly
plant.
The seed of a tobacco plant is very small. A 1 ounce
sample contains about 300,000 seeds!
It is believed that Tobacco began growing in the
Americas about 6,000 B.C.!
As early as 1 B.C., American Indians began using
tobacco in many different ways, such as in religious
and medicinal practices.
Tobacco was believed to be a cure-all, and was used
to dress wounds, as well as a pain killer. Chewing
tobacco was believed to relieve the pain of a toothache!
The New World Discovered
On October 15, 1492, Christopher Columbus was offered
dried tobacco leaves as a gift from the American Indians
that he encountered.
Soon after, sailors brought tobacco back to Europe,
and the plant was being grown all over Europe.
The major reason for tobacco's growing popularity
in Europe was its supposed healing properties. Europeans
believed that tobacco could cure almost anything,
from bad breath to cancer!
In 1571, A Spanish doctor named Nicolas Monardes
wrote a book about the history of medicinal plants
of the new world. In this he claimed that tobacco
could cure 36 health problems.
In 1588, A Virginian named Thomas Harriet promoted
smoking tobacco as a viable way to get one's daily
dose of tobacco. Unfortunately, he died of nose cancer
(because it was popular then to breathe the smoke
out through the nose).
During the 1600's, tobacco was so popular that it
was frequently used as money! Tobacco was literally
"as good as gold!"
This was also a time when some of the dangerous effects
of smoking tobacco were being realized by some individuals.
In 1610 Sir Francis Bacon noted that trying to quit
the bad habit was really hard!
In 1632, 12 years after the Mayflower arrived on
Plymouth Rock, it was illegal to smoke publicly in
Massachusetts! This had more to do with the moral
beliefs of the day, than health concerns about smoking
tobacco.
In 1760, Pierre Lorillard establishes a company in
New York City to process tobacco, cigars, and snuff.
Today, P. Lorillard is the oldest tobacco company
in the U.S.
Tobacco: A Growth Industry
In 1776, during the American Revolutionary War, tobacco
helped finance the revolution by serving as collateral
for loans the Americans borrowed from France!
