Glossary T

Tar

Tar is a viscous (resistant to flow), black crude oil obtained from the distillation of peat, wood or coal.   Tar has been used as a caulk on wooden sailing ships, a waterproofing agent for roofing papers, a sealant for asphalt roads, a preservative for outdoor wood and an insecticide.   It is also used in some soaps.   Some tars, such as those obtained from pine or beech wood, have been mixed with linseed oil to form a dark brown glaze. ^{White 10:58-71}

Tobacco

Tobacco became the American colonist's first cash crop when "smoking" became popular in Europe and in the rest of the world.   Its production in Virginia, Maryland and North Carolina assured the survival of these colonies.   Tobacco was exported to Great Britain where it began British tobacco products manufacturing.

Tobacco farming increased the demand for slaves who worked the tobacco fields and for territorial expansion because it depleted the soil of nutrients quickly.   After the Revolutionary War, factories were established in the US to make pipe, cigar, chewing tobacco and snuff.   Over the years, tobacco products grew into a major US industry. ^{Schles. 34}

Tobacco, like alcoholic beverages, improved basic American living standards indirectly by bringing cash and purchasing power into the American colonies and states from other contries. Much later, when the nicotine in tobacco was found to be a cause of cancer, people realized that it actually contributed to worsening health to lower living standards.   Therefore, tobacco, like alcohol made from grains, has had both positive and negative effects on American living standards.

Tobacco was grown and used by Amerindians throughout the Western Hemisphere before the arrival of the Europeans.   The first tobacco seeds reached Spain in 1556, France in 1559 and England in 1565. ^{Schles. 89}

In 1612, John Rolfe harvested his first tobacco crop, having learned about tobacco farming from the Indians.   He sent the first cargo of tobacco to England in 1614.