We all know the harmful effects of smoking, and we do not want to encourage this practice in any way. However, tobacco, throughout the history of humanity, has taken root in the most diverse cultures worldwide and is still present in contemporary society.

The origin of tobacco is not known for sure. The vast majority of researchers argue that tobacco originated in the American continent and that the plant originated in the Andes.

Another theory claims that tobacco originated in Asia. According to the proponents of this line of thought, tobacco was brought from Asia to the Americas in ancient times. We should also remember that there are historical reports that in Persia, several species of tobacco were cultivated and smoked, well before the discovery of America.

These are the versions most accepted by the scientific community. We would like to mention that there are other theories about the origin of tobacco (African continent and northern Australia) that are less accepted by scholars.

The most important thing is that tobacco did not exist in Europe before the “discovery” of America. We can say that the Europeans were introduced to the plant during Christopher Columbus' expedition to the "new world."

More recent studies indicate that tobacco was used in religious and "magical" ceremonies by the indigenous people of Central America (1,000 B.C.).

Therefore, upon arriving on the new continent, the expedition that "discovered" the Americas had its first contact with tobacco.

Here is an excerpt from an article published by historian Muriel Vigie in the magazine Historia Viva (2006, p.78-82) that illustrates the first contact that Europeans had with the plant.

"Christopher Columbus, from his first voyage to the New World, had noticed the habit, surprising for a European, of the Guanahani tribe, natives of the island of San Salvador, of smoking herbs."

During subsequent expeditions, Friar Bartolomé de Lãs Casas observed that these herbs were consumed wrapped in a large, trumpet-shaped leaf, which the natives called tobacco.

With the colonization of the Americas, tobacco use spread to all continents, going through different phases of its use.

Initially, it was used only by members of the courts and aristocrats (high-value people) in the 16th century. Smoking spread throughout Europe in the 17th century, a period in which tobacco was used for medicinal purposes. It was consumed mainly in pipes, and over time, the cigar as we know it became widespread as a symbol of “status”.

Between 1840 and 1860, cigarette production began to become industrialized (England and France). The situation began to change in 1881, when the American James Bonsack (1859-1924) invented the cigarette rolling machine. During the First World War, distribution in the trenches multiplied the market. As a result, the tobacco industry took on its current form.

This is a brief text to try to demonstrate the cultural and economic importance of tobacco in the world.