Guest Author - Lisa Shea

Just when did mankind begin smoking? Learn more about the history of smoking and how it's been changing over the years.

First, the tobacco plant began in North America. The ancient civilizations figured out that the smoke of the plant had interesting effects on humans. It was the Mayans who first experimented both with chewing and smoking tobacco.

Interestingly, the first known European who tried tobacco was Rodrigo de Jerez in 1493 - around the era of Columbus. He liked it, and brought some home with him. When people saw him smoking, they thought this was nasty, and threw him in jail!

By the late 1500s, Sir Walter Raleigh showed people in England's courts how to smoke, and convince them all that it was a cool new thing to do.

The religious groups realized the danger of tobacco - Pope Clement VIII tried to ban tobacco use completely. However, it kept growing in popularity.

Medical science took a long time to catch up. It was many centuries later - in the 1950s and 1960s - when the links between lung cancer and smoking were proven.