From Sacred Plant to Commercially Adulterated Commodity: Exploring the Roots of Tobacco

[Land Acknowledgement and Declaration]
In the spirit of reconciliation, we acknowledge that we live, work and play on the traditional territories of the Blackfoot Confederacy (Siksika, Kainai, Piikani), the Tsuut’ina, the Iyarhe Nakoda Nations, the Otipemisiwak Métis Government of the Métis Nation within Alberta District 6, and all people who make their homes in the Treaty 7 region of Southern Alberta.

The relationship between First Nations people and tobacco has existed since well before recorded times. Many Indigenous Tribes had their own set of traditions and rituals around the sacred plant built on knowledge passed from generation to generation. When European colonists arrived in the late 15th century, tobacco's history spanned millennia. 
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That arrival marked the beginning of tobacco's commercialization. What happened next laid the foundations for the modern tobacco industry. To fully convey the harm caused by commercial tobacco, we need to understand those foundations – a series of events that not only forever changed the fate of First Nations people but also may have heavily contributed to the creation of the slave trade.

Pre-Colonization (~14,000 BC - 1490 AD)In 2021, archaeologists in the Nevada Desert recovered from an ancient hearth a collection of tobacco seeds dated roughly 12,300 years old. Per Scientific American, this discovery pushed back estimations around when humans first started using tobacco by nine thousand years. Bearing this in mind, it's hardly surprising that tobacco has such cultural significance.
Traditional tobacco is enmeshed within the creation stories of many First Nations cultures.  Those same cultures maintained strict protocols for sustainably cultivating and harvesting the sacred, highly-prized plant for thousands of years. Then, in 1492, everything changed. 
First Contact (1492-1493 AD)Following his arrival on the shores of an island in the region of Guanahani – known today as the Bahamas – Christopher Columbus and those accompanying him witnessed the Indigenous Lucayan people using and trading tobacco for other commodities. Ignorant of the local flora and fauna, Spanish colonists had no knowledge of the plant and its properties.  It was only when their scouts began intermingling and trading with the local populace that they gained an inkling of what tobacco was and how it worked, noting signs of dependency forming in those colonists who partook of the herb. 
Eventually, Columbus would declare the island San Salvador and continue traveling west, thereby beginning the colonization of the "New World." At some point along this journey, he and his expedition also obtained tobacco. The precise circumstances under which they did so are not known, but it can be assumed to be through trade. 
Tobacco Arrives in Europe (1528 AD – 1571 AD)In the years that followed Columbus's first contact, European colonists began establishing settlements on and around Turtle Island. Eventually, sailors returning from the region exported tobacco seeds back to Europe, with the first known arrivals in 1528. Tobacco use in the region spread like a weed, growing in popularity to such an extent that by 1533, Christopher Columbus's son mentioned a tobacco merchant in his will. 
By 1559, tobacco had made it as far as France, where it was introduced as Snuff and marketed as a cure for migraines. Before long, it became so popular that it was dubbed herbe de la Reine, or The Queen's Herb. In 1570, botanists began referring to the tobacco plant as nicotania. 
Pushback in England (1573 AD – 1604 AD)From here, tobacco quickly became popular amongst non-Native peoples across the ocean and even further beyond. By 1573, the plant was brought to England by John Hawkins, though Sir Walter Raleigh is largely credited with its introduction. Though immensely popular even there, it was not without its detractors – the most famous being King James, who in 1602 distributed an angry pamphlet decrying tobacco use and spearheaded  
"Have you not reason, then, to be ashamed, and to forbeare this filthy noveltie, so basely grounded, so foolishly received, and so grossly mistaken in the right use thereof," the pamphlet reads. "[Tobacco use is] a custome lothsome to the eye, hatefull to the Nose, harmefull to the braine, dangerous to the Lungs, and in the blacke stinking fume thereof, neerest resembling the horrible Stigian smoke of the pit that is bottomelesse." 
In 1604, England introduced a heavy tax on tobacco which did little to curb its popularity. 
The First Plantations (1611 AD – 1700 AD)In 1611, John Rolfe of Jamestown, West Virginia, became the first European colonist to successfully raise a tobacco crop for export. Following this, the growth and export of tobacco became the Virginia Company's most profitable venture. This arguably marked the beginning of tobacco's transition from religious and ceremonial to mass-produced and chemically altered. 
Tobacco also contributed heavily to the colonization of Turtle Island. Because Virginia-grown tobacco grew best in uncultivated soil – and because back-to-back farming of tobacco crops quickly exhausted the soil's nutrients – tobacco cultivators inevitably sought out progressively more parcels of land. 
Tobacco cultivation made it to Africa and became a tradeable currency amongst colonists by 1650. By the early 18th century, worldwide demand increased to such an extent that tobacco plantations began relying on human traffickers to expand their workforce, taking enslaved peoples from Africa to grow more crops. This forced labor replaced indentured servitude, first for tobacco and then later for cotton. 
Tobacco continued to spread at a rapid pace throughout the 18th and 19th centuries, with advances in farming and transportation even further fueling distribution. This has caused severe and lasting harm to the environment. Clear-cutting trees to create farming land naturally causes soil erosion and, by proxy, the loss of soil nutrients needed to grow healthy crops. 
As agriculture grew more modernized, the aggressive overuse of pesticides and fertilizer substances had an even greater impact, harming wildlife and polluting both soil and groundwater. 
Assimilation and Cultural Genocide (1701 – 1984)While commercial tobacco continued its unmitigated growth, colonial powers began implementing a number of extermination and assimilation policies. These policies outlawed numerous cultural practices that had been in place for thousands of years, further decimating and marginalizing Indigenous people. Colonial laws also featured clauses that enabled the seizure of Indigenous land for settlement and exploitation. 
After confederation, the Federal colonial government of Canada implemented the 1876 Indian Act to achieve the goal of assimilation, but in reality, this led to cultural genocide. There is no doubt the Indian Act served as an instrument of colonization and assimilation. Its legacy resulted in the loss of connection to both Traditional Tobacco and teachings.
Here are just a few of the things the act banned: 

• Cultural and spiritual ceremonies 
• The right to wear traditional outfits
• Indigenous people were pushed to reserves
• Sharing Traditional Tobacco beyond their reserve
• Allowing residential school students to return home if they would participate in cultural activities while at home
• Speaking Indigenous languages

The act introduced a total ban on traditional gatherings such as powwow, where tobacco may have been used. The ceremonies around traditional tobacco use were also banned. Commercial tobacco products, meanwhile, were still completely legal. 
That was good news for tobacco companies – they took full advantage of the situation, and have targeted and exploited Indigenous people ever since.  
Resistance to this enforced cultural erasure naturally occurred. Many First Nations people refused to stop practicing traditional gatherings and did so in secret until 1951 with the amendment of some parts of the Indian Act. It wasn't until 1984 that the Government of Canada fully repealed The Indian Act, though it also introduced several amendments over the years to loosen restrictions. 
By then, the damage had already been done.  
Undoing Exploitation (Modern Day)If some people had their way, the history of traditional tobacco would have ended with commercialization. We won't allow that to happen. We intend to work together to reclaim our traditions and return tobacco to being both sacred and culturally significant. 
There's a lot more to the history of the tobacco industry than what we've discussed here. We should also delve into the impact of industrialization and modernization on First Nations people.  But that's a subject for next time. 
Until then, kinanâskomitin.