Tobacco, a bittersweet gift among the many precious offerings from Native Americans to humanity.
Columbus thought that the American continent was Asia and China.
Columbus hoped to be sponsored by royal family to sail westward to reach China and acquire the rich treasures. His request was ignored by the King of Portugal because he was busy expanding in Africa. At that time, Spain had just ended a war that lasted for more than 700 years. The Christian conquerors cleared the Muslim heretics within Iberian Peninsula. Spain was still a country in need of much reconstruction, so the queen also wanted to expand their territory to acquire resources, but they could not conflict with other European countries. Therefore, Columbus's plan for an ocean-going adventure was very much in line with queen 's interests. On August 3, 1492, Columbus set sail from Palos, Spain, with three ships across the Atlantic.
His initial purpose was to expand the territory for Spanish Empire and to explore China, where Marco Polo wrote about streets paved with gold. Because there was little interaction among the peoples of every continent and they were isolated from one another, Europeans did not know that there were Americas and Pacific Ocean on Earth. Although Columbus reached Cuba in Central America, he believed that he had reached the eastern coast of China.
The enthusiastic hospitality of indigenous Americans fueled his illusion of the East. He longed to find gold and the Great Khan. Whenever Columbus presented a piece of gold and asked where such items could be found, the natives always answered "Cubanacan," meaning the central part of Cuba. Thus, he mistakenly considered "Cubanacan" as "Great Khan." In fact, more than 120 years earlier, the Mongol Empire had already been replaced by Ming Dynasty. Zhu Yuanzhang's army swept across all of China and drove the Mongols to the northern deserts and grasslands. Columbus and Europeans at that time knew nothing about this. On November 2, Columbus solemnly sent an embassy composed of two Spanish crew members who acted as translators. Accompanied by two local guides, they carried a letter written by the Queen of Spain to the Great Khan and a generous gift as tribute.
The embassy was very disappointed: no palaces, only primitives.
The next day, the embassy arrived at what is now HolguĆn Province in Cuba. But here there were neither towering palaces nor strong guards and glittering gold. What they saw were just over fifty thatched huts covered with palm leaves and several hundred naked indigenous people. They were treated as honored guests, carried in chairs into the main residence, and sat on the carved seat of Taino chief.
When this series of ceremonies was successfully completed, women and children were allowed to watch these mysterious visitors from heaven. They devoutly kissed the hands and feet of visitors and warmly persuaded Spaniards to stay for a week or two. At this point, the two Spaniards should have realized that they came to the wrong place because it didn't look like a city at all, but just a backward little village. So, the next day, they returned to ship accompanied by chief and his son.
Although embassy did not find the legendary palaces and emperor, they indeed find a psychoactive substance that rules all mankind, tobacco or nicotine. Strange customs of indigenous people were astonishing. Everyone held a burning stick and some leaves (tobacco). They lit the rolled tobacco (cigar) and inserted one end into nostrils to take 2 or 3 puffs. Then, they extinguished the cigar or passed it to someone else. They had to stop to smoke every hour.
Columbus's translation team should have been the first Europeans to see the indigenous Americans smoking. Member Rodrigo de Jerez was the first person to become addicted to smoking. He was sentenced to prison by Christian Church for smoking in public places in Spain. However, Columbus should have been the first European to discover tobacco leaves. He once received leaves from the local indigenous people on San Salvador Island as precious gifts. On October 16, Columbus saw similar very valuable leaves in a canoe paddled by an Indian.