Woodcut: Columbus at the seas of America

The tobacco has it's origens in the Maya culture. The Maya culture existed from 2000 B.C. until 987 A.C. in the regions of Chiapas, Campeche, Yukatan, Guatemala and Honduras. The Mayas were very good sailors and traded all over the Gulf of Mexico, including the Caribic Islands like Cuba, Dominican Republic, Jamaica, etc. One of the products they traded with was tobacco, which the Mayas smoked.

Thanks to the Mayas, nowadays all these Caribic Islands cultivate the mexican tobacco which the Mayas called "CIKAR", Woodcut: Columbus at the seas of America the Maya word for "to smoke". The Mayas also extended the tobacco to North America and Canada, because of the tradings they have had with the Olmecas.

Map 16th century

It is also known that the indians of Isla Española (today Dominican Republic and Haiti), Martinique, the Oyampys indians of Brasil and the Guaranies, Tainos and Antillanos cultivated tobacco.

The tobacco was not only used for smoking, it also was used as chew or snuff tobacco and for religious and magician rituals.

Caribbean Indians

When the Spaniards arrived at the islands in 1492 and later, in 1517, at the coasts of Champoton (Maya territory), the tobacco was discovered and the CIKAR became famous in Spain and all over Europe. Smoking, a symbol of wealth, was introduced in France by the french ambassador in Portugal Jean Nicot, whogave the name to the nicotine. In England it was introduced by Sir Walter Raleigh. In the USA smoking became famous after the Civil War in 1765.

During the reign of Philipp II. tobacco consumption was forbidden in Spain. But in the New World tobacco was still seeded, used and exported to Europe, where more and more people began to smoke.
In this way, in 1614, the spanish king Philipp III. removed the ineffective ban on tobacco.

Arrival at the New World

In the middle of the 17th century the relationship between the Canary Islands and the tobacco producing regions became closer and closer. Many people from the Canary Islands emigrated to Cuba, where they took part in tobacco cultivation and production.

In Europe, smoking increased rapidly, because it was considered as a relaxing and pleasant habit. It also became famous for its therapeutic properties and it was used as a simple domestic remedy until the 17th century, when people started to mistrust the beneficial usage of tobacco in medicine.

Tobacco plantation in Cuba

It was a success to remove it from medical usage, but notfrom popular habit.

Smoking became very fashionable and people knew several methods of usage: pipe, snuff and cigar or cigarette, which have had many social simbolisms.