Note Back to Main Text — Chapter IV
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It would appear then that the year 1559 was about the period of the introduction of tobacco into Europe. Phillip II. of Spain sent Oviedo to visit Mexico and note its productions and resources; returning he presented "His Most Catholic Majesty" with the seeds of the plant. In the following year it was introduced into France and Italy. It was first brought to France by Jean Nicot of Nismes in Languedoc, who was sent as ambassador to Sebastian, King of Portugal, and who obtained while at Lisbon some tobacco seed from a Dutch merchant who had brought it from Florida.[24] Nicot returned to France in 1561, and presented the Queen, Catherine de Medicis, with a few leaves of the plant.[25]