HISTORY OF TOBACCO

It is not known when tobacco was first used, but information dates back more than 2,000 years when the native people (Aztec and Mayan) of Central and South America used tobacco in medical and religious rituals. This is known because archaeologists have found an ancient Mayan vase that shows a scene of dancing and smoking skeletons--a symbol of the death god. So even thousands of years ago, tobacco represented death.

In 1492 Christopher Columbus came to the New World and landed in the "West Indies." This is why the native people were called Indians. In his journal, Columbus wrote about certain dried leaves that gave off a distinct smell. Soon after, another Spanish explorer, Rodrigo de Jerez, brought tobacco back to Spain. The people were so afraid to see smoke coming out of his mouth that he was put into prison; they thought he was possessed by demons. By the time he was released from prison a few years later, smoking had become a popular activity throughout Europe.

In 1560 Frenchman Jean Nicot began spreading the idea throughout Europe that tobacco was a medicine, and he claimed it cured many diseases. Nicotine, the active drug in tobacco, is named after him. Tobacco use increased and the tobacco trade was soon created.

Many leaders around the world, however, did not like smoking and even killed people for using tobacco. King James I of England wrote a pamphlet about how smoke stinks. China threatened to take the heads off illegal tobacco dealers. Moslem leaders in Turkey would shove a pipe up the nose of a smoker. Russian Czars tortured smokers. This did not last too long as the leaders soon saw how much money and power they had to gain if people smoked.

Tobacco became a large part of the new colonial American economy in 1612. John Rolfe and investors from England set out to grow tobacco in the colony of Jamestown, Virginia. Until then Spain had dominated the tobacco trade. Rolfe married the Native American, Pocahontas and made her the first "poster girl" of tobacco. Together they went to England and secured more money for investment in the colony. The marriage assured that the native people would not attack Jamestown or upset the new cash crop. The new wealth brought new settlers and slaves. Tobacco growers were given up to 300,000 acres of land on which to grow tobacco. As the land was needed for tobacco and the rising population, the Native American Indians were pushed out of their villages.

As tobacco use spread throughout Europe and the Americas more diseases were seen on the lips and gums. Even though many countries banned tobacco because of its stinking smell and the illnesses it caused, the use of tobacco increased and brought the colonies more wealth. Tobacco was mostly used as "plug" for chewing or in pipes for smoking. Tobacco takes a lot of work to grow, harvest, dry and roll. Because the crop required so much work, tobacco farmers in the south brought in slaves.

Tobacco was taxed heavily by the British, who mandated that all tobacco be shipped to England. The colonists did not like to pay taxes on tobacco, and this was one of the economic causes of the Revolutionary War. The first loan given to the revolutionists was given by France with a promise of tobacco sent in return.

By the mid-1800's, it is estimated that 40% of all the colonists were slaves used in farming. In the mid and late 1800's, big plantation tobacco growers, such as the Reynolds and Duke families, began their billion-dollar tobacco empires. During the Civil War these families sided with the Confederacy because they did not want their free (slave) labor to end.

(More information on tobacco history is included in the student workbook.)

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