Tobacco treated 36 diseases
The King of Spain, Philip II, sent Francisco Fernandez, a medical education officer, to Mexico on March 5, 1558, to study native plants and food. This date is considered the appearance of tobacco in Europe.
The plant was used for a long time as a medicine. The doctors of the 16th century counted up to 36 diseases that can be treated by smoking tobacco. Queen of France Catherine de Medici, on the recommendation of her ambassador in Lisbon, Jean Nico, whose name served as the main component of tobacco - nicotine, smoked a pipe to relieve a headache.
Columbus brought tobacco to the Spanish royal court, where the plant was grown for a long time as decorative.
Rodrigo de Jerez - a member of the team that sailed to America on Santa Maria, is credited with the fact that he was the first European smoker. Subsequently, he was arrested on suspicion of being possessed by the devil.
Compatriots decided that the smoke that felled from Rodrigo's mouth was a clear sign of obsession with the devil. Jerez was put in prison, where he stayed for seven years, until he was released.
Only in the middle of the XVI century, the personal physician of the King of Spain Philip began to advertise the plant as a universal medicine. Until 1600, commercial tobacco plantations appeared in the American colonies of Spain. In 1612, John Rolfe gathered his first crop in the English colony of Jamestown (Virginia).
Less than 10 years later, tobacco became one of the main articles of virgin exports and was even used by colonists as a kind of currency in exchange trading.
The plant was used for a long time as a medicine. The doctors of the 16th century counted up to 36 diseases that can be treated by smoking tobacco. Queen of France Catherine de Medici, on the recommendation of her ambassador in Lisbon, Jean Nico, whose name served as the main component of tobacco - nicotine, smoked a pipe to relieve a headache.
Columbus brought tobacco to the Spanish royal court, where the plant was grown for a long time as decorative.
Photo © gazeta.ua
Rodrigo de Jerez - a member of the team that sailed to America on Santa Maria, is credited with the fact that he was the first European smoker. Subsequently, he was arrested on suspicion of being possessed by the devil.
Compatriots decided that the smoke that felled from Rodrigo's mouth was a clear sign of obsession with the devil. Jerez was put in prison, where he stayed for seven years, until he was released.
Only in the middle of the XVI century, the personal physician of the King of Spain Philip began to advertise the plant as a universal medicine. Until 1600, commercial tobacco plantations appeared in the American colonies of Spain. In 1612, John Rolfe gathered his first crop in the English colony of Jamestown (Virginia).
Less than 10 years later, tobacco became one of the main articles of virgin exports and was even used by colonists as a kind of currency in exchange trading.
