Tobacco
Timeline
| Oct 12, 1492 | Christopher Columbus lands on the beaches of San Salvador in the West Indies and is offered fruit, wooden spears, and dried tobacco leaves by the natives. 1 | |
| Nov 1492 | Two of Columbus's crew (Rodrigo de Jerez and Luis de Torres) become the first Europeans to witness the custom of tobacco smoking. de Jerez becomes a confirmed tobacco smoker, probably the first European to do so. 2 | |
| 16th Century | Xochipilli statue carved. Aztec statue depicts the Prince of Flowers decorated with 6 psychoactive plants: mushrooms, tobacco, morning glory, sinicuichi, cacahuaxochitl, and one identified. | |
| 1518 | Juan de Grijalva lands in Yucatan, observes cigarette smoking by natives. 1 | |
| 1530 | Bernardino de Sahagun, a missionary in Mexico, distinguishes between sweet commercial tobacco (N. tabacum) and coarse N. rustica. 1 | |
| 1535 | First printed source to contain a reference to tobacco smoking is published in Gonzalo Fernandez de Oviedo y Valdes's Historia general y natural de las Indias, islas y tierra-firme del mar oceano. 2 | |
| 1556 | Andre Thevet brought the first tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) to France from Brazil. 1 | |
| 1559 | Tobacco is dubbed nicotiana in honor of Jean Nicot, who describes its medicinal properties and sends it as a medicine to French court. 3 | |
| 1560 | Indians along the Rio Guaviare in Colombia take Yopa along with tobacco. | |
| 1561 | Tobacco first introduced in Italy by Cardinal Prospero di Santa Croce. 1 | |
| 1565 | Tobacco seeds are introduced into England, but smoking does not spread until Sir Walter Raleigh makes it fashionable in the court in the mid-1570s. 3 | |
| 1570 | First known picture of a tobacco plant printed in Europe. Accompanied by a diagram of a smoking tube made of plant materials used by Indians and sailors. 1 | |
| 1571 | Although smoking for pleasure is still controversial, tobacco as a medicine is almost universally approved. Nicolas Monardes devotes the second part of his book on New World plants to a lengthy section on tobacco, recommending it as an infallible cure for 36 different ailments. Summing up current beliefs regarding this much praised herba panacea or holy herb, Monardes' work (1571, 1574) becomes the fundamental source for all subsequent pro-tobacco literature. 4 | |
| 1575 - 1600 | China/Japan. Limited smoking is apparent in S. China, probably introduced by Portuguese sailors and merchants. 4 | |
| 1575 - 1600 | England. Smoking becomes the "duty" of every man of fashion; tobacco is worth its weight in silver. Numerous publications praise its medicinal virtues, starting with John Frampton's translation of Monardes, titled Joyful Newes Oute of the Newe Founde Worlde (1577). 4 | |
| 1575 - 1600 | Italy. Tobacco is cultivated as a medicinal herb in Tuscany and Rome, but there is no evidence that it is widely smoked. 3 | |
| 1575 - 1600 | Turkey. Sultan Murad II cultivates tobacco as a novelty and a medicine after smoking is introduced by the English. 4 | |
| 1585 | Tobacco was being cultivated in by European settlers in North Carolina. 1 | |
| 1603 | Japan. Cultivation of Tobacco begins and smoking spreads among all classes, prompting several severe imperial prohibitions (1603+). Prohibitions are governed by fears over outbreaks of fires, foreign influences, and interference in the cultivation of more valuable food crops such as rice. Despite increasing penalties, including property confiscations, death threats, fines and imprisonment, all bans fail. The prohibitions gradually fall into disuse from lack of enforcement. 3 | |
| 1628 | Virginia was given a monopoly on tobacco exports to England. 500,000 pounds of tobacco were shipped. 1 | |
| 1638 | 1,400,000 pounds of tobacco shipped from America to Britain. 1 | |
| 1638 | China. The Ming emperor decrees any person trafficking in tobacco will be decapitated (1638), the decree proves ineffectual as smoking spreads within the court. A second prohibition is issued in 1641. 3 | |
| 1639 | Governor Kieft bans smoking in New Amsterdam (New York). The populace ignores his decree. 1 | |
| 1642 | Papacy. Two papal bulls ban tobacco use by the clergy under penalty of excommunication (1642,1650). 3 | |
| 1644 | China. The Manchu, having conquered China, revoke all existing smoking bans. China becomes the great smoking nation of Asia. Snuff is introduced by the Jesuits. 3 | |
| 1650 - 1675 | Japan. All Tobacco prohibitions are repealed. 3 | |
| 1655 | Papacy. Pope Alexander VII farms out spirits and tobacco monopolies (1655, 1660). 3 | |
| 1659 | Italy. Venice establishes the first tobacco appalto or state monopoly, selling the exclusive right to import, manufacture, or trade in tobacco to a private party. 3 | |
| 1674 | France. Louis XIV establishes a Tobacco monopoly in imitation of the Italians. 3 | |
| 1674 | Russia. A Tobacco smoking ban is established, with a death penalty (1674) . Use continues to increase and restraints are lifted two years later (c. 1676). Smoking spreads from the court and foreign circles to the general population. 3 | |
| 1730 | The first American tobacco factories began in Virginia, in the form of small snuff mills. 1 | |
| 1780 | "Tobacco War" waged by Lord Cornwallis in Virginia to destroy America's credit abroad. 1 | |
| 1832 | First documented use of tobacco rolled in paper, by Egyptian canoneer at siege of the Turkish city of Acre. 5 | |
| 1843 | First French commercial production of rolled cigarettes 5 | |
| Mid 1800s | Xochipilli statue discovered by Europeans in central Mexico. | |
| 1856 | First Brittish cigarette factory 5 | |
| 1880 | The four leading cigarette companies did 80% of US business in cigarettes and sold 532,718 cigarettes in 1880 along with 2.4 billion cigars. 5 | |
| 1880 | James B. Duke of Durham, North Carolina, bought the rights to the first cigarette-making machine, after which the use of cigarettes increased. | |
| 1881 | Cigarette rolling machine invented. Prior to this, all cigarettes sold were hand-rolled. 5 | |
| 1889 | Annual cigarette production in US is 2,413,349,000 (2.4 billion) 5 | |
| late 1890's | Cigarette sales slump in US as tax was raised from $.50 to $1.50 per thousand to help pay for Spanish-American War 5 | |
| aprox. 1885-1910 | Most cigarette packages came with trading cards, a practice which later switched to bubble gum in the 20th Century. 5 | |
| circa 1900 | Sales dropped from 600 million to 40 million cigarettes in 2 years. 5 | |
| 1902 | US tax lowered to $.54 per thousand, sales increase. 5 | |
| 1904 | 3 billion cigarettes sold in US 5 | |
| 1907 | American Tobacco Company is split by US Government in anti-trust (monopoly) law suit. 5 | |
| 1912 | 13 billion cigarettes sold 5 | |
| 1918 | Camel cigarette company controls 40% of US cigarette market 5 |
References
- Heimann RK. Tobacco & Americans. McGraw-Hill, 1960.
- Wilbert J. Tobacco and Shamanism in South America. Yale UP, 1987.
- Lewine H. Good-Bye To All That. McGraw-Hill, 1970.