History of tobacco

History of tobacco.                                              

Tobacco has a long history in the Americas. The Mayans of Mexico carved drawings in caves and stone using tobacco. These drawings date back to somewhere between 600 to 900 A.D. Tobacco was grown by American Indians before the Europeans came from Europe. Native Americans smoked tobacco through a pipe for special religious and medical purposes. They did not smoke every day.

            Tobacco was the first cash crop grown in north america, which soul purpose was to make money. In 1612 people who recently inhabited Jamestown, Virginia, began growing tobacco as their main profit bringer. Other cash crops such as corn, cotton, wheat, sugar, and soya beans also brought in profit, just not as much profit as tobacco. Tobacco also helped fund the revolutionary war with England. Plus our first president, George Washington grew tobacco.

            By the 1800's, many people had begun using tobacco. Some chewed it, others smoked it, occasionally in a pipe, or they hand-rolled a cigarette or cigar. On average, people in the 1800’s smoked about 40 cigarettes a year. The first commercial cigarettes were made in 1865 by Washington Duke on his 300-acre farm in Raleigh, North Carolina.

            It was not until James Bonsack invented the cigarette-making machine in 1881 that cigarette smoking became widespread. Bonsack's cigarette machine could make 120,000 cigarettes a day. He went into business with Washington Duke's son, James "Buck" Duke. They built a factory and made 10 million cigarettes their first year and about one billion cigarettes five years later. The first brand of cigarettes were packaged in a box with baseball cards and were called Duke of Durham. Buck Duke and his father started the first tobacco company in the U.S. They named it the American Tobacco Company.