The Portuguese introduced tobacco, a plant originating in the Americas, to India. Tobacco’s spread across the world is linked with the spread of colonialism. After initial restrictions, it also became popular in India. Soon, it got exploited as a commodity for transoceanic trade, fueling the colonial empire. 

India is now among the largest consumers and producers of tobacco in the world. Tobacco use causes over 1.3 million premature adult deaths every year in India, apart from imposing a huge cost on the economy and environment. The governments in India have taken several measures to reduce tobacco use in society to reduce tobacco-related harms and deaths.

This sketch depicts one of the imaginations about how Vasco da Gama, a Portuguese explorer, would have met Samoothiri (Zamorin), the Nair monarch and the ruler of the then Calicut (today’s Kozhikode) in southern India in 1498 when Vasco da Gama arrived in India the first time through a sea route from Portugal. This sketch is based on a painting (out of copyright now) by José Maria Veloso Salgado in 1898.