In the Thirteen Colonies, plantations were concentrated in the South. These colonies included Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia. They had good soil and almost year-round growing seasons, ideal for crops such as rice and tobacco. The existence of many waterways in the region made transportation easier. Each colony specialized in one or two crops, with Virginia standing out in tobacco production[2]
<span>Slavery<span>[edit]</span></span>See also: Slavery in the United States and Slavery in the colonial United StatesSugar plantation in the British colony of Antigua, 1823
Planters embraced the use of slaves mainly because indentured labor became expensive. Some indentured servants were also leaving to start their own farms as land was widely available. Colonists tried to use Native Americans for labor, but they were susceptible to European diseases and died in large numbers. The plantation owners then turned to enslaved Africans for labor. In 1665, there were fewer than 500 Africans in Virginia but by 1750, 85 percent of the 235,000 slaves lived in the Southern colonies, Virginia included. Africans made up 40 percent of the South’s population.[3]
According to the 1840 United States Census, one out of every four families in Virginia owned slaves. There were over 100 plantation owners who owned over 100 slaves.[4]
<span>Number of slaves in the Lower South: 2,312,352 (47% of total population).Number of slaves in the Upper South: 1,208,758 (9% of total population).Number of slaves in the Border States: 432,586 (13% of total population).</span>
Fewer than one-third of Southern families owned slaves at the peak of slavery prior to the Civil War. In Mississippi and South Carolina the figure approached one half. The total number of slave owners was 385,000 (including, in Louisiana, some free African Americans), amounting to approximately 3.8% of the Southern and Border states population.
Tobacco field
On a plantation with more than 100 slaves, the capital value of the slaves was greater than the capital value of the land and farming implements.
