Tobacco has been one of the most influential and controversial crops since its first discovery by the Europeans in the year 1492 when Columbus landed in the Americas. It then went on to spread among the Spanish colonists in Santo Domingo during the year 1531, shortly after Bartolome de las Casas noted that his fellow colonists began to develop a strong dependence on it.
Tobacco began spreading through Europe during the 16th century quickly becoming the vice of many, but also transforming into what people thought was a cure for many illnesses. King James I was the first to put a tax on tobacco, while King Louis XIV was the first to regulate the distribution of the crop. Overall, the efforts to limit the consumption of tobacco for medicinal purposes failed all over Europe once world leaders discovered its deathly side effects. In Turkey the consequence for smoking in public was a beheading, while in countries such as Russia and Austria, one could be fined, jailed, and tortured. King James I of England wrote about tobacco’s addictive properties and the sustained damage to the lungs that resulted from long time use.
Tobacco’s history, however, has not always been so grim. When it was first discovered on American soil, Columbus and other colonists wrote personal accounts of seeing Indians smoking ‘dried leaves through a y-shaped tube’. It was closely observed that this crop was easy to grow, trade, and use for personal enjoyment.
The tobacco economy in the early colonies was a cycle of leaf demand, slave labor demand, a global industry that eventually led to the rise of the Chesapeake Consignment system, which means American tobacco farmers would sell their sell their crops to merchants in London but still retain ownership until t...
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... an abundance to those who remained loyal customers.
It wasn’t until the 1950s that more and more evidence began to surface that tobacco was linked to lung cancer as well as other harsh diseases such as emphazema, heart disease, etc. AD’s for tobacco were removed from store windows and television commercials and were quickly replaced with anti-smoking campaigns and warnings stating that tobacco use in any form could very well lead to the development of these harsh diseases. Today tobacco is the leading killer in the United States and has remained so for a number of decades.
In conclusion, tobacco has been an extreme asset and an extreme detriment to society, and still remains so today. The boost it has given our economy to remains while the harsh pollution, health concerns, and costly production continues to be a steady issue in our nation and around the world.
Tobacco is the common name of the plant Nicotiana tabacum and N. rustica, found in the Nightshade family. It is a green, leafy plant and is known for the nicotine that lies within its leaves. Tobacco has more than 70 different species, but only two are used today. The most popular is N. tabacum and it has never been found to grow in the wild. Today, tobacco is smoked, chewed, and snuffed. It is grown throughout both North and South America. In the United States, its grown in Tennessee, Kentucky, and Virginia.
Early Virginia's flourishing cultivation of tobacco drew a diversity of people, from fresh war veterans and former soldiers, to adventurers and ordinary people looking to recoup from former monetary losses. However the tobacco did not only alter the country culturally and economically, but it “ threw more wood into the fire.” It strengthened the infamous individualistic attitude the colonists had. The advent...
...g the 1600's, tobacco was so popular that it was even used as money. Over time it was finally realized that the use of tobacco was addictive and more hazardous to ones health than beneficial.
To summerize, the discovery of tobacco in the Americas had lasting effects on the world. Across Europe, many began smoking because of the belief that tobacco was able to cure certain ailments. Also, tobacco became a symbol of high class so we see that many middle class people began to smoke. The demand in Europe for tobacco became very high causing the production of tobacco in the Americas to increase. Colonies were set up containing large plantations with many slaves to produce tobacco. Tobacco production made the producers very rich as the cash crop was very desirable. From the use of tobacco in ceremonies for the Aztecs and Mayans to the mass production of the crop in the Americas, tobacco created much change across the world.
Tobacco production was a big deal in Virginia during the 1600’s. It became the basis of making money, which during the time, was something colonists had been struggling with. The source shows us how much tobacco was sold, depending on the number of workers growing it.
Tobacco is a plant that has been artificially and naturally selected, meaning it has been altered to suit people’s desires. Through natural selection, the most potent tobacco plants have survived the toughest environments throughout the world to keep their line of generation intact. In regards to artificial selection, humans have throughout history selectively bred different types of tobacco plants in order to evaluate whether a more stronger and effective type of tobacco can result from it. Furthermore, tobacco also effects our environment, such as littering cigarette butts on the floor, to our nutritional health, and towards our economy. Tobacco brings an anthropological consequence, to understand how past c...
Slavery was the main resource used in the Chesapeake tobacco plantations. The conditions in the Chesapeake region were difficult, which lead to malnutrition, disease, and even death. Slaves were a cheap and an abundant resource, which could be easily replaced at any time. The Chesapeake region’s tobacco industries grew and flourished on the intolerable and inhumane acts of slavery.
Every year cigarette smoking is responsible for 500,000 premature deaths (Nugel), you do not want to be just another statistic, do you? America’s first cash crop was tobacco. That means that tobacco has been around for a really long time. It was not until 1865, though, that cigarettes were sold commercially. They were sold to soldiers at the end of the Civil War (Dowshen). From then, cigarettes spread like wildfire, and it was not until 1964 that anyone made a stand about the negative effects of tobacco and cigarettes. People start smoking for all different reasons, some to fit in and some to “escape”. Regardless, it is a horrible habit. 3900 children will try their first cigarette today. Amongst adults who currently smoke, 68% of them began at age 18 or younger, and 85% at 21 or younger (American Lung Association). And of all those people, 70% say if they were given another chance they would never have picked up that first cigarette (Tobacco Free Maine). Smoking is responsible for 1 and 5 deaths in the united states, and is the number one preventable cause of death (NLH). Smoking burns and there is no doubt about that, but before one picks up that cigarette, understand the negative effects on not only oneself, but others affected by ones poor choices, like second-hand smoke. Because of smoking cigarettes, many types of cancer, decrease of life quality, and negative health effects have become all too common in the world today.
In the years 1950-1968, the tobacco industries knew that their product was harmful and didn¹t decide to warn the American public until the year 1969. Because of the tobacco companies irresponsibility, our older generations are enduring painful, inevitable deaths. The tobacco companies have been arguing for years that no studies have been done within their company about the correlation of cigarette smoking and lung cancer and that they are ignorant on that matter. They have been keeping things from us for years while studies outside the tobacco companies had been done to help prove that smoking is harmful in the short and long runs to one¹s health. There was a memo written in 1963 marked ³strictly private and confidential² which stated,² moreover, nicotine is addictive... We are then in the business of selling nicotine, an addictive drug effective in the release of stress mechanisms.²(Hwang). If the tobacco companies were in fact ³ignorant² on the correlation between their product and lung cancer along with other diseases, then they should make themselves more educated about their own product or suffer the consequences and face law suits from the government and citizens of America. But, in fact, the tobacco companies have known for years what is really in each cigarette and how it really might affect us in the long run.
Early English settlers in the lower Chesapeake Bay region learned to cultivate tobacco from the Native Americans and it would prove to have profound influence in the development of Chesapeake society and the colonies of Virginia and Maryland as a whole. Between 1627 and 1669, annual tobacco exports climbed from 250,000 pounds to more than 15 million pounds. (p39. The American Journey). The Chesapeake region became the New World’s largest producer of tobacco. Since tobacco was a labour intensive crop to cultivate, the planters sought indentured servants from England as a source of cheap labour. However many servants died in alarming numbers from disease as a result from the supply of indentured servants declined, and larger planters who were wealthy managed to buy slaves. Slave population increased rapidly from 1,708 in 1660 to 189,000 in 1760. (Smith, Billy G., and Nash. Encyclopedia of American History).
Smoking cigarettes is a detrimental practice not only to the smoker, but also to everyone around the smoker. According to an article from the American Lung Association, “Health Effects” (n.d.), “Smoking is the leading cause of preventable death in the U.S., causing over 438,000 deaths per year”. The umbrella term for tobacco use includes the use of cigarettes, cigars, e-cigs and chewing tobacco. While tobacco causes adverse health consequences, it also has been a unifying factor for change in public health. While the tobacco industries targets specific populations, public health specifically targets smokers, possible smokers, and the public to influence cessation, policies and education.
Tobacco use causes a number of diseases. Smoking causes cancer, heart disease, stroke, and causes lung diseases. Tobacco can lead to someone losing limbs and...
Although it is beneficial for the economy for the production of tobacco products it is extremely risky to use the product. According to researchers second-hand smoke is terrible for everyone in the world who walk by someone who is exhaling. In the article by Robert Proctor “Why ban the sale of cigarettes? The case for abolition” he states that cigarettes are the “most deadl...
Smoking is a simple process of inhaling and exhaling the fumes of burning tobacco, but it has deadly consequences. According to the American Cancer Society, smoking is the most preventable cause of death in America today (Encarta, 2002). Until the 1940?s, smoking was considered harmless. It was at this time that epidemiologists noticed a dramatic increase in the cases of lung cancer. A study was then conducted between smokers and nonsmokers to determine if cigarettes were the cause of this increase. This study, conducted by the American Cancer Society, found increased mortality among smokers. Yet it was not until 1964 that the Surgeon General put out a report acknowledging the danger of cigarettes. The first action to curb smoking was the mandate of a warning on cigarette packages by the Federal Trade Commission (Encarta, 2002). In 1971, all cigarette advertising was banned from radio and television, and cities and states passed laws requiring nonsmoking sections in public places and workplaces (Encarta, 2002). Now in some cities smoking is being completely banned from public places and workplaces and various people are striving for more of these laws against smoking.
One person dies every six seconds due to a tobacco related disease, which results in a shocking amount of ten deaths per minute. Tobacco is one of the most heavily used addictive products in the United States. Tobacco contains over 4,000 chemicals; approximately 250 are dangerously harmful to humans. Smoking is a major public health problem. All smokers face an increased risk of lung cancer, cardiovascular problems and many other disorders. Smoking should be banned due to the many health risks to the user, second hand related smoke illness, and excessive cost.