Southern colonies in north america were established by England (later Great Britain), during the 17th and 18th centuries and consisted of the Province of Maryland, the Colony of Virginia, the Province of North Carolina, the Province of South Carolina, and the Province of Georgia.
The colonies were founded in order to compete with other European powers in the quest for land and wealth. They developed prosperous economies based on the cultivation of cash crops, such as tobacco,indigo,and rice. Over time, the region was noted for its reliance upon slave labor and for its highly-stratified social class distinctions.
The colonies were founded in order to compete with other European powers in the quest for land and wealth. They developed prosperous economies based on the cultivation of cash crops, such as tobacco,indigo,and rice. Over time, the region was noted for its reliance upon slave labor and for its highly-stratified social class distinctions.
Slave Labor
For the first half of the 1600s, there were few Africans in Virginia, whether enslaved or free. In 1665, fewer than 500 Africans had been brought into the colony. At that time, African and European indentured servants worked in the fields together. Starting in the 1660s, the labor system began to change as indentured white servants started to leave the plantations. One reason they left was the large amount of land available in the Americas. It was fairly easy for white men to save enough money to buy land and start their own farms. White servants could not be kept on the plantations permanently. As Bacon’s Rebellion showed, it was also politically dangerous for planters to try to keep them there . As a result, the landowners had to find another source of labor.Planters tried to force Native Americans to work for them. But
European diseases caused many Native Americans to die. Those who
survived usually knew the country well enough to run away.
To meet their labor needs, the planters turned to enslaved Africans.
As a result, the population of people of African descent began to grow
rapidly. By 1750, there were over 235,000 enslaved Africans in
America. About 85 percent lived in the Southern Colonies. Enslaved
Africans made up about 40 percent of the South’s population.
On large Southern plantations, slaves toiled in groups of about 20 to 25 under the supervision of overseers. Overseers were men hired by planters to watch over and direct the work of slaves. Enslaved persons performed strenuous and exhausting work, often for 15 hours a day at the peak of the harvest season. If slaves did not appear to be doing their full share of work, they were often whipped by the overseer. Enslaved people usually lived in small, one-room cabins that were furnished only with sleeping cots. For a week’s food, a slave might receive only around a quarter bushel of corn and a pound of pork. Some planters allowed their slaves to add to this meager ration by letting them raise their own potatoes, greens, fruit, or chicken. In spite of the brutal living conditions, Africans preserved many customs and beliefs from their homelands.These included music, dances, stories, and, for a time, African religions—including Islam. African kinship customs became the basis of African-American family culture. A network of kin was a source of strength even when families were separated.
On large Southern plantations, slaves toiled in groups of about 20 to 25 under the supervision of overseers. Overseers were men hired by planters to watch over and direct the work of slaves. Enslaved persons performed strenuous and exhausting work, often for 15 hours a day at the peak of the harvest season. If slaves did not appear to be doing their full share of work, they were often whipped by the overseer. Enslaved people usually lived in small, one-room cabins that were furnished only with sleeping cots. For a week’s food, a slave might receive only around a quarter bushel of corn and a pound of pork. Some planters allowed their slaves to add to this meager ration by letting them raise their own potatoes, greens, fruit, or chicken. In spite of the brutal living conditions, Africans preserved many customs and beliefs from their homelands.These included music, dances, stories, and, for a time, African religions—including Islam. African kinship customs became the basis of African-American family culture. A network of kin was a source of strength even when families were separated.
Plantations
The South’s soil and almost year-round growing season were ideal for plantation crops like rice and tobacco. These valuable plants required much labor to produce, but with enough workers they could be grown as cash crops. Planters had no trouble transporting their crops because the region’s many waterways made it easy for oceangoing ships to tie up at plantation docks. Like George Mason’s boyhood home, most plantations were largely self sufficient. That is, nearly everything that planters, their families, and their workers needed was produced on the plantation. Because plantations were so self-sufficient, large cities like those in the North were rare in the Southern Colonies. The port city of Charles Town (later called
Charleston) in South Carolina was an early exception.
As the plantation economy continued to grow, planters began to have
difficulty finding enough laborers to work their plantations. Toward the
end of the 1600s, the planters began to turn to enslaved Africans for labor.
The growth of slavery allowed plantation farming to expand in South Carolina and Georgia. Without slave labor, there probably would have been no rice plantations in the region’s swampy lowlands. Enslaved workers drained swamps, raked fields, burned stubble, and broke ground before planting. They also had to flood, drain, dry, hoe, and weed the same fields several times before the harvest. The cultivation of rice required not only backbreaking labor but also considerable skill. Because West Africans had these skills, planters sought out slaves who came from Africa’s rice-growing regions. On higher ground, planters grew indigo, a plant that yields a deep blue dye. A young woman named Eliza Lucas had introduced indigo as a successful plantation crop after her father sent her to supervise his South Carolina plantations when she was 17. The Planter Class Slave labor allowed planters, such as the Byrd family of Virginia, to become even wealthier. These families formed an elite planter class. They had money or credit to buy the most slaves. And because they had more slaves, they could grow more tobacco, rice, or indigo to sell. Small landowners with just one or two slaves simply could not compete. Many gave up their land and moved westward. As a result, the powerful planter class gained control of the rich land along the coast. The planter class was relatively small compared to the rest of the population. However, this upper class soon took control of political and economic power in the South. A foreign traveler in the South commented that the planters “think and act precisely as do the nobility in other countries.” Some planters, following the traditions of nobility, did feel responsible for the welfare of their enslaved workers. Power, they believed, brought with it the responsibility to do good. Many planters, though, were tyrants. They held complete authority over everyone in their households. Planters frequently used violence against slaves to enforce their will. Slave and triangular trade |
The agriculture system based on Slave Plantations was implemented in the Southern Colonies during the Colonial period. The five Southern Colonies who introduced the system of Slave Plantations were composed of the Maryland Colony, Virginia Colony, North Carolina Colony, South Carolina Colony and the Georgia Colony. The reason that Slave Plantations sprang up in the South was due to the geography and climate of the Southern colonies.
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The early days of the American economy were filled with trade routes stretching across the Atlantic in seemingly all directions. As with trade between European countries, the goods coming into and out of America tended to be part of a pattern. The money paid for one set of goods would be used to pay for another set of goods, and so on. Also at this time, goods were traded for each other, in a barter system.In early American settlement, goods came from two main sources: England and Africa. This came to be known as Triangular Trade.The trade consisted of Africa sending slaves to the indies and the colonies, the colonies producing raw materials, lumber furs, molasses, and silks, and England areas sending gold, clothes and iron to Africa, and sending manufactured goods and luxuries to Africa, but also the colonies.Brazil received the most slaves and the southern colonies received the most slaves out of the three colonial regions.For more go to http://www.unesco.org/new/en/culture/themes/dialogue/the-slave-route/transatlantic-slave-trade/.
Religion
In the southern colonies there was religious tolerance created by brothers Cecilius and Leonard Calvert in the colony of Maryland, called the Anglican church . The slaves the southern settlers brought into the colonies were usually non-Christian, although a few had been baptized as Roman Catholic. Colonists felt free to enslave Africans because they were not Christians. For the first century of slavery, from the early 17th century to the early 18th century, most Southern states made it a crime to baptize slaves, because slaveholders feared they would have to free slaves if they became their brothers and sisters in Christ.In general the southern colonies were a mix of Anglicans, Baptists, and Catholics.
Sources
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_Colonies
http://www.africanafrican.com/folder11/world%20history1/slavery/4.3%20The%20Southern%20Colonies%20-%20Plantations%20and%20Slavery.pdf
http://www.unesco.org/new/en/culture/themes/dialogue/the-slave-route/transatlantic-slave-trade/
http://www.countriesquest.com/north_america/usa/people/religion_in_the_united_states/history_of_religion_in_the_united_states/religion_in_the_colonies/southern_colonines/southern
http://www.archaeologyuk.org/ba/ba94/slavemap.png
http://www.africanafrican.com/folder11/world%20history1/slavery/4.3%20The%20Southern%20Colonies%20-%20Plantations%20and%20Slavery.pdf
http://www.unesco.org/new/en/culture/themes/dialogue/the-slave-route/transatlantic-slave-trade/
http://www.countriesquest.com/north_america/usa/people/religion_in_the_united_states/history_of_religion_in_the_united_states/religion_in_the_colonies/southern_colonines/southern
http://www.archaeologyuk.org/ba/ba94/slavemap.png