Tobacco In Kentucky History Essay

Tobacco came about in the 1400’s, when Christopher Columbus was gifted with a small dried tobacco leaves from the American Indians that he encountered on the small island of San Salvador. Back then, men used tobacco as “drink smoke” and “tobacco drinking”. During 1559, the year historians mark as the year tobacco was officially introduced to Europe, the French ambassador to Portugal, Jean Nicot, presented some tobacco plants acquired in the New World, and from then tobacco was here to stay.

In 1792, Kentucky was made the first state west of the Appalachian mountains. It was founded by the paleo-Indians, Archaic, Woodland, Adena, Mississippian, and Fort Ancient cultures. But, there was no Indian possession of land at that time. Also, Kentucky was officially added to the union on, January 29, 1861.

1. Historical background to Tobacco – Early American Indians – Columbus – Introduction to the Western World.

Tobacco had an effect on the colonies in many different ways. In colonial Virginia, tobacco was it’s most successful cash crop. The tobacco that the first English settlers encountered in Virginia tasted bitter and dark to the English. In 1612 John Rolfe obtained Spanish seeds, Nicotiana tabacum, from the Orinoco River valley. These seeds when planted at the bottomland of the James River, produced a still dark, but milder leaf. This became the European standard for tobacco.

Tobacco, Smokes, Cancer Sticks, Chew, Dip, whatever you want to call it, has been poisoning the innards of individuals since the days of the prehistoric Mayas of Mexico at around 600 to 900 A.D. This tobacco craze would resume in the society of the American Indians and later to the European settlers. In the early seventeenth century, tobacco was the chief cash crop of America’s first colony, Jamestown Virginia. This crop would continue to flourish in throughout history. By the early 1900’s, The American Tobacco Company was the leading and most influential tobacco corporation. The game completely changed at the time of the two World Wars however. Soldiers began receiving free cigarettes and the industry began targeting women as potential costumers as they were gaining new rights and liberties in society at this time. In 1964, the cigarette empire began to see its decline when the Surgeon General of the U.S. wrote a report about the dangers of cigarette smoking. After this statement by “America’s doctor”, legislation did everything in their power to detour people form purchasing these harmful products. They have gone as far as to make tobacco companies label “caution” on their products. Tobacco companies have recently been having trouble selling their

On 2nd November 1492, Christopher Columbus, the captain of the Santa Maria, came across the island of Cuba. Columbus sent two men in a small boat to explore the island. When they arrived back they told the strange story of people with burning sticks in their mouths (Simkin, 1997). During the next few years, European explorers discovered that people all over America smoked tobacco. These Indians believed that chewing or smoking tobacco protected them from a variety of different diseases. Some European explorers, frightened that they might catch these local diseases, also began to smoke tobacco. When these men went home they took large supplies of tobacco with them (Simkin, 1997). In 1940 the Tobacco industry figures showed that more than half

Tobacco has a long history in the Americas and date back to somewhere between 600 to 900 A.D. Native American Indians smoked tobacco through a pipe only for religious and medical purposes. Following, European’s immigration to North America, tobacco was rapidly spread around the globe (Jacobs, 1997) due to addictive properties of the chemical, Nicotine present in plant Nicotina tobacum (Boffetta et al., 2008). Only the mode of delivery has changed. In the eighteenth century, snuff was prominent; the nineteenth century was the age of the cigar; the twentieth century saw the rise of the manufactured cigarette, and with a greatly increased number of smokers. At the dawn of the twenty first century approximately one third of adults in the world,

The years following the release of the first Surgeon-General’s report on tobacco use in 1964 have recorded successes and setbacks for public health officials. The report closely followed a release from the tobacco industry in 1954 titled “Frank Statement to Tobacco Users” which basically said that there was no cause for alarm. It rebutted the findings from a study on mice which showed the link between tobacco smoking and lung cancer. It insisted that there was not enough proof or evidence to state that there was a direct link between tobacco smoking and lung cancer.

According to archaeological studies, cigarettes are wild plants in the Americas from around 8,000 years ago. About 2,000 years earlier cigarettes were chew and attracted by Native Americans, especially as at religious ceremonies. The first European to discover the main tobacco was Christopher Columbus, who discovered America in the late 15th century and early 16th century. In 1531, tobacco was brought back to Europe and was first planted in Santo. Domingo (now part of the Republic of Dominique) and later spread throughout Europe. In the seventeenth century, cigarettes also followed the westerners to Asia. If ealier the use of cigarettes was relatively diversified from vacuum aspiration to smoking, chewing and inhaling, in the second half of the nineteenth century, when tobalco was manufactured that made cigarette production became easier and quicker. The first machines produced an average of

For many generations, tobacco had been used in healing ceremonies and as offerings to the spirits. In 1492, there are stories of Native Americans giving gifts of tobacco to Christopher Columbus and of him throwing it away as weeds. Some of his men did take up smoking and spread the habit around the world. Following the arrival of Europeans tobacco became very popular to trade and gave the Native Americans a form of currency.

Tobacco has been around since the 17th century and was the first crop grown for money in North America. In 1612, the settlers of the first American colony in Jamestown, Virginia grew tobacco as a cash crop. Tobacco helped pay for the American Revolution against England. By the 1800’s, many people had begun using tobacco in different ways. Some chewed it, others smoked it in a fancy pipe, and some even hand rolled a cigarette or cigar. Most people only smoked about 40 cigarettes a year. It wasn’t until 1865 that the first commercial cigarettes were made by Washington Duke on his 300 acre farm in Raleigh, North Carolina. He made hand rolled cigarettes and sold them to the soldiers at the end of the Civil war. In 1881 cigarette smoking became wide spread due to James Bonsack’s invention of the cigarette making machine. Bonsack’s machine could make 120,000 cigarettes a day. Because of this machine, he created a business with Washington dukes son, James Duke. They built a factory and made about 10 million cigarettes the first year and around one billion cigarettes only five years later. They packed the cigarettes in a box with baseball cards and called them Duke of Durham. They were known as the first brand of cigarettes. Buck Duke and his dad started the first tobacco company in the U.S. and names it the American Tobacco Company. The American Tobacco Company became the largest and most powerful company until the early 1900’s. By then, several companies had started making

When tobacco was first brought to England it became a huge hit and soon there after, it spread to other parts of the world. At first it was only sold as a luxury to affluent city folk but eventually the manufacturing was revolutionized by the Bonsack machine which made it affordable for the general public. Ten years later, the American Tobacco Company was founded by James Buchanan Duke, who promoted cigarettes by using aggressive marketing and advertising techniques. The success of the cigarette was not only attributed to the witty business strategies utilized but also to the fact that young men in urban areas were smoking them and creating a trend. When World War 1 came about, smoking became an even bigger phenomenon. In fact, the military and governments organized a constant supply of cigarettes for the troops. At this point in time cigarette companies like Camel were bringing in tons of revenue. With all this new money, these companies were available to create bigger and better advertisements which resulted in more product consumers. In the early 1900’s this disposition became even more popular. In some parts of the world, up to 80% of the male populations were regular smokers. Smoking became an acceptable part of culture in almost all aspects of life; people did

Tobacco and the U.S share a rich history; it dated back to the 17th century when the first commercial crop was planted. Many people claim tobacco had an influence in the colonization of North America and without it; the colonies would not have survived. While our history with tobacco is long and rich, it doesn’t erase the fact that it kills more people annually than cocaine, heroin, meth and all other illegal drugs combined. In the argument of whether or not tobacco should be banned, many people are evenly split. Tobacco could become a black market if banned, and it is widely practiced in Native American ceremonies, while the high mortality rates, and the financial burden have others petitioning for it to be banned.

Tobacco is a green seventeen leave plant that grows natively throughout North and South America. It’s related the potato, peppers, and the poisonous nightshade. One ounce of tobacco contains about 300,000 seeds! The Americans started to grow Tobacco during 6,000 B.C. In the early 1 B.C the American Indians started using tobacco in religious and medical practices. People us to believe that tobacco cured-all of their problems. It was used as dress wounds, pain killer, and chewing tobacco solved toothache. In October 15, 1492 the American Indians gave Christopher Columbus dried tobacco as a welcome gift. After Christopher Columbus left, he brought back tobacco to Europe; which then grew all over Europe. The reason tobacco was grown so much was because it was believed to have healing properties; that could cure anything from ripe breath to cancer. In 1571 a Spanish doctor named Nicolas Monardes wrote a book on medicinal plants and that tobacco could cure 36 health problems. In 1588 Thomas Harriet thought smoking a dose a day was a good idea. In the 1600’s tobacco was “as good as gold,” it was mostly used as money. During that time some people realized the dangerous effects of smoking. In 1610 Sir Francis Bacon tried to quit, but said it was really hard. Meanwhile in 1632, 12 years after the Mayflower had arrived at Plymouth Rock, smoking became illegal in the state of Massachusetts! In 1760, a New York company named Pierre Lorillard produced tobacco, cigars, and

colonists took an interest in the tobacco and smoked it themselves but found it to be bitter tasting and weak. Looking to improve the taste of this Native American plant they started to mix it with a sweet tobacco that they had imported. While the Native Americans used tobacco for religious and ritual reasons the colonists in Virginia smoked pipes as a mark of a gentleman (Cordry 3). But the colonists did not keep this plant to themselves, Christopher Columbus introduced tobacco to Europe in the 1490’s, and soon after Jean Nicot introduce tobacco to France, who then nicotine was named after in 1556. Spain, Portugal, and England soon caught on to this trend and began using tobacco in 1565 (Connolly 13). As tobacco made its global rise to fame, many doctors began to use it as a medication for things such as “griefs” of the stomach, snakebites, toothaches, joint pain, and a dry scalp. William Byrd was one man in particular who tried to promote general wellness to the public, convincing people to follow in his example by hanging tobacco leaves next to their