Introduction of Tobacco to Europe

Timeline

1. c. -5000–1492Caribbean and eastern North America · CaribbeanTobacco was widely used in the Americas for ritual, medicinal, and social purposes, forming an important part of Indigenous cultures.
2. c. 1556–1570France · FranceA French diplomat brought tobacco seeds and practices to Europe, where it spread at court and in pharmacy under the name 'Nicotiana'.
3. 1571–1580Iberia and Western Europe · SpainBetween 1571 and 1580, commercial cultivation and forms of consumption such as smoking and snuff appeared in Spain, Portugal, England, and elsewhere.
4. c. 1580Europe and the American colonies · North AmericaAfter 1580, tobacco cultivation spread to the American colonies and across Europe, forming a transatlantic cultivation-processing-trade system.