PROOFS - 5 JAN. 2015 1 A Deep History of Tobacco in Lowland South America Augusto Oyuela-Caycedo and Nicholas C. Kawa The white man took the ritually used tobacco of the Indian and made it one of the first great crops of overseas commerce. Carl Sauer [1937] (2009: 282–283) Introduction This chapter traces the origins of tobacco use and its variation in Lowland South America. It begins by examining new evidence on the origins of several species in the genus Nicotiana and follows their dispersal across South America. It then mines the archaeological and ethnographic records to explore variation in indigenous tobacco consumption and the cultural materials associated with it. The second half of the chapter describes tobacco’s rise as a valuable commodity during the colonial period, providing observations made by visiting scholars and scientists. Turning attention to present-day rural communities of Brazilian Amazonia, an examination is provided of tobacco production on anthropogenic soils1 characteristic of archaeological sites, thus linking contemporary tobacco cultivation to the extended history of Amerindian settlement and horticultural practice. By synthesizing archaeological and botanical findings while also examining human societies’ consumptive and productive relationships to tobacco through time, this chapter seeks to illuminate the deep history2 of tobacco. The origins of tobacco Tobacco is derived exclusively from plants of the genus Nicotiana, established by Linneaus in 1753, and recognized as one of the largest genera within the family Solanaceae (Knapp et al. 2004; Olmstead et al. 2008). The genus was initially divided 27 ✁ ✂ ✄ ☎ ✁ ✆ ✝ ✂ ✁ ✝ ☎ ✄ ✞ ✟ ✠ ✡ ✡ ✆ ✁ ☛ ✝ ☞ ☛ ✄ ☞ ✄ ✝ ✂ ✌ ☎ ✆ ✍ ✎ 28 r The Master Plant into three subgenera (Table 1.1), 14 sections, and 60 species (1954). A recent DNA sequence study revised the genus, adding several new species to extend the total to 76 while also organizing the genus into 13 sections (Knapp et al. 2004). Several species are recognized as endemic to Australia along with one found in Africa (Goodspeed 1954: 8), and recent DNA studies support this view (Knapp et al. 2004). But while species of Nicotiana exist in various parts of the globe, more than half of them are endemic to South America (54 per cent of all species; Table 1.2) and it is here that humanity’s relationship to tobacco originates. Table 1.1 Nicotiana species, natural distribution and number of chromosomes. Source: Lewis (2011): 187–188; based on section classification of Knapp et al. (2004). Section/species Natural geographical distribution N Nicotiana benavidesii Goodspeed Peru 12 Nicotiana cordifolia Philippi Chile (Juan Fernandez Islands) 12 Nicotiana Section Paniculatae Goodspeed Nicotiana cutleri D’Arcy S Bolivia 12 Nicotiana knightiana Goodspeed Peru (S Coast) 12 Nicotiana paniculata L. W Peru 12 Nicotiana raimondii J.F. Macbride Peru, Bolivia 12 Nicotiana solanifolia Walpers Chile (N Coast) 12 Ecuador, Peru, NW Bolivia 24 Nicotiana kawakamii Y. Ohashi Bolivia 12 Nicotiana otophora Grisebach Bolivia, NW Argentina 12 Nicotiana setchellii Goodspeed N Peru 12 Nicotiana tomentosa Ruiz and Pavon S and C Peru, W Bolivia 12 Nicotiana tomentosiformis Goodspeed Bolivia 12 Bolivia, Paraguay, Peru 24 Nicotiana arentsii Goodspeed Peru, Bolivia 24 Nicotiana glutinosa L. Peru, S Ecuador 12 Nicotiana thyrsiflora Bitter ex Goodspeed N Peru 12 Nicotiana undulata Ruiz and Pavon Peru, Bolivia, N Argentina 12 Nicotiana wigandioides Koch and Fintelman Bolivia 12 Nicotiana Section Rusticae Don Nicotiana rustica L. Nicotiana Section Tomentosae Goodspeed Nicotiana Section Nicotiana Don Nicotiana tabacum L. Nicotiana Section Undulatae Goodspeed (Continued) ✁ ✂ ✄ ☎ ✁ ✆ ✝ ✂ ✁ ✝ ☎ ✄ ✞ ✟ ✠ ✡ ✡ ✆ ✂ ☛ ✝ ☞ ☛ ✄ ☞ ✄ ✝ ✂ ✌ ☎ ✆ ✍ ✎ A Deep History of Tobacco r 29 Section/species Natural geographical distribution N Nicotiana obtusifolia M. Martens & Galeotti SW United States, Mexico 12 Nicotiana palmeri A. Gray SW United States, Mexico 12 Bolivia, NW Argentina 12 Nicotiana alata Link and Otto Uruguay, Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina 9 Nicotiana azambujae L.B. Smith & Downs S Brazil ? Nicotiana bonariensis Lehmann SE Brazil, Uruquay, Argentina 9 Nicotiana forgetiana Hemsley SE Brazil 9 Nicotiana langsdorffii Weinmann Brazil, Paraguay, Argentina 9 Nicotiana longiflora Cavanilles Bolivia, Brazil, Paraguay, Uruguay, Argentina 9 Nicotiana mutabilis Stehmann & Samir Brazil 9 Nicotiana plumbaginifolia Viviani Peru, Bolivia, Argentina, Paraguay, Brazil 10 Nicotiana nudicaulis S. Watson NE Mexico 24 Nicotiana repanda Willdenow ex Lehmann S United States, N Mexico 24 Nicotiana stocktonii Brandegee Mexico (Revillagigedo Islands) 24 Nicotiana nesophila Johnston Mexico (Revillagigedo Islands) 24 Argentina 12 Nicotiana Section Trigonophyllae Goodspeed Nicotiana Section Sylvestres Knapp Nicotiana sylvestris Spegazzini and Comes Nicotiana Section Alatae Goodspeed Nicotiana Section Repandae Goodspeed Nicotiana Section Noctiflorae Goodspeed Nicotiana acaulis Spegazzini Nicotiana ameghinoi Spegazzini Argentina 12 Nicotiana glauca Graham Bolivia, N. Argentina 12 Nicotiana noctiflora Hooker Argentina, Chile 12 Nicotiana paa Martinez Crovedo N Argentina 12 Nicotiana petunioides (Grisebach) Millan Argentina, Chile 12 Nicotiana acuminata (Graham) Hooker Chile, Andes Mountains of Argentina 12 Nicotiana attenuata Torrey ex S. Watson W United States, NW Mexico 12 Nicotiana corymbosa Remy Chile, Argentina 12 Nicotiana linearis Phillipi Argentina, Chile 12 Nicotiana Section Petunioides Don (Continued) ✁ ✂ ✄ ☎ ✁ ✆ ✝ ✂ ✁ ✝ ☎ ✄ ✞ ✟ ✠ ✡ ✡ ✆ ☛ ✝ ☞ ☛ ✄ ☞ ✄ ✝ ✂ ✌ ☎ ✆ ✍ ✎ 30 r The Master Plant Section/species Natural geographical distribution N Nicotiana longibracteata Philippi Andes Mts. of N Argentina and Chile 12 Nicotiana miersii Remy Chile 12 Nicotiana pauciflora Remy Chile 12 Nicotiana spegazzinii Millan Argentina 12 Nicotiana clevelandii A. Gray SW United States, NW Mexico 24 Nicotiana quadrivalvis Pursh W United States 24 Nicotiana africana Merxmuller and Buttler Namibia 23 Nicotiana amplexicaulis Burbidge E Australia 18 Nicotiana benthamiana Domin NC and NW Australia 19 Nicotiana burbidgeae Symon S Australia 21 Nicotiana cavicola Burbidge W Australia 23 Nicotiana debneyi Domin E Australia 24 Nicotiana excelsior J.M. Black Australia 19 Nicotiana exigua H.-M. Wheeler SE Australia 16 Nicotiana fragrans Hooker South Pacific Islands 24 Nicotiana goodspeedii Wheeler S Australia 20 Nicotiana gossei Domin C Australia 18 Nicotiana hesperis Burbridge Australia 21 Nicotiana heterantha Kenneally & Symon W Australia 24 Nicotiana ingulba J.M. Black Australia 20 Nicotiana maritima Wheeler S Australia 16 Nicotiana megalosiphon VanHeurck & Mueller E Australia 20 Nicotiana occidentalis Wheeler Australia 21 Nicotiana rosulata (S. Moore) Domin Australia 20 Nicotiana rotundifolia Lindley SW Australia 22 Nicotiana simulans Burbidge Australia 20 Nicotiana Section Polydicliae Don Nicotiana Section Suaveolentes Goodspeed ✁ ✂ ✄ ☎ ✁ ✆ ✝ ✂ ✁ ✝ ☎ ✄ ✞ ✟ ✠ Nicotiana stenocarpa H.-M. Wheeler Australia 20 Nicotiana suaveolens Lehmann SE Australia 16 Nicotiana truncata Symon W Australia ? Nicotiana umbratica Burbidge W Australia 23 Nicotiana velutina Wheeler Australia 16 Nicotiana wuttkei Clarkson & Symon NE Australia 16 ✡ ✡ ✏ ☛ ☛ ✝ ☞ ☛ ✄ ☞ ✄ ✝ ✂ ✌ ☎ ✆ ✍ ✎ A Deep History of Tobacco r 31 Table 1.2 Natural distribution of Nicotiana species in the world. Source: Lewis (2011): 187–188; based on section classification of Knapp et al (2004). Area of natural distribution Lowland Andes area of Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina Percentage of Nicotiana species 43.4 Humid areas of Paraguay, Brazil, Northern Argentina, Uruguay 10.5 North America 11.8 Africa (Namibia) 1.3 Australia, and South Pacific islands 32.9 The alkaloid nicotine is what has long drawn human attention to Nicotiana, although not all of the species in the genus produce nicotine and can thus be considered ‘tobacco-producers’. About a dozen Nicotiana species were used by South America peoples, but eventually two species stood out as the principal cultigens after the European conquest: Nicotiana rustica and Nicotiana tabacum (Wilbert 1987: 4). The wild ancestors of N. rustica and N. tabacum are believed to have originated in the highland Andes, either in Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia or north-west Argentina (Goodspeed 1954: 353; Goodspeed 1961). The ancestral parent of N. tabacum is Nicotiana sylvestris, which is found in north-west Argentina and Bolivia (Lewis 2011: 189), and which likely hybridized with Nicotiana tomentosiformis (from Bolivia), or possibly Nicotiana otophora. The second most used species by indigenous people of the Americas is N. rustica, which has an origin somewhere in the eastern Andes, either in Southwest Ecuador, Southern Peru or Northern Bolivia. Its ancestral plants are believed to be Nicotiana paniculata and Nicotiana undulate, both of which very likely evolved in north-central Peru. N. rustica exhibits higher concentrations of nicotine than N. tabacum and for this reason it is preferred by shamans for inducing altered states of consciousness (Winter 2000a: 103–108). N. tabacum, on the other hand, was recognized by the English for its pleasant smoke, which favoured its quick adoption by Europeans during the colonial period, eventually spreading across the globe (Norton 2008). While the area of origin for N. tabacum is fairly clear, DNA studies point out other problems in relation to our understanding of its domestication. In fact, there appears to be contradictory evidence, and some geneticists suggest that the polyploidy condition of N. tabacum developed a long time before humans came into contact with the plant, perhaps by as much as hundreds of thousands of years. Some genetic studies estimate the origin of N. tabacum as early as 6 million years ago (Okamuro and Goldberg 1985), while others suggest an origin of 2,00,000 years ago (Kovarik et al. 2008). Both of these estimates strongly contrast with the scenarios proposed by archaeologists who suggest an origin between 6,000 and 10,000 years ago. These latter estimates are based on the logic that increasing selection for a higher content of nicotine (C10H14N2) drove early human selection, and that is why ✁ ✂ ✄ ☎ ✁ ✆ ✝ ✂ ✁ ✝ ☎ ✄ ✞ ✟ ✠ ✡ ✡ ✏ ✄ ☛ ✝ ☞ ☛ ✄ ☞ ✄ ✝ ✂ ✌ ☎ ✆ ✍ ✎ 32 r The Master Plant the strong preference for N. rustica (2.47 per cent nicotine) and N. tabacum (1.23 per cent nicotine) can be seen in South America (see Winter 2000c: 321–322). How do we reconcile the difference between the genetic and archaeological dating? The implications of this difference are significant because if geneticists are correct, then the most widely used species of the Nicotiana genus (N. tabacum and N. rustica) did not undergo a process of domestication but simply benefitted from the dispersion by humans outside their original range. While several species of tobacco were likely to have been used by hunter-gatherers for inducing hallucinations and/or for important curing activities, the dispersion of Nicotiana appears to be tied more broadly to the development of horticulture and the spread of other tropical domesticated plants as proposed by Wilbert (1987: 4). In a review by Winter (2000a), it is explained that four species of Nicotiana were cultivated in North America (N. bigerlovii var. quarivalvis, N. var. multivalvis, N. attenuate and N. rustica). The evidence indicates that tobacco was associated with the horticultural complex of corn, beans, and squash along with sunflowers somewhere around the beginning of the Christian era but reached a broader use around 900 to 1000 AD. Evidence of N. attenuate is found in the Anasazi archaeological context in pre-Pueblo archaeological sites in New Mexico, Colorado, and Arizona that date to around 300 to 400 AD. However, the earliest evidence of N. attenuate comes from a Late Archaic Site near Tucson, Arizona that dates from 387 to 205 BC (calibrated carbon dates, Winter 2000a). In terms of archaeological findings, the largest problem area is South America where evidence is sorely lacking. This is partly because few South American archaeologists use flotation techniques that would allow for the recovery of carbonized seeds. For this reason, very few findings of Nicotiana are reported. In one rare case, preserved leaves of N. glauca were recovered inside a cranium that was used as an offering found in the Valley of Chavina, Peru. It dates to about 450 ± 70 AD. Other examples of Nicotiana appeared in a Tiahuanco burial inside bundles associated with Ilex guayusa with three radiocarbon dates of AD 355 ± 200, AD 375 ± 100, AD 1120 ± 100, but the individual species were not identified (Wassén 1972). There have also been finds of wild specimens of Nicotiana from the archaeological sites of Caral and Mina Perdida and the valley of Lurín in coastal Peru, dating around 2200–1200 BC (Chevalier 2013: 104–105, 109). Still others are reported in Bolivia at the Chiripa site, during the formative period (1500–100 BC), but once again the individual species were not identified (Whitehead 2006: 269). At Kala Uyuni, a site near Chiripa and very close in time period, the presence of N. cf. undulate has been reported (Moore et al. 2010: 183–184; Bruno 2014: 136). Lastly, in the Upper Mantaro of Peru seeds of Nicotiana species have been found in association with the Wanka II (1300–1470 AD) and Wanka III (1470–1532) periods (Earle 1987: 83–84). In southern regions of South America, especially in the Chaco region, a great diversity of pipes are found in the archaeological record. This includes single pipes and double-barrelled pipes made of bone, ceramic, stone, and other materials. These ✁ ✂ ✄ ☎ ✁ ✆ ✝ ✂ ✁ ✝ ☎ ✄ ✞ ✟ ✠ ✡ ✡ ✏ ✆ ☛ ✝ ☞ ☛ ✄ ☞ ✄ ✝ ✂ ✌ ☎ ✆ ✍ ✎ A Deep History of Tobacco r 33 pipes actually produce some of the best evidence of the early use of tobacco, but the exact species of Nicotiana utilized are not known because only nicotine residues have been identified from the archaeological materials. Through analysis using gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry, different archaeological artefacts found at the Early Ceramic period site at La Granja in central Chile (500–1000 AD) offer evidence of nicotine in pipes, bowls and small mortars and pestles. Evidence of carbonized seeds of the species N. corymbosa has also been found in a cave dating to the Early Ceramic period at the Las Morrenas 1 site in the Andes of central Chile (Planella et al. 2012; Echevarría et al. 2014). In the Atacama regions, evidence of nicotine in the hair of several mummies from Late Formative (ca. 100 BC–400 AD) and Middle (400–950 AD) has been reported as well (Echeverría and Niemeyer 2012). Based on the natural distribution of Nicotiana species, South America’s importance to the dispersion of nicotine plants is clear. After all, more than half of all the species originate in two areas: the central lowland Andes and adjacent foothills (Ecuador, Peru, northern Chile, Bolivia and north-west Argentina) with 43.3 per cent of the Nicotiana species and the lowland humid environments of the Mojos and the Pantanal with another 10.5 per cent of the species (Table 1.2). Of the 33 species found in the former area, most of them were used for what were probably medicinal purposes by local populations. However, the preferred medicinal species, N. rustica, spread from the arid environments of Peru, Ecuador, and the Bolivian Lowlands to the north, and it is speculated that hunter-gatherers are responsible for this species’ dispersion northward out of the Andes into Central America and Mexico and the rest of North America before agriculture was established (Winter 2000c: 324–325). The desert species of North America appear to have followed a similar route from south to north during the Pleistocene before the arrival of humans to the Americas. However, many of those species disappeared from parts of Central America during the Holocene due to increased humidity. In contrast, N. tabacum moved eastwards into the lowlands of Bolivia, Peru, Brazil and the Paraguayuan Pantanal as well as the humid forests of the Amazon where it is better adapted than N. rustica (Winter 2000c: 325–326). Variation in tobacco use There is great variation in how indigenous people of Lowland South America have used tobacco through time. It is not possible, however, to reconstruct the social history of its use due to the lack of archaeological evidence available. Nonetheless, Nordenskiöld et al. (1919: 91–93) made an early attempt by constructing maps of the distribution of tobacco pipes as well as by detailing the ethnographic distribution of tobacco smoking. Later, Johannes Wilbert (1987: 9–132) developed a more systematic approach that looked at the geographical distribution and ethnic consumption of tobacco. In Wilbert’s classic study, he pointed out that in order to access tobacco’s ✁ ✂ ✄ ☎ ✁ ✆ ✝ ✂ ✁ ✝ ☎ ✄ ✞ ✟ ✠ ✡ ✡ ✏ ✏ ☛ ✝ ☞ ☛ ✄ ☞ ✄ ✝ ✂ ✌ ☎ ✆ ✍ ✎ 34 r The Master Plant intoxicating nicotine, indigenous groups developed techniques of chewing, drinking, licking, and snuffing. Some even developed tobacco enemas as has been described among the Achuar in Ecuador as well as in Pre-Columbian Mesoamerica societies (Robicsek et al. 1978: 22–23; Schultes and Raffaut 1990: 432–436). And, of course, the technique of smoking tobacco was also developed, which today is the most widespread form of tobacco consumption among Amerindians in South America (Wilbert 1987: 124). Smoking in pipes was very common in the Chaco region and this is supported by archaeological evidence that extends deep into prehistoric times. In Amazonia, however, pipe smoking appears to have been limited to a few select areas, including the Araguaia River, the Marañon-Huallaga-Ucayali region, and northern Colombia (Nordenskiold 1919: 91–93; Wilbert 1987: 121–123). Smoking cigarettes or cigars, on other hand, was a more widespread technique at the time of European contact. However, it seems that the context of its use was often ceremonial, related to ritualistic curing with smoke and/or the clearing of malevolent deities and spirits from places. Recreational use of tobacco in the form of cigars or cigarettes most likely expanded following the arrival of the Spanish and Portuguese and the subsequent commodification of tobacco (Wilbert 1987: 124; observed also by Sauer in the opening quotation to this chapter). Aside from smoking, there are other forms of tobacco consumption that are more restricted in their use. In north-western Amazonia, for example, one way of consuming tobacco is the sucking of tobacco juice (ambíl). The consumption of ambíl is common among the Chibcha speaking groups of Northern Colombia, such as the Kogui and Ijka, as well in the Predio Putumayo region (between the regions of Caquetá and Putumayo). It is also found among the Witotos, Boras, the Yukunas of the Miriti-Parana River, and the Apaporis groups. Ambíl paste is made by extracting juice from tobacco leaves boiled in water until they produce a paste, which is then mixed with potassium salts extracted by percolation from the ashes of some plants (Echeverrri et al. 2001 and this volume). The paste has a strong smell of ammonia and is consumed in low doses because of its heavily concentrated amounts of nicotine. In north-west Amazonia, ambíl is simply licked, at any point where the individual is sucking coca powder or does not have coca powder in the mouth. The Kaggaba or Kogui use it by spreading the paste on their teeth to create a protective layer against the corrosive acidity of the shell lime used with coca leaf powder. Part of this difference is because the former groups use the less acidic ashes from Cecropia leaves in combination with coca powder. In both cases the ambíl is stored in a small calabash or any other small container that is easy to seal. In the case of the Witoto, they use the hollowed fruit of the Theobroma bicolor (a wild relative of cacao), which helps to flavour the ambíl (Schultes and Raffauf 1990: 435). The use of tobacco snuff today is very restricted in Native South America and is largely associated with areas where coca is consumed in powder form rather than ✁ ✂ ✄ ☎ ✁ ✆ ✝ ✂ ✁ ✝ ☎ ✄ ✞ ✟ ✠ ✡ ✡ ✏ ☎ ☛ ✝ ☞ ☛ ✄ ☞ ✄ ✝ ✂ ✌ ☎ ✆ ✍ ✎ A Deep History of Tobacco r 35 Figure 1.1 Insufflating tobacco snuff into the noses of participants during the Peach Palm Festival, Caqueta River, Comeyafu, Pedrera, Colombia. (Photograph by Augusto Oyuela-Caycedo.) chewed in leaf form as is customarily seen in the Peruvian Andes. Tobacco snuffing also occurs in ritual activities. During the peach palm festival among groups living near the Caquetá River in the Colombian Amazon (Figure 1.1), tobacco smoke is ritualistically blown to clear the area of any negative spirits that may harm visiting dancers, and snuff is shared among the dancers themselves. During the peach palm dance, there is a simulated attack performed by the visitors who wear masked dresses and carry a large wooden phallus that represents To’ry, the spirit of the forest. In order to calm the To’ry, the host who is attacked while observing the spectacle must simulate the manual masturbation of the forest spirit by stroking the phallus with his fingers. The masked dancer then partially removes his mask, allowing the host to see him, at which point they exchange tobacco snuff, blowing the fine powder into each other’s noses using the bones of a bird (Plate 1.1). After that, the host and dancer become friends (Schultes and Raffauf 1990: 434–435; Oyuela-Caycedo 2004). As discussed in the archaeological record, many contemporary indigenous groups do not consume tobacco alone but rather in combination with one or several other plants. Prance (1972) reports that the Jamamadis in Brazilian Amazonia use a mixture of tobacco and cacao ash (Theobroma subincanum) for the snuff (shinã), which they suck into their nostrils through a small pipe made from a hollow monkey leg bone. The Jamamadis insist that the snuff is ineffective without the Theobroma bark ash and they never take pure tobacco snuff. The Denis call their snuff by practically the same name as the Jamamadis (tsinã) (Prance 1972) and a similar practice can also be found among the Witoto (Schultes and Raffauf 1990: 433). Tobacco is also consumed along with ayahuasca in western Amazonia societies where it is used to protect individuals in healing ceremonies as is reported among the Shuar, for example (Bennett 1992). ✁ ✂ ✄ ☎ ✁ ✆ ✝ ✂ ✁ ✝ ☎ ✄ ✞ ✟ ✠ ✡ ✡ ✏ ✝ ☛ ✝ ☞ ☛ ✄ ☞ ✄ ✝ ✂ ✌ ☎ ✆ ✍ ✎ 36 r The Master Plant Table 1.3 Predominant areas of tobacco consumption techniques in the twentieth century. Compiled from Wilbert (1987): 22–24, 42, 67–77, 125–131. Technique Licking (Ambíl). Material culture 1. Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta (northern Colombia). Kogui, Ijka, Sanka (Chibcha speakers). Camera film container 2. Area between Putumayo and Caqueta River drainage (Colombian Amazon). Huitoto, Bora, Muinane, Miraña, Andoque 1. Upper Amazon Ticuna, Omagua, Cocama, Shipibo. 2. (Peru), Paraguay, Northern Argentina. Toba, Abipon. 3. Orinoco River (Venezuela) Panare Palms seed container 1. Colombian Amazon: Caqueta river and Putumayo. Yukuna Snail shell 2. Upper Amazon River: Upper Ucayali river, Peru; Upper Purus (western Brazil). Shipibo, Campa, Machigenga. 3. Machado river (Mina de Gerais, western Brazil). Munde,Tuparí, Kepikiriwát. 1. Upper Amazon, Peru Zaparo, Shipibo. 2. Guiana shield Warao, Cariña, Macushi. Cigarette holders 1. Upper Amazon: Ucayali, Huayaga rivers, Javary, Caqueta, Putumayo rivers. Cocama, Omagua, Witoto, Zaparo, Shipibo, Machigenga. Cigarettes, pipes 2. Chaco region (Northern Argentina; Paraguay; Mato Grosso, Brazil) and Bolivia. Mataco, Chorote, Maca, Toba, Mbaya. 3. Moxos, Upper Mamore and Guapore River drainage. Chiriguano, Chiquito. 4. Between the Xingu and upper tributaries of the Tapajos (Brazil). Carajá, Kalapalo, Bororo. 5. Rivers of the Guyana Shield, Orinoco River (Venezuela, northern Brazil). Trio, Wayana, Waiwiai, Macushi. Bird bone tubes Drinking Smoking ✁ ✂ ✄ ☎ ✁ ✆ ✝ ✂ ✁ ✝ ☎ ✄ ✞ ✟ ✠ ✡ ✡ ✏ ✑ Example of ethnic group Small calabash Chewing Snuffing Area centre in South America N. groups 16 56 53 64 233 ☛ ✝ ☞ ☛ ✄ ☞ ✄ ✝ ✂ ✌ ☎ ✏ ✍ ✎ A Deep History of Tobacco r 37 What can we learn from the spatial distribution of different techniques of tobacco consumption (Table 1.3)? One interpretation derived from the data of Johannes Wilbert (1987) is that the only places where divergent techniques coexist is in the Eastern Andes of Peru and Ecuador, the region of southwest Bolivia, northern Chile and Argentina, as well as Paraguay and southwest Brazil. These areas overlap with the origins of N. rustica and N. tabacum, thus favouring the hypothesis that these were the places where the ritual use of tobacco originated, from whence it spread north toward Mesoamerica and North America in the case of N. rustica and east toward the Amazon in the case of N. tabacum. It seems likely that the use of N. tabacum in Amazonia also enters later with the dispersion of other cultigens such as manioc. And, it appears that few indigenous communities used tobacco simply for recreation. Where such a tendency is present, it is often the consequence of tobacco’s commercialization, born out of the history of colonization. Colonial tobacco: From speciality to staple During the colonial period, tobacco quickly circulated throughout the regional and global economic system. The rise of global tobacco was inextricably linked to its rapid adoption in Europe, and later Asia and Africa. In sixteenth- and seventeenthcentury Europe, the medicinal properties of tobacco were emphasized by earlyadopters. Its green leaves were used as a topical application on sores and wounds, its oil was used against headaches, and its smoke was said to help those ‘subject to catarrhs, rheums, and pains’ (Chamberlayne 1682). It was also recognized for its ability to stave off hunger and thirst (Goodman 1993: 44–45). However, some scholars have argued that this medicinal argument is often overblown, ignoring the seductive novelty of the act of smoking as well as the pleasure produced by nicotine (Nater 2006: 93; Norton 2008: 8–9). Tobacco’s association with royalty and nobility thanks in part to Jean Nicot,3 the French ambassador to Portugal who had sent seeds and plants to the French Royal Court, helped to further legitimate tobacco’s place in Europe (Goodman 1993: 47–48). But perhaps in the end, it was tobacco’s great variability in application and use that made it such a success. Not long after its arrival to Europe at the end of the fifteenth century, it swept through the Iberian peninsula, England, Belgium and the Netherlands before it eventually gained acceptance across the continent (Goodman 1993: 47–48). In the seventeenth century, tobacco (N. tabacum) cultivation in the Americas expanded rapidly in response to European demand, and Brazil became the world’s largest producer. Especially in the north-eastern states of Bahia, Pernambuco and Maranhão, tobacco emerged as one of Brazil’s primary high-value exports, along with cotton, sugar, and sugar cane rum (Bakewell 2010: 441). In 1639, the city of Salvador da Bahia went as far as to prohibit the planting of tobacco due to fear that ✁ ✂ ✄ ☎ ✁ ✆ ✝ ✂ ✁ ✝ ☎ ✄ ✞ ✟ ✠ ✡ ✡ ✏ ✁ ☛ ✝ ☞ ☛ ✄ ☞ ✄ ✝ ✂ ✌ ☎ ✏ ✍ ✎ 38 r The Master Plant the little land available to grow food for the local population would be overtaken by the cash crop (Bakewell 2010: 441; see also Schwartz 1996: 84–93).4 By the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, it became a common form of payment for slaves in Africa and was even considered more profitable than sugar (Boxer 1962: 151; See also Russell-Wood 1998: 140–141). André Antonil, the pseudonym of an Italian Jesuit living in Brazil, commented in 1711: ‘Changing from a speciality to a staple crop, today only the thousands of rolls [of tobacco] that the fleets take are sufficient to satisfy the appetites of all nations. This is not just in Europe, but also in other parts of the world, where they order it in spite of its high cost’ (Antonil 2012: 138). Antonil remarked further, ‘Because of the large quantities of tobacco consumed in all the cities and towns, not even today do the rulers of Europe have a business with a higher income’ (Antonil 2012: 138). Tobacco in Colonial Brazil was exported ‘in roll’ or snuff but never in leaf form (Boxer 1962: 151). The first harvest of leaves was considered ‘the best, the strongest, and longest lasting’ (Antonil 2012: 132). Such high quality tobacco was exported from Brazil to Portugal, which then sometimes went on to Goa and Portuguese India (Russell-Wood 1998: 140). The Portuguese Crown ordered that third grade tobacco be exported to West Africa, although first and second-grade quality tobacco often made it there as well, much to the chagrin of the Portuguese King Dom João VI (Russell-Wood 1998: 141). In fact, a large contraband trade of tobacco developed in Brazil and the Caribbean, creating a considerable headache for colonial powers that taxed its production in the New World. Despite the many attempts to impose greater control on the flow of tobacco out of the Americas, a significant portion of it was trafficked by smugglers. Unlike sugar production, tobacco cultivation in colonial Brazil was initially small scale, with tobacco producers working with ‘only a few slaves each’ and occasionally curing the tobacco themselves (Boxer 1962: 151). However, tobacco later played an important role in heightening the demand for slave imports as it became more and more profitable (Schwartz 1996: 92), as the Bahian example attests. The historian Stuart Schwartz explains, ‘Small-scale peasant production and slave-based agriculture were no longer two distinct alternatives, but rather two related processes in which the tendency for slavery to expand predominated’ (Schwartz 1996: 92). In the late colonial period, Schwartz notes that in the state of Bahia, for example, about 20,000 Africans arrived between 1786 and 1790, but in the following five year period that number ballooned to 34,000 (p. 72). By the period of 1826–1830, nearly 10,000 slaves were arriving per year (Schwartz 1996: 72). In the early settlement of eastern Amazonia and the province of Grão Para, the plantation system of tobacco production was implemented. This was mostly geared toward the internal market in Brazil as tobacco’s consumption became widespread, usually consumed as snuff, but also commonly chewed and smoked. Despite the growing demand for tobacco in colonial Brazil, the eastern Amazonian plantations ✁ ✂ ✄ ☎ ✁ ✆ ✝ ✂ ✁ ✝ ☎ ✄ ✞ ✟ ✠ ✡ ✡ ✏ ✂ ☛ ✝ ☞ ☛ ✄ ☞ ✄ ✝ ✂ ✌ ☎ ✏ ✍ ✎ A Deep History of Tobacco r 39 largely failed due to a constellation of factors from the high price of African labour to the spread of epidemic diseases (Gomes 2002: 471). Scant information can be found on the cultivation of tobacco in colonial vilas of central and western Amazonia at this time, but based on later accounts, it is reasonable to assume that it was fairly commonplace. Missionaries motivated colonial expansion in the Portuguese Amazon through collecting expeditions for uncultivated spices, which began as early as the mid-seventeenth century (Roller 2010). To finance mission activities, the missionaries often tended small plantations of cacao and other valuable crops like tobacco while encouraging or coercing their new converts to collect spices (e.g. wild clove and sarsaparilla) in the sertão or backlands (Walker 2009b: 546–547). By the mid-nineteenth century, numerous foreign scientists and visitors passed through the Amazon region, commenting on the presence of tobacco in fields and small home gardens. Some Confederate families that left the United States following the American Civil War even established farms outside of the Amazonian city of Santarém where they planted tobacco, along with corn, cotton and sugarcane (Smith 1879: 144; Harter 1985: 30). Many of the Confederates situated their plantations on soils that were known in Brazilian Amazonia as ‘terra preta do índio’ or Indian Black Earth. Whether they initially realized it or not, the Confederates had begun farming on old Amerindian villages. Herbert Smith, a visiting geologist to the Confederate community, commented on the dark soils upon which they grew tobacco: ‘It [tobacco] is cultivated on the rich black lands along the edge of these bluffs … All along this side of the Tapajós … [which] must have been lined with these villages, for the black land is continuous, and at many points pottery and stone implements cover the ground like shells on a surf-washed beach’ (1879: 238; also cited in Denevan 2001: 105). Other visitors from this period noted the widespread presence of tobacco cultivation in the Amazon region, including US Naval officers William Lewis Herndon and Lardner Gibbon who descended the Madeira River in 1852 while conducting a survey of the region. They claimed that tobacco produced in central Amazonia was the best in Brazil and that it was traded to the Atlantic Coast along with cacao, sarsaparilla, coffee and Brazil nuts (Herndon and Gibbon 1854: 311). Alfred Russel Wallace, while traveling along the Rio Negro a few years earlier, also took extensive notes on tobacco cultivation, processing, and production during the tobacco-picking season: Tobacco is sown thickly on a small patch of ground, and the young plants are then set in rows, just as we do cabbages … When they show any inclination to flower, the buds are nipped off; and as soon as the leaves have reached their full size, they are gathered in strong wicker baskets, and are laid out in the house or a shed, on poles supported by uprights from the floor to the ceiling. In a few days they dry, and during ✁ ✂ ✄ ☎ ✁ ✆ ✝ ✂ ✁ ✝ ☎ ✄ ✞ ✟ ✠ ✡ ✡ ✏ ☛ ✝ ☞ ☛ ✄ ☞ ✄ ✝ ✂ ✌ ☎ ✏ ✍ ✎ 40 r The Master Plant the hot days become quite crisp; but the moisture of the night softens them, and early in the morning they are flaccid. When they are judged sufficiently dry, every leaf must have the strong fibrous midrib taken out of it. For this purpose all the household – men, women, and children – are called up at four in the morning, and are set to work tearing out the midrib, before the heat of the day makes the leaves too brittle to allow of the operation. A few of the best leaves are sometimes selected to make cigars, but the whole is generally manufactured into rolls of two or four pounds each. When the tobacco is good, or has, as they term it, ‘much honey in it’, it will cut as smooth and solid as a piece of Spanish liquorice, and can be bent double without cracking. (Wallace 1895: 126–127) The value of tobacco to the livelihoods of rural people was also noted by Franz Keller, who was commissioned by the Minister of Public Works of Rio de Janeiro in 1867 to assess the feasibility of a railroad project along the Madeira River. In the appendix of his book The Amazon and Madeira Rivers, he writes: ‘they [native people] subsist chiefly by the preparation of India-rubber, the collection of Para nuts, and other fruit of the forests, and on the produce of small cacao and tobacco plantations’ (Keller 1875: 208). From these brief accounts, it is clear that Amazonian tobacco was no longer a speciality crop that was cultivated and produced strictly for localized consumption. Instead it had become swept up into the broader flow of commodities that defined the colonial period and that would forever change the region. Tobacco use and production in rural Amazonia today Despite being a major global commodity that is often produced in large-scale monocrop plantations today, small-scale tobacco production in rural Amazonia continues to persist. In the municipality of Borba in Amazonas state, Brazil, some smallholder farmers continue to grow tobacco on the fertile anthropogenic soils known as terra preta do índio, just as American Confederates had done in the mid-nineteenth century (Kawa 2016). The soils, which typically hold rich concentrations of organic matter and soil macronutrients, have been shown to be the product of long-term indigenous settlement and management during the pre-Columbian era (Kawa and Oyuela-Caycedo 2008). Because of the unique characteristics of terra preta soils, many contemporary farmers seek them out for the production of nutrient-demanding or pH-sensitive crops (Glaser et al. 2003; Kawa et al. 2011). Tobacco, for example, thrives in terra preta since its yields are considerably hindered by soil acidity (Abruña-Rodríguez et al. 1970). The soils also remain important examples of the long-enduring impacts of human management on the Amazonian landscape linked to early horticultural production, especially for the cultivation of valuable regional crops like tobacco. ✁ ✂ ✄ ☎ ✁ ✆ ✝ ✂ ✁ ✝ ☎ ✄ ✞ ✟ ✠ ✡ ✡ ☎ ☛ ☛ ✝ ☞ ☛ ✄ ☞ ✄ ✝ ✂ ✌ ☎ ✏ ✍ ✎ A Deep History of Tobacco r 41 Figure 1.2 Tobacco plants under cultivation in the rich anthropogenic soils known in the Brazilian Amazon as terra preta do índio. (Photograph by Nicholas C. Kawa.) Figure 1.3 Tobacco leaves hanging to dry in an open-air palm thatch house in Borba, Amazonas, Brazil. (Photograph by Nicholas C. Kawa.) ✁ ✂ ✄ ☎ ✁ ✆ ✝ ✂ ✁ ✝ ☎ ✄ ✞ ✟ ✠ ✡ ✡ ☎ ✄ ☛ ✝ ☞ ☛ ✄ ☞ ✄ ✝ ✂ ✌ ☎ ✏ ✍ ✎ 42 r The Master Plant Figure 1.4 Seu Jorge pauses to drink his coffee while winding a roll of tobacco with thick string. (Photograph by Nicholas C. Kawa.) Figure 1.5 To preserve his roll of tobacco Seu Jorge wraps it in the latex of an Amazonian rubber tree that he has dried out on a wooden plank. (Photograph by Nicholas C. Kawa.) ✁ ✂ ✄ ☎ ✁ ✆ ✝ ✂ ✁ ✝ ☎ ✄ ✞ ✟ ✠ ✡ ✡ ☎ ✆ ☛ ✝ ☞ ☛ ✄ ☞ ✄ ✝ ✂ ✌ ☎ ✏ ✍ ✎ A Deep History of Tobacco r 43 In the community of Vila Gomes on the Madeira River, Seu Jorge, the community president still cultivates his own tobacco in the dark terra preta soils (Figure 1.2). Upon harvest, the tobacco is hung to dry in his house (Figure 1.3). After the midribs of the leaves are removed, the dried tobacco is rolled into large cylindrical rolls, usually a few feet in length. As in the past, it is tightened with cord, which is later removed when the roll is sufficiently compressed (Figure 1.4). The end product is wrapped with natural rubber to preserve it (Figure 1.5). The tobacco is then typically shaved off one end with a knife as it is progressively used. Bates described this same form of production in Borba more than a 100 years ago: The best tobacco in Brazil is grown in the neighborhood of Borba, on the Madeira, where the soil is a rich black loam … It [tobacco] is made up into slender rolls, an inch and a half in diameter and six feet in length, tapering at each end. When the leaves are gathered and partially dried, layers of them, after the mid-ribs are plucked out, are placed on a mat and rolled up into the required shape. This is done by the women and children, who also manage the planting, weeding, and gathering of the tobacco. The process of tightening the rolls is a long and heavy task, and can be done only by men. The cords used for this purpose are of very great strength. (Bates 1873: 163) Today, tobacco cultivated in the region is typically smoked in hand-rolled cigarettes. It is also common for individuals to purchase pouches of loose tobacco, which is rolled into cigarettes with available notebook paper. Yet with expanding availability of industrial-produced cigarettes, more and more rural Amazonians are opting for this more convenient form, and small-scale production of tobacco is becoming increasingly rare. Despite the changing nature of tobacco production and its use, even in nonindigenous riverine communities it continues to be an important medicinal and healing plant. Stingray wounds and snakebites suffered by riverine inhabitants are treated with tobacco, sometimes mixed with other more recently introduced consumer items such as toothpaste (Kawa pers. obs.). Tobacco’s connection to the supernatural realm also remains firmly in place. Rural Amazonians sometimes leave offerings of tobacco behind while hunting in the woods. These are offerings made to curupira, one of the masters of game (mãe do mato) that looks after forest animals (Reichel-Dolmatoff 1976; Smith 1996). A pinch of tobacco can be left in the crook of a tree to appease the curupira and dissuade it from disorienting the hunting party or placing a hex on one of its members. Similarly, in Afro-descendant Quilombo communities in the northeastern state of Bahia where artisanal tobacco cultivation continues today, fishermen and mollusc collectors leave offerings of tobacco behind for ‘vovó do mangue’, the grandmother of the mangrove. Although tobacco is often divorced from its spiritual and ritualized context in everyday urban contexts, many notable exceptions exist, including its use in Afro-Brazilian religions like Candomblé (e.g. Voeks 1997) and contemporary ayahuasca ceremonies (e.g. Beyer 2009). It is quite clear that commodification has not diminished the importance of tobacco in such ritual contexts. ✁ ✂ ✄ ☎ ✁ ✆ ✝ ✂ ✁ ✝ ☎ ✄ ✞ ✟ ✠ ✡ ✡ ☎ ✏ ☛ ✝ ☞ ☛ ✄ ☞ ✄ ✝ ✂ ✌ ☎ ✏ ✍ ✎ 44 r The Master Plant Conclusions Tobacco and the various plants of the genus Nicotiana that produce it have a complex history in lowland South America. This brief examination of tobacco’s history illuminates the importance for understanding how the diversity of species of Nicotiana shaped its early use, including the tendency toward the selection of plants with high nicotine content. It is very likely that hunter-gathers of the eastern Andes first utilized tobacco, spreading several species to the north of the continent while early horticulturalists expanded tobacco’s distribution toward Amazonia and the humid lowlands. The high variation in the patterning and spatial distribution of techniques in tobacco use seem to correlate with distribution of Nicotiana species in the eastern Andes and into the lowlands. However, a lack of archaeological data on tobacco in South America continues to raise questions. Nonetheless, advances made in North American archaeology reveal broad usage of Nicotiana species, including several beyond those best known for their selection by humans, primarily N. rustica and N. tabacum. The colonial period led to the commodification of tobacco, and Amazonia played a role in its production for the global economy from early on. Despite this, tobacco continued to hold strong ties to Amazonia’s indigenous past as it was cultivated in enriched anthropogenic soils characteristic of Amerindian settlement sites, which are still used – for indigenous and non-indigenous populations alike – for tobacco production today. In this manner, tobacco cultivation in Amazonia still reflects some of its deep history derived from indigenous peoples of the region, remaining both a sacred plant and a staple crop. Notes 1. Anthropogenic soils are the product of long-term deposition of organic waste and vegetative charcoal by human populations, in this case during the pre-Columbian era. For further description of the processes by which human habitation led to the formation of these soils in Amazonia, see Schmidt and Heckenberger (2009). 2. Here we draw from Shyrock and Lord Smailes’ edited volume in presenting a temporally deep history of human relations to tobacco in both biological and cultural terms. 3. The word ‘nicotine’ and tobacco’s genus ‘Nicotiana’ both derive from his last name. 4. This was a problem in Virginia as well and many suffered from famine due to the near complete dedication to the cultivation of tobacco and lack of attention to food crops (Mann 2011: 87, 96–97). ✁ ✂ ✄ ☎ ✁ ✆ ✝ ✂ ✁ ✝ ☎ ✄ ✞ ✟ ✠ ✡ ✡ ☎ ☎ ☛ ✝ ☞ ☛ ✄ ☞ ✄ ✝ ✂ ✌ ☎ ✏ ✍ ✎