>[The first tobacco trade businesses belonged to Ottoman, Armenian, **Jewish** and Greek tobacco merchants, members of the diverse national communities that coexisted in the Ottoman Empire.](http://www.ikkik.gr/en/companies-and-families-of-tobacco-merchants) >[**With the development of the tobacco industry in the 1870s, Jewish merchants** came to Durham to establish retail stores for recently arrived white and black tobacco workers. ](https://www.museumofdurhamhistory.org/blog/history-of-jewish-life-in-durham/)