 THE
TOBACCO TIMELINE (by
Gene Borio)
IN THE BEGINNING . . .
Huron Indian myth has it that in ancient times, when the land was
barren and the people were starving, the Great Spirit sent forth a
woman to save humanity. As she traveled over the world, everywhere
her right hand touched the soil, there grew potatoes. And everywhere
her left hand touched the soil, there grew corn. And when the world
was rich and fertile, she sat down and rested. When she arose, there
grew tobacco . . .
SOURCES: Thanks to tobacco researcher Larry Breed (LB) for his contributions.
He recently found a little tome called "This Smoking World" (1927),
and shared some of its events (TSW). I am also beginning to incorporate
events referenced in Richard Kluger's monumental Ashes to Ashes
(RK), The American Tobacco Story (ATS), Corti's "A History
of Smoking (1931), Elizabeth Whelan's A Smoking Gun, and
Susan Wagner's Cigarette Country (1971). Another important
source is Bill Drake's wonderful The European
Experience With Native American Tobacco (BD). Many will be
interested in the 1989 Surgeon General report segment, "ADVANCES
IN KNOWLEDGE OF THE HEALTH CONSEQUENCES OF SMOKING" (PDF,
93 pp).
DISCOVERY
Prehistory: Although small amounts of nicotine may be found in
some Old World plants, including belladonna and Nicotiana africana,
and nicotine metabolites have been found in human remains and pipes
in the Near East and Africa, there is no indication of habitual
tobacco use in the Ancient world, on any continent save the Americas.
The
sacred origin of tobacco and the first pipe (Schoolcraft)
c. 6000 BCE: Experts believe the tobacco plant, as we know it
today, begins growing in the Americas.
c.1 BCE: Experts believe American inhabitants have begun finding
ways to use tobacco, including smoking (in a number of variations),
chewing and in probably hallucinogenic enemas (by the Peruvian Aguaruna
aboriginals).
c. 1 CE: Tobacco was "nearly everywhere" in the Americas. (American
Heritage Book of Indians, p.41).
470-630 CE: Between 470 and 630 A.D. the Mayas began to scatter,
some moving as far as the Mississippi Valley. The Toltecs, who created
the mighty Aztec Empire, borrowed the smoking custom from the Mayas
who remained behind. Two castes of smokers emerged among them. Those
in the Court of Montezuma, who mingled tobacco with the resin of
other leaves and smoked pipes with great ceremony after their evening
meal; and the lesser Indians, who rolled tobacco leaves together
to form a crude cigar. The Mayas who settled in the Mississippi
Valley spread their custom to the neighboring tribes. The latter
adapted tobacco smoking to their own religion, believing that their
god, the almighty Manitou, revealed himself in the rising smoke.
And, as in Central America, a complex system of religious and political
rites was developed around tobacco. (Imperial Tobacco Canada, http://www.imperialtobaccocanada.com/e/world/history/index.html)
600-1000 CE: UAXACTUN, GUATEMALA. First pictorial record of smoking:
A pottery vessel found here dates from before the 11th century.
On it a Maya is depicted smoking a roll of tobacco leaves tied with
a string. The Mayan term for smoking was sik'ar
Introduction:
The Chiapas Gift, or The Indians' Revenge?
1492-10-12: Columbus Discovers Tobacco; "Certain Dried Leaves"
Are Received as Gifts, and Thrown Away.
On this bright morning Columbus and his men set foot on the New
World for the first time, landing on the beach of San Salvador
Island or Samana Cay in the Bahamas, or Gran Turk Island. The
indigenous Arawaks, possibly thinking the strange visitors divine,
offer gifts. Columbus wrote in his journal,
the natives brought fruit, wooden spears, and certain dried
leaves which gave off a distinct fragrance.
As each item seemed much-prized by the natives; Columbus accepted
the gifts and ordered them brought back to the ship. The fruit
was eaten; the pungent "dried leaves" were thrown away.
1492-10-15: Columbus Mentions Tobacco. "We found a man in a canoe
going from Santa Maria to Fernandia. He had with him some dried
leaves which are in high value among them, for a quantity of it
was brought to me at San Salvador" -- Christopher Columbus' Journal
1492-11: Jerez and Torres Discover Smoking; Jerez Becomes First
European Smoker
Rodrigo de Jerez and Luis de Torres, in Cuba searching for the
Khan of Cathay (China), are credited with first observing smoking.
They reported that the natives wrapped dried tobacco leaves in
palm or maize "in the manner of a musket formed of paper." After
lighting one end, they commenced "drinking" the smoke through
the other. Jerez became a confirmed smoker, and is thought to
be the first outside of the Americas. He brought the habit back
to his hometown, but the smoke billowing from his mouth and nose
so frightened his neighbors he was imprisoned by the holy inquisitors
for 7 years. By the time he was released, smoking was a Spanish
craze.
1493: Ramon Pane, a monk who accompanied Columbus on his second
voyage, gave lengthy descriptions about the custom of taking snuff.
He also described how the Indians inhaled smoke through a Y-shaped
tube. Pane is usually credited with being the first man to introduce
tobacco to Europe.
1497: Robert Pane, who accompanied Christopher Columbus on his
second voyage in 1493, writes the first report of native tobacco
use to appear in Europe.
1498: Columbus visits Trinidad and Tobago, naming the latter after
the native tobacco pipe.
1499: Amerigo Vespucci noticed that the American Indians had a
curious habit of chewing green leaves mixed with a white powder.
They carried two gourds around their necks -- one filled with leaves,
the other with powder. First, they put leaves in their mouths. Then,
after dampening a small stick with saliva, they dipped it in the
powder and mixed the adhering powder with the leaves in their mouths,
making a kind of chewing tobacco. (Imperial Tobacco Canada, http://www.imperialtobaccocanada.com/e/world/history/index.html)
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