1500s Soldiers and sailors become the first nonIndian smokers. 1535 Spanish cultivate tobacco. Portuguese smoke in Brazil, carry it to trading posts in the West coast of Africa, the Indian Peninsula, Malay Islands, China, Japan. 1556 Seeds from Brazil are carried to France.
Tobacco is cultivated in England.
1612 John Rolfe plants Spanish tobacco in Jamestown. The first shipment of tobacco is sent to England. Virginia tobacco competes with and beats Spanish competition for the British market, shipping 40,000 pounds of tobacco to England in 1620. 1690 Colonist planters riot against British crop and trade control. The first tobacco factories are established.