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Luis De Torres was Christopher Columbus's interpreter on his first voyage to the New World. A Jew, he had converted to Catholicism just before leaving Spain in order to avoid the expulsion edict against the Jews. He was brought with Columbus because of his knowledge of Hebrew, Aramaic, and Arabic: Columbus believed that these languages would be useful in Asia because they would enable him to commmunicate with local Jewish traders, and he may also have believed that he would find descendents of the Lost Ten Tribes.
Upon arriving in the New World, de Torres was sent on an expedition inland to find the "Great Khan" described by Marco Polo. He did however report on the native custom of drying leaves, inserting them in cane pipes, burning them, and inhaling the smoke: the first European encounter with tobacco. Finding a large, edible bird, he identified it with the Hebrew tukki (parrot) of the Bible: the name later evolved into "turkey."
In return for his services to Columbus's expedition, de Torres was granted an estate in Cuba, where he later lived.
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