From tobacco history. Part 3
During discovering of America tobacco has already been there in common use. Indians from South and Central America smoked long cigars rolled up of coiba plant leafs (it was kept till present among South America population). On Cuban Indians language word "coibo" meant smoking process. Spaniards and Portuguese have adopted cigars and have spread them in Europe at the first half of XVII century. In Mexico and North America Aztecs and Indians were pipe smokers and as English people begun population of the New Word from North America, they adopted primarily tobacco smoking in pipes, setting smoking pipes production made of special scrubland heather.
History has exactly settled date and circumstances under which Europe population has experienced delight of tobacco smoking. Even during the first Columbus's journey in 1492 the Antilles population have presented in front of him in tobacco smoke; they have rolled tobacco in a massive leaf and have shaped it in a form that resembled cigar. Next travelers have found that tobacco smoking through the pipe is wide spread throughout the whole America and only in some parts of Eastern shore of South America is replaced with tobacco chewing. First, Europeans have paid attention mainly on curative properties of tobacco leafs then on their ability to alleviate hunger and maintain cheerfulness.
Milan city citizen Girolamo Benzoni that lived in Mexico between 1541 and 1555 has informed that in this country smoking tobacco is named tobacco from where originates European name. In 1556 participant of French expedition in South America missionary Andrew Thevet has imported in Paris tobacco seeds that he named le Petun. Thevet gave description to smoking process on river Maranon where dry tobacco leafs are rolled in palm leafs making thanks to the last semblance of long pipe. In 1560 French envoy in Lisbon Jean Nicot has brought seeds of this plant to France where he laid the foundation to tobacco culture. Botanist Dalechamp has for the first time described tobacco in his book "Historia plantarum", 1586 and named in his honor Nicotiana.