Sunday, April 1, 2012

Elizabethan Fact of the Day: Hawkins and Tobacco


A portrait of Sir John Hawkins from 1581. Hawkins was one of Queen Elizabeth I's more successful "sea-dogs", being both a privateer and an explorer. However, his name is remembered today primarily because of his involvement with the slave trade. Picture acquired through Wikimedia Commons. Image public domain.

"Tobacco was first brought, and made knowne in England by Sir John Hawkins, about the yeere one thousand five hundred sixty five, (1565) but not used by the Englishman in many yeers after, though at this day commonly used by most men, and many women..."- From Howes' edition of Stow's Annales of England