HISTORY OF TOBACCO

 

We all know of the harmful effects of smoking, we do not want to encourage such a practice in any way. But tobacco, in the course of human history, has taken root in the most diverse world cultures and is still present in the contemporary society.

 

It is not known for sure about the origin of tobacco. The great majority of the researchers defend that the tobacco originated in the American continent and the plant would originate of the Andes.

 

Another current alleges that tobacco comes from Asia. According to proponents of this line, tobacco was taken from Asia to the Americas in remote times. We must also remember that there are historical accounts of the cultivation and smoking of various species of tobacco in Persia, 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 emergence of tobacco (African continent and northern Australia) less welcomed by scholars.

 

Most importantly, tobacco did not exist in Europe before the "discovery" of America. We can say that the Europeans knew the plant in the expedition of Christopher Columbus that arrived at the "new world."

 

More recent studies indicate that tobacco was used in religious and "magical" ceremonies by Indians in Central America (1,000 BC).

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

 

It follows from the article published by the historian Muriel Vigie, in the magazine Historia Viva (2006, p.78 -82) which illustrates the first contact of the Europeans with the plant.

 

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

 

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

 

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

 

In the beginning it was used only by members of the courts and aristocrats (high value), century XVI. Smoking is widespread throughout Europe in the 17th century, when tobacco is used for medicinal purposes. It was mainly consumed in pipes, with time the cigar as we know it, diffused like symbol of "status".

 

Between 1840 and 1860, cigarette production began to industrialize (England and France). The situation began to change in 1881, when the American James Bonsack (1859-1924) invented the machine to roll the cigarette. During World War I, the distribution in the trenches multiplied the market. With this, the tobacco industry has taken the current molds.

 

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