27th July 1586, English explorer, politician, spy and pirate (according to the Spanish), Sir Walter Raleigh brings the first tobacco to England from Virginia. The plant was already known to the English, French, Spanish, and Portuguese, who referred to it as the "sacred herb", because it was considered medicinal. The first recorded use in England of it being smoked, was recorded by English clergyman William Harrison in 1573. Despite its popularity, Stuart King James I, and VI of Scotland, wrote of his dislike of tobacco in a pamphlet titled ‘A Counterblaste to Tobacco’ in 1604; stating that it was a custom ‘ lothsome to the eye, hatefull to the Nose, harmefull to the braine, and dangerous to the Lungs’, On the same day and year, English astronomer Sir Thomas Harriot, who is also known to history as the first person to draw a map of the moon, brings the first potatoes to Europe; on return to England after being part of Sir Walter Raleigh’s Roanoke expedition. The potato became a staple of European food by the 19th century, especially in Ireland, staving off famine, throughout periods of war, and climate change triggered by the last interval of the Little Ice Age. 29th July 1588, the Spanish Armada fleet is scattered and damaged by the English Navy, following the Battle of Gravelines in the Spanish Netherlands. On the previous day, the English had sailed fireships into the armada which began the breaking up of the ships’ close formation. Both navies after the battle suffered horrifically with the English ships suffering an outbreak of typhus, with further disease and starvation killing the sailors. The Spanish Armada with many damaged ships after the battle were pursued by the English until (Continued in the comments). #walterraleigh #sirwalterraleigh #elizabethi #elizabethan #tobaccoleaf #virginiahistory #jamesi #potatohistory #potato #roanoke #roanokevirginia #16thcentury #ageofdiscovery #spanisharmada #tudorhistory #littleiceage #shipwreck #shipwrecks #thespanisharmada #sirfrancisdrake #britishhistory #englishhistory #claypipe #claypipes #claypipesmoker #historicalstory #historystory #thehumblepotato #thepotato #tobaccopipe https://www.instagram.com/p/CR9Q6uInAWF/?utm_medium=tumblr
