Archaeological discoveries date the earliest use of tobacco to around the first century B.C. when the Maya, a highly cultured people in Central America, smoked the tobacco leaf in sacred and religious ceremonies.
Between 470 and 630 A.D., the Maya began to scatter, some moving as far as the Mississippi Valley. The Toltecs, who created the mighty Aztec Empire, borrowed the smoking custom from the Maya who remained behind. Two castes of smokers emerged among them. Those in the Court of Montezuma, who mixed tobacco with the resin of other leaves and smoked pipes with great ceremony after their evening meal; and the lesser Indians, who rolled tobacco leaves together to form a crude cigar.
The Maya who settled in the Mississippi Valley spread their custom to the neighbouring tribes. The latter adapted tobacco smoking to their own religion, believing that their god – the almighty Manitou – revealed himself in the rising smoke. And, as in Central America, a complex system of religious and political rites was developed around tobacco. The Arawak Indians of the Amazon also used tobacco in their religious rituals. This group colonized the Bahamas, which were later discovered by Columbus in 1492.