There are so many myths and stories around Columbus. Did he discover North America (spoiler -looked like the Vikings beat him to the continent)? He wasn’t about gold and glory, he was about bringing religion to the world in honor of Catholic Spain. The other big myth is he was Italian, but now it is believed he was Spanish and Jewish, and hid it to avoid being prosecuted. But what about Christopher Columbus and cannabis.
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Cannabis played a significant role in 16th century society, particularly in England and Europe. It was considered the “golden age of hemp”, especially under the reign of King Henry VIII. In 1533, the king introduced a hemp cultivation law requiring landowners to dedicate 1/4 acre for every 60 acres to growing hemp, or face fines. European herbals and pharmacopoeias of the time listed various medical applications for cannabis. The number of reported medicinal uses for cannabis doubled during this period as travelers brought back information from the East. And, it helped make Columbus’s journey possible.
Hemp fiber was in high demand for producing durable sails, ropes, and nets for the expanding English navy…and the Spanish noticed. The sails and ropes of his three ships the La Santa Clara (Niña), La Pinta, and La Santa Gallega (Santa Maria), were made of hemp. The cracks between the planks were filled with hemp to make the ships watertight. No other natural fibre can withstand the forces of the open ocean and the stresses of salt water.
The hold of the Santa Maria, his flagship, was filled with hemp seeds. The ship had a supply of food provisions including salted meats, dried fish, hardtack biscuits, beans, lentils, and cheese, meant to last the duration of the voyage. And hemp served as a protein-rich source nutritious snack for the crew, aldditionally the hemp seeds could be planted in any newly discovered regions.
The ships’ lamps were fuelled using hemp oil and these lamps lighting the way and most clothes had hemp fiber. But it is doubtful they used the cannabis hemp for fun. The ships were roughly 60 feet long and 20 feet wide. And they had carried around 88 men. So their was a ton of focus in the open ocean…and very little privacy.
Hemp’s contribution is displayed in Barcelona at the base of the statue honoring the explore. It has cannabis leaves. So this Columbus Day, now the humble cannabis plant helped out quite a bit.
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