History of tobacco brought to Spain for its flowers, but "Now we use it to a greater extent for the sake of its virtues than for its beauty". John Hawkins was the first to bring tobacco seeds to England. William Harrison's "English Chronology" mentions tobacco smoking in the country as of 1573, before Sir Walter Raleigh brought the first "Virginia" tobacco to Europe from the Roanoke Colony, referring to it as "tobah" as early as 1578. In 1595 Anthony Chute published "Tabaco", which repeated earlier arguments about the benefits of the plant and emphasised the health-giving properties of pipe-smoking. The importation of tobacco
Tobacco smoking and bans were largely ignored. When James I of England, a staunch anti-smoker and the author of "A Counterblaste to Tobacco", tried to curb the new trend by enforcing a 4000% tax increase on tobacco in 1604 it was unsuccessful, as suggested by the presence of around 7,000 tobacco outlets in London by the early 17th century. From this point on for some centuries, several administrations withdrew from efforts at discouragement and instead turned tobacco trade and cultivation into sometimes lucrative government monopolies. By the mid-17th century most major civilizations had been introduced to tobacco smoking and in many cases