The different crops and their distinctive patterns of labor organization gave rise to several other important distinctions as well. Tobacco was the first plantation crop in North America. English settlers in the Chesapeake region recognized tobacco's profitable potential in the early seventeenth century. They built their first plantations using the labor of British indentured servants rather than African slaves. But in the late 1600s the market for English servants dried up, and Virginia planters turned instead to slavery.
The middle colonies exchanged tobacco and the southern colonies added rice, indigo, and furs. The climate and geography of British North America influenced the economic development of the New England, Middle, and Southern Colonies. Many people in New England had very poor lifestyles because of their poor climate and geography. It was the least fertile, and they had short growing seasons, which also lead them to have bad farming. They couldn’t grow many crops because of the poor soil and they had to find some other way of finding crops and providing for their families.
In the early as the 15 century, England passed from raising sheep and producing wool, an agricultural activity, to manufacturing cloth. This signaled the beginning of capitalist production. It is in capitalist production that we can locate the basic cause of the slave trade. The slave ship sailed from the home country with a cargo of manufactured goods. These were exchanged at a profit on the coast of Africa for Negroes, who were traded on the plantations, at another profit, in exchange for a cargo of colonial produce to be taken back to the home country.
While the English colonies were growing rapidly along the Atlantic seaboard, French fur traders and explorers were venturing deep into the heart of North America. It could be only a matter of time before the rivalries between France and England elsewhere in the world would be sharply reflected in a final struggle for the ownership of the North American continent. the primary differences between the French and English Colonization policies are the following: the French colonies treated the natives with great diplomacy, whereas the British colonies treated the natives as savages and lesser creatures. The French approach to colonization was based on integrating its colonial people into a “Greater France" through cultural assimilation and administrative centralization. on the other hand, British Indirect rule was a system where external military and tax control was operated by the British, while almost every other aspect of life was left to local pre-colonial aristocracies who had sided with the British during the conquest.
Agriculture made human communities dependent on relatively few plants; the main crops which they grew rather than on the many different kinds of plants which hunter-gathers used. (Burt) To survive, agriculturalists had to gather all their food for the year at one or two or three harvest times, rather than gathering year round. Agriculture brought class divisions because farming introduced the concept of land ownership and thereby, there was a division among labor and owner, and on the one hand, it caused the elite became wealthier, but on the other hand, most people became poorer. In hunting and gathering society,
The system of land distribution was unfair and most peasants received 4% less land than they had rented before, many received much less. In reality they had less land than when they were serfs. This was seen as unfair as they believed that, because they had worked the land for generations, it should now belong to them. The Mir still restricted peasants’ movements and as consolidation and enlargement of property was difficult, there was little incentive to improve the land and adopt modern methods, resulting in a decline in productivity The huge redemption taxes also meant that the peasants had to sell many of the crops they needed to eat and the Mir kept the peasants tied to their commune and still controlled by rules. Peasants felt disappointed and disillusioned and many rioted.
With 90% of the country being illiterate, there was no way for the country to industrialize (which would also go on to effect their economy), without people being able to read or write, it became even more difficult for the country to move forward. The economy became weak very quickly because of the growth in population (keeping in mind that the amount of people who were uneducated was still 90%), they relied too much on their primary source of income which was agriculture, this resulted in the land developing crops less as they were constantly taken at every chance possible therefore making the land weaker (and a weaker land meant a weaker income). Another factor that also had an effect on the
As layers of bureaucracy developed over the centuries, so did the inefficiency and corruption within government operations. Colonial officials ignored their own rules and failed to enforce laws mostly because of the shortage of labor. The acquisition of land was also important because of the growing agriculture to provide labor and wealth. This would also lead
The Africans that were sold were to work on plantations . The third and final part of the triangular trade was the return voyage from " The Americans to Europe ". Slave ships returned to Europe which carried fish, lumber, and other goods from New England to the West Indies. In the West Indies they picked up sugar and molasses which is a dark brown syrup product made from sugar cane. This was used to make rum.
Because of this, the Southern colonists made their living off farming cash crops, such as rice, usually in plantations. The Middle colonists also shared a prosperous growing season because of their mild climate. However instead of cash crops, the Middle colonists would grow wheat and grains, being the “breadbasket” of the colonies. New England colonists didn’t have much prosperity in agriculture. They would instead participate in subsistent farming, meaning they grew only what they needed to feed themselves.