HISTORICAL 
The history of tobacco commences with the 
discovery of the New World by Columbus. The 
Chinese claim that it was known and used by 
them much earlier, but there appears to be no 
evidence to support this claim. Columbus found 
the natives of Cuba smoking the dried leaves, 
and his followers are said to have brought the 
plant to Spain about 1512. Oviedo published 
a book entitled La Historia general de las 
Indias in Seville in 1526, in which he mentions 
pipe smoking. It may be inferred that this 
custom was well established in Spain then. 
Sir Walter Raleigh is usually credited with hav- 
ing brought tobacco to England for the first 
time from Virginia in 1586; and the Virginian 
Colonists are known to have cultivated the plant 
at that time; but there is evidence enough to 
show that Sir Francis Drake was the first to 
introduce the plant into England. Drake’s 
voyages were made between 1570 and 1580 and 
he brought the plant with him in one of these. 
Some give the date of introduction by Drake as 
1560. Raleigh was, however, probably the first 
English distinguished smoker, and he cultivated 
the plant on his estate at Youghal, Ireland. 
There is no doubt about the culture of tobacco 
by the early English Colonists in the U. S., 
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