Skip to main content

The timeline can be navigated with the “Scroll Left” and “Scroll Right” buttons or by dragging the pointer to a date on the timeline waveform (located at the bottom of the screen on the desktop version and on the left of the screen on mobile). To filter by a particular topic and see a smaller section of the data, make a selection on the dropdown “Filters” menu or click “Search” to do a keyword search. Hover over the abbreviated filter tags in the blue boxes to see the complete name of the filter, or click a filter to display all the data with this tag. If you want to take a deeper dive into a specific topic by viewing a narrative essay page and a curated timeline, click on “Stories.”

Read More
Illustrated groups of figures seen in a field harvesting hemp plants much larger than them. On one side, there is a pile of tools.
Illustration of harvesting large hemp plants.

Marijuana/hemp first arrives in North America.

1611

MJ
COL
Illustration of harvesting large hemp plants.

The Jamestown settler-colonists bring the marijuana plant, commonly known as hemp, to North America in 1611. Throughout the colonial period, hemp fiber is an important export. In 1762, "Virginia awarded bounties for hemp culture and manufacture, and imposed penalties on those who did not produce it" (Britannica, n.d.).