John Rolfe in History of Drugs in America
John Rolfe (1585–1622) was an early Virginia colonist at Jamestown, probably best remembered today as the husband of Pocahontas.
In 1612, Rolfe became the first Englishman in America to cultivate tobacco. The high price earned by the crop a year later in London led to Virginia becoming a colony based almost entirely upon the export of tobacco for economic survival.