At present, it is generally believed that tobacco originated in the United States. Archaeological findings show that tobacco entered the lives of American residents when human beings were still in primitive society. At that time, when people were gathering food, they would unconsciously pick a plant leaf and put it in their mouth to chew. Because it is irritating, it just plays the role of restoring physical strength and refreshing, so they often pick it and chew it, which becomes a hobby.
Archaeologists believe that the earliest evidence of human use of tobacco so far is the relief in a temple built in 432 AD in Belenke, Chiapas, southern Mexico. It is a semi-relief painting, which shows a Maya with a long pipe and a pipe. At the ancestor worship ceremony, the pipe blows smoke and the head is wrapped with tobacco leaves. Archaeologists also found tobacco and ash residues in caves inhabited by Indians in northern Arizona, USA. According to textual research, the age of these relics is about 650 AD. According to records, Salvadorans smoked tobacco in14th century.
Long ago, Native Americans had the custom of worshipping the sun and offering sacrifices to smoking. Some archaeological analysis also found that American residents had the habit of smoking 3500 years ago. With the further exploration of American history, the history of tobacco may extend to an earlier period of Indian history. In addition, safflower tobacco, which is widely planted today, likes warmth, so the view that tobacco originated in tropical America is more convincing.
An Important Discovery of Columbus —— Tobacco
When the Italian navigator Columbus is mentioned, people will naturally think of the New World of America. Indeed, this world-famous navigator's voyage not only discovered the new American continent, but also discovered another little-known but particularly important discovery-tobacco. The discovery of tobacco also made Columbus a recognized tobacco disseminator in the world.
1492, Columbus was awarded the title of "Admiral" by the King of Spain, and was appointed in advance as the governor of the area that may be discovered, which can occupy one tenth of the discovered wealth. So this adventurous navigator led the expedition and began his legendary voyage.
In the same year12 10, when Columbus's fleet arrived in San Salvador, two of its crew members "saw countless people, men and women, with torches and blades of grass in their hands." Columbus's sailors were stunned by the smoking Indians. I saw them holding a lighted stick in one hand and a long pipe in the other, and the plumes of smoke from their mouths and nostrils were like thick fog. After some investigation, the mystery was finally uncovered. It turned out to be made of leaves of a grass (that is, tobacco) rolled in corn leaves.
10 year 10 On October 27th, the fleet sailed to the coast of Cuba, and Columbus sent a team of men ashore to look for the gold they had longed for for for a long time. Because he believes that he has reached the original goal of sailing-India. When this small expedition returned to the ship on June 5, the same year 165438+, it only visited the local aborigines' cottages and was treated with courtesy, but it didn't get gold or see the king. It's just that I found many people smoking with long pipes. Columbus described the discovery of tobacco in his nautical diary like this:
"10 On Monday, June 25th, at sea, about halfway between Santa Maria Island and Pei Nan Di Island, I met a man driving a canoe from Maria Island to Pei Nan Di; His people are carrying a piece of homemade bread, which is as big as a fist, a ladle of water, a little red soil, crushed and rubbed, and dried leaves, which are very valuable in our minds. When I was in San Salvador, I gave a little more. "
The historical materials of what Columbus saw and heard in America were not made public until 1875 three centuries later. It was Lars and casas, the Indian historian Bartoloma, who became the legacy of the Bishop of India with Columbus's second voyage, who published the materials of this incident.
1536 in may, an explorer named Katie returned to the United States after a long expedition to witness Indians using tobacco. He gave a more detailed account than Columbus:
"They put the tobacco in the sun to dry, and then hung a small bag made of calfskin, hollow stone or wood around their necks, much like a pipe; After a while, they were happy, so they sliced the tobacco at one end of the pipe, lit it, and breathed deeply through their mouths at the other end, so that their bodies were completely filled with smoke until it came out of their mouths and nostrils, just like smoke from a chimney. They say it can keep them warm and healthy. We've tried this kind of cigarette, too. Put it in your mouth. Spicy as pepper. "
The earliest record that Indians were the first people to smoke tobacco was the personal experience of Pan Shi, a Spaniard. Pan Shi described his second voyage to the West Indies with Columbus in 1497, in which he described the scene when he found Indians smoking.
In addition, there is a general history of India published by the maritime historian Pernantis Orvieto in 1535, which is recorded as follows:
"Among other vices, Indians have a particularly harmful hobby, that is, smoking some kind of cigarettes ... in order to produce unconscious anesthesia. Their chief used a tube shaped like a ya to insert both ends of the ya into his nostrils, and one end of the tube was filled with burning weeds. They smoke like this until they lose consciousness and lie on the ground with their limbs stretched out like drunkards ... I can't imagine what happiness they get from this habit unless they have already drunk before smoking. "