Rodrigo de Jerez was one of the

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many Latin American countries **Spanish cuisine Other places * Spanish, Ontario, Can ...

crewmen who sailed to the

Americas The Americas, which are sometimes collectively called America, are a landmass comprising the totality of North and South America. The Americas make up most of the land in Earth's Western Hemisphere and comprise the New World. Along with th ...

on the Santa Maria as part of

Christopher Columbus Christopher Columbus * lij, Cristoffa C(or)ombo * es, link=no, Cristóbal Colón * pt, Cristóvão Colombo * ca, Cristòfor (or ) * la, Christophorus Columbus. (; born between 25 August and 31 October 1451, died 20 May 1506) was a ...

's first voyage across the

Atlantic Ocean The Atlantic Ocean is the second-largest of the world's five oceans, with an area of about . It covers approximately 20% of Earth's surface and about 29% of its water surface area. It is known to separate the " Old World" of Africa, Europe ...

in 1492. He was born in Ayamonte, a small city in the southwest of Spain. He is credited with being the first European smoker. On 12 October 1492, the crew first encountered tobacco at San Salvador island in the

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, known to the natives as

Guanahani Guanahaní is an island in the Bahamas that was the first land in the New World sighted and visited by Christopher Columbus' first voyage, on 12 October 1492. It is a bean-shaped island that Columbus changed from its native Taíno name to San ...

. The natives presented them with apparently valuable "dry leaves that spread a peculiar fragrance". The crew later discarded the leaves. In November 1492, Jerez and Luis de Torres first observed natives smoking. They were searching for the

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Hongzhi Emperor The Hongzhi Emperor () (30 July 1470 – 9 June 1505) was the tenth Emperor of the Ming dynasty, reigned from 1487 to 1505. Born Zhu Youcheng, he was the eldest surviving son of the Chenghua Emperor and his reign as emperor of China is called ...

, in

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. Apparently, the natives made rolls of palm and mais leaves "in the manner of a musket formed of paper" with tobacco on the inside. One would light one side and "drink" the smoke out of the other. Jerez picked up the tobacco smoking habit. When he returned to Europe in the

Niña ''La Niña'' ( Spanish for ''The Girl'') was one of the three Spanish ships used by Italian explorer Christopher Columbus in his first voyage to the West Indies in 1492. As was tradition for Spanish ships of the day, she bore a female saint's n ...

, he introduced the habit to his home town,

Ayamonte Ayamonte (; pt, Aiamonte) is a town and municipality of Spain belonging to the province of Huelva, Andalusia. It is located near the border with Portugal on the mouth of the Guadiana River. According to the 2015 census, the city had a population ...

. The smoke surrounding him frightened his neighbours: the

Spanish Inquisition The Tribunal of the Holy Office of the Inquisition ( es, Tribunal del Santo Oficio de la Inquisición), commonly known as the Spanish Inquisition ( es, Inquisición española), was established in 1478 by the Catholic Monarchs, King Ferdinand ...

imprisoned him for his "

sinful In a religious context, sin is a transgression against divine law. Each culture has its own interpretation of what it means to commit a sin. While sins are generally considered actions, any thought, word, or act considered immoral, selfish, s ...

and infernal" habits, because "only

Devil A devil is the personification of evil as it is conceived in various cultures and religious traditions. It is seen as the objectification of a hostile and destructive force. Jeffrey Burton Russell states that the different conceptions of ...

could give a man the power to exhale smoke from his mouth". When he was released seven years later, smoking tobacco had caught on.

References

Sources

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Jerez, Rodrigo de 15th-century Spanish people 15th-century explorers Christopher Columbus Spanish explorers History of tobacco Smoking People from Huelva