Tales Tobacco Told in Sixteenth-Century Europe

Mancall, Peter C.

doi:10.2307/3986264

Cited by 22 publications

(6 citation statements)

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“…While early shipment records (c.1600) show that some 25 000 pounds of tobacco were being imported into England every year, as the 17 th century closed, this figure had increased to around 38 000 000 pounds annually. 1 Although tobacco was warmly extolled as an essential cure-all by physicians and traders, there were contemporary detractors who voiced clear opposition to it. For example, King James I strongly denounced tobacco in his 1604 pamphlet "A Counterblaste to Tobacco" which condemned the plant both for its negative spiritual and health effects.…”

Section: "Physic" and Early Advocacy For Tobaccomentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Columbus himself described natives of the West Indies burning "perfumed herbs" and intentionally breathing the resulting smoke. 1 Between 1492 and 1660, European explorers across the Americas recorded some 50 distinct native populations who used the tobacco plant. These foreign observers reported that tobacco was used for religious ceremonies and medicinal purposes, such as for toothaches, eye problems, and wounds.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…These foreign observers reported that tobacco was used for religious ceremonies and medicinal purposes, such as for toothaches, eye problems, and wounds. 1 In the 1530s, during his travels near modern-day Montreal, Jacques Cartier described men carrying dried tobacco in bags and using pipes to "fill their bodies full of smoke, till that it commeth out of their mouth and nostrils, even as out of the tonnel of a chimny." Tobacco use was not limited to the North American continent; the first protestant missionary in Brazil in the mid-1550s, Jean de Lery, sampled the tobacco of the local inhabitants and wrote that, "it seemed to satisfy and ward off hunger."…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Tobacco use was not limited to the North American continent; the first protestant missionary in Brazil in the mid-1550s, Jean de Lery, sampled the tobacco of the local inhabitants and wrote that, "it seemed to satisfy and ward off hunger." 1 The phenomenal growth of interest in tobacco resulted from a lethal combination of addiction and profitabilityfactors which transformed tobacco into a cash crop on a scale scarcely seen before or since in world history. Yet, with tobacco's immense popularity have come health consequences of an equally astounding magnitude.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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The 500-year Cultural & Economic Trajectory of Tobacco: A Circle Complete

Jones

Wassel

Mierse

et al. 2017

JHEOR

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Who smokes, and why do they do it? What factors discourage and otherwise reward or incentivize smoking? Tobacco use has been accompanied by controversy from the moment of its entry into European culture, and conflicting opinions regarding its potentially adverse influence on health have coexisted for hundreds of years. Its use in all forms represents the world's single greatest cause of preventable disease and death. Tobacco was introduced to Europe by Christopher Columbus, who in October 1492 discovered the crop in Cuba. While the next four centuries would see tobacco as the most highly traded economic commodity, by 1900, the now familiar cigarette remained obscure and accounted for only 2% of total tobacco sales. Global tobacco consumption rose sharply after 1914 and became especially prevalent following World War II, particularly among men. Indeed, overall tobacco sales increased by more than 60% by the mid-20th century, and cigarettes were a critical driver of this growth. Cigarettes dominated the tobacco market by 1950, by then accounting for more than 80% of all tobacco purchases. In the absence of clinical and scientific evidence against tobacco, moral and religious arguments dominated opposition voices against tobacco consumption in the 1800s. However, by the mid-20th century, advancements in medical research supported enhanced government and voluntary actions against tobacco advertising and also raised awareness of the dangers associated with passive tobacco smoke exposure. Solid epidemiological work connecting tobacco use with "the shortening of life span" began to appear in the medical literature in the 1950s, linking smoking with lung cancer and related conditions. In subsequent years, these developments led to significant curtailment of tobacco use. This monograph explores aspects of the intersection of tobacco with themes of behavioral incentives, religion, culture, literature, economics, and government over the past five centuries.

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Section: "Physic" and Early Advocacy For Tobaccomentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

The 500-year Cultural & Economic Trajectory of Tobacco: A Circle Complete

Jones

Wassel

Mierse

et al. 2017

JHEOR

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Tobacconists spread across London and the plant became a fi xture in England, as it had elsewhere in Europe, with results that ensured the survival of Virginia (Mancall 2004). Historians of early Virginia have recognized this as a turning point in the colony's history.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%