Tobacco is an important crop worldwide.
When Christopher Columbus arrived in the Americas, he found the natives using tobacco much the same way as it is used in many parts of the world today. At least partly because it was thought to have medicinal value, it was soon carried to France, Spain, and Portugal and from there to the rest of Europe. By the 16th century Spaniards had established tobacco plantations in the West Indies. Colonists in Virginia began successful tobacco cultivation in 1612. Production gradually spread to the rest of the world.