Tobacco and Its Use in Africa is a 1930 booklet written by Berthold Laufer, Wilfrid Dyson Hambly, and Ralph Linton and published by the Field Museum of Natural History. It’s part of a series of booklets on the origins and spread of tobacco across the world that the Field Museum published mostly in 1924, but completed in 1930.
Berthold Laufer begins this booklet by examining how tobacco was introduced into Africa. He explores the assertion that the plant was native to Africa, though quickly dismisses it and calls it “an unfounded supposition to which no value should any longer be attached.”1 There isn’t a single introduction event of tobacco into Africa; it was likely introduced into different parts of the continent by different travelers. As with other continents, the Portuguese and the Dutch may deserve credit. Laufer quotes William Finch’s 1607 description of a visit to Sierra Leone as one of the earliest writings about tobacco in Africa: “Tobacco is planted about every man’s house, which seemeth half their food”2
In his section on the use of tobacco in Africa, Wilfrid D. Hambly writes, “Africans regard tobacco as something more than a trivial amusement; in fact, the tobacco habit is often closely connected with public observances, social etiquette, and recognition of difference of rank.”3 He surveys the different types of tobacco use in different parts of the continent, and includes a legend about the introduction of tobacco:
“The appreciation of tobacco is so widespread in the Congo region that Bushongo natives of the Southwest have attempted to explain the introduction of the plant by a legend. A man of the Bushongo people, the story runs, astonished his tribesmen by producing a pipe from the trade goods brought from distant places. While smoking in the center of a curious circle, he proceeded to explain the value of the tobacco by saying, ‘When you have had a quarrel with your brother, you may wish to kill him; sit down and smoke a pipe. By the time this is finished, you will think that death is too great a punishment for your brother’s offence, and you will decide to let him off with a thrashing. Relight your pipe and smoke on. As the smoke curls upward, you will think that a few harsh words would serve instead of blows. Light your pipe once more and, when the bowl is empty, you will be ready to go to your brother and forgive him.'”4
This booklet contains a lot of fascinating information, and also a lot of language, attitude, and implications about African populations that do not stand the test of time and strike the modern reader as problematic.
Tobacco and Its Use in Africa can be read for free at the Biodiversity Heritage Library.