He went to Virginia at the behest of Raleigh.
His work was later published in "A Brief and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia" in 1588, which became an important source of information about the Roanoke Colony and the native inhabitants of the region. Hariot's observations were groundbreaking for their time, combining scientific observation with anthropological documentation.
But here is what got my attention. Hariot was instrumental in introducing tobacco to European society and documenting its properties. During his time in Roanoke, he was one of the first Europeans to extensively observe and record the use of tobacco by Native Americans.
My interest was piqued when I realized that back in the Elizabethan era tobacco was purported to have many of the properties we now attributed to marijuana. This is what took me even further in my research as it seemed that this “magical plant” coincided with many changes in European society. I didn’t know it at the time but my tobacco/marijuana comparison was used by Bob Newhard in his comedy routines, and the author John Barth in the “Sot Weed Factor.”...<<<Read More>>>...
