Tobacco Asia

January/February 2025 - Vol 29-No 1

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Tobacco Asia 21 References: [1] Definition of cigar [OL]. Cigar | Definition, His- tory, Size, & Color Classification | Britannica. [2] Treaty of Alcáçovas [OL]. Treaty of Alcáçovas | Portugal [1479] | Britannica. [3] Treaty of Tordesillas [OL]. Treaty of Tordesillas | Summary, Definition, Map, & Facts | Britannica. [4] Treaty of Zaragoza (Saragossa) [OL]. Treaty of Saragossa | Spain-Portugal [1529] | Britannica [5] FAIFA. History of Tobacco Cultivation in India [OL]. https://www.protectourlivelihood.in/ tobcrop- sacco/ history-of-tobacco-cultivation-in-india/. [6] Bai, Yuanliang. Reconstruction of the Development History of Tobacco China - The Spread of Tobacco in China and Chinese-style Tobacco Pipe Culture [M]. Beijing: Huaxia Publishing House, 2022:42-154 Figure 5. Schematic diagram of the worldwide spreading routes of cigars from the Guatemala Highlands in the Americas in the late 15th-16th centuries. The American cigars from Brazil began to spread in Asia, centered in Goa, India. In terms of the dissemination speed of tobacco, the Maritime Silk Road opened by China, undoubtedly, was the fastest pathway. We have sorted out the spreading path- ways from Brazil to Zhangquan, China according to the Portuguese activities in this ancient trade road. Having discovered Brazil in 1500, Portuguese explorers started to plant Bra- zilian tobacco in Goa in 1508, conquered Goa, India in 1510 and Malacca in 1511, and landed in the Island Tunmen (Tamao), Guangzhou in 1514. The Portuguese then shifted its trade center in China from Guangzhou to Zhangquan in Fujian Province in 1522 where they set up trading firms and warehouses and started the localized cigar cultivation in 1526. III. Tracing the dissemination pathway of the American cigars from Zhangquan in Fujian province to Shifang in Sichuan province From December 26, 2016 to April 29, 2020, the Sichuan Museum went through five rounds of excavations at the site where Zhang Xianzhong sank his silver in Jiangkou in 1646. A number of tobacco stalks for cigars smoking (this kind of cigar was rolled from sun-cured tobacco) were found in the artifacts, among which there was a 5.5-cm-long gold tobacco pipe that weighed 8.82g [6] . The excavation of the tobacco stalks and the gold tobacco pipe bears testimony to the attempt to cultivate cigars on a large scale in the Sichuan Basin and the Shifang area as early as the end of the 16th century. Among numerous ancient trade routes between Zhangquan in Fujian and Shifang in Sichuan, the one from Zhangquan to Chongqing via the Yangtze River, and then to Sichuan Shifang via Hechuan is the most facilitated for commerce, with the largest volume of goods circulation. We think that cigars probably arrived at Shifang first via this route. Until now, the most reasonable and scientific pathway for Americas cigars spread to China (Shifang) is traced as: Shifang, China (c. 1600) - Zhangquan, China (c. 1526) - Philippine Islands (c. 1515) - Malacca (c. 1511) - Goa, India (1508) - Porto Seguro, Brazil (discovered by Portugal in 1500) - Guatemala Highlands (tobacco was cultivated here 3,000 years ago). (See Figure 5 for a schematic diagram of the worldwide dissemination routes of cigars from the Guatemala in the late 15th century to the 16th century).

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