Tobacco: Past, Present, and Future

The Story of Tobacco

Tobacco has a long and complicated history. In this section, you can examine how tobacco, once a sacred plant used by the Native Americans, became the enterprise that it is today. How tobacco influenced the slave trade is demonstrated. You can also investigate how governments have tried to regulate tobacco. Examples of how tobacco companies try to get people, especially children, to smoke can be found. You can also study contrasts in tobacco's history. There were times that only the poor used tobacco, at other times; only the rich used it. Instances of tobacco being used for medicine are provided. And as the timeline moves towards the present, evidence showing the dangers of tobacco use are given.