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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 . . .
- The sacred origin of tobacco
and the first pipe (Schoolcraft)
- 6000 BC: Experts believe the
tobacco plant, as we know it today, begins growing in
the Americas.
- 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
- 1531: SANTO DOMINGO: European
cultivation of tobacco begins
- 1548: BRAZIL: Portuguese
cultivate tobacco for commercial export.
- 1556: FRANCE: Tobacco is
introduced. Thevet transplants Nicotiana tabacum from
Brazil, describes tobacco as a creature comfort. (ATS)
- 1558: PORTUGAL: Tobacco is
introduced.
- 1559: SPAIN: Tobacco is
introduced.
- 1564: ENGLAND: Tobacco
is introduced by Sir John Hawkins and/or his crew. For
the next twenty years in England, tobacco is used cheifly by sailors, including those employed by Sir
Francis Drake.
- 1570: Claimed first botanical
book on tobacco written by Pena and Lobel of London.(TSW)
- 1571: SPAIN: MEDICINE:
Monardes, a doctor in Seville, reports on the latest
craze among Spanish doctors--the wonders of the tobacco
plant, which herbalists are growing all over Spain.
Monardes lists 36 maladies tobacco cures.
- 1575: MEXICO: LEGISLATION:
Roman Catholic Church passes a law against smoking in
any place of worship in the Spanish Colonies
- 1577: ENGLAND: MEDICINE:
Frampton translates Monardes into English. European
doctors look for new cures--tobacco is recommended for
toothache, falling fingernails, worms, halitosis,
lockjaw & cancer
- 1580: CUBA: European
cultivation of tobacco begins
- 1586: GERMANY: 'De plantis
epitome utilissima' offers one of first cautions to use
of tobacco, calling it a "violent herb". (LB)
- 1586: ENGLAND: Tobacco Arrives
in English Society.
- 1587: ANTWERP: First published
work totally on tobacco, 'De herbe panacea', with
numerous recipies and claims of cures. (LB)
- 1588: Hariot writes about
tobacco in Virginia
- 1590: LITERATURE: Spenser's
Fairy Queen: earliest poetical allusion to tobacco in
English literature. (Book III, Canto VI, 32).
- 1595: ENGLAND: Tabacco, the
first book in the English language devoted to the
subject of tobacco, is published
- Tobacco continues to be used
as a monetary standard--literally a "cash crop"--
throughout the 17th and 18th Centuries, lasting twice as
long as the gold standard.
- 1600s: Popes ban smoking in
holy places. Pope Urban VIII (1623-44) threatens
excommunication for those who smoke or take snuff in
holy places.
- 1600: BRAZIL: European
cultivation of tobacco begins
- 1600: ENGLAND: Sir Walter
Raleigh persuades Queen Elizabeth to try smoking
- 1601: TURKEY: Smoking is
introduced, and rapidly takes hold while clerics
denounce it. "Puffing in each other's faces, they made
the streets and markets stink," writes historian Ibrahim
Pecevi.
- 1606: ADVERTISING: ENGLAND:
America and advertising begin to grow together.
- 1612: CHINA: Imperial edict
forbidding the planting and use tobacco.(TSW)
- 1617: MONGOLIA: Emperor places
dealth penalty on using tobacco.(TSW)
- 1619: ENGLAND: An unhappy King
James I incorporates British pipe makers.(TSW)
- 1624: Pope threatens
excommunication for snuff users; sneezing is thought too
close to sexual ecstasy
- 1631: European cultivation of
tobacco begins in Maryland
- 1632: MASSACHUSETTS forbids
public smoking
- 1633: CONNECTICUT Settled;
first tobacco crop raised in Windsor
- 1633: TURKEY: Sultan Murad IV
orders tobacco users executed as infidels.
- 1634: RUSSIA: Czar Alexis
creates penalties for smoking
- 1634: EUROPE: Greek Church
claims that it was tobacco smoke that intoxicated Noah
and so bans tobacco use.(TSW)
- 1638: CHINA: Use or
distribution of tobacco is made a crime punishable by
decapitation.
- 1639: NEW YORK CITY: Governor
Kieft bans smoking in New Amsterdam
- 1647: TURKEY: Tobacco ban is
lifted. Pecevi writes that tobaco has now joined coffee,
wine and opium as one of the four "cushions on the sofa
of pleasure."
- 1647: Colony of Connecticut
bans public smoking: citizens may smoke only once a day,
"and then not in company with any other."
1650: Colony of Connecticut
General Court orders -- no smoking by person under age
of 21, no smoking except with physicians order.(TSW)
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