John Rolfe

Rare card · No. 47326

John Rolfe (c. 1585 – March 1622) was an English explorer, tobacco farmer and merchant. He was the husband of Pocahontas and the first settler in the colony of Virginia to successfully cultivate a tobacco crop for export. He played a crucial role in the Virginia Colony's early economy by introducing a sweeter strain of tobacco from Trinidad, which became a profitable cash crop. Rolfe married Pocahontas, daughter of Native American leader Powhatan, and they had a son named Thomas. Rolfe and Pocahontas traveled to England in 1616 to promote colonization and investment in Virginia. After Pocahontas died, Rolfe returned to Virginia and continued working with tobacco. The tobacco strain cultivated by Rolfe laid the foundation for Virginia's thriving tobacco industry.

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