Question

How did the growth of tobacco impact the land culture economy politics and social relations both in North America and throughout the Atlantic?

Answer 1

Ans) Tobacco dominated the economy in Virginia.

- It was planted in fields and forts throughout Jamestown and Tidewater

- Thus, became the safest and most stable currency known to the Chesapeake colonies.

- They were bound by the mercantile system, sending raw goods to England where it was turned into finished goods.

- Colonist used tobacco to trade equally for goods from England, pay taxes and fines, and it was the principal sources of revenue for the colonial governments of Virginia and Maryland. The first Africans taken to the Americas via the Atlantic Sea islands, Portugal, and Spain to work as slaves on tobacco, rice, and sugar plantations.

- Prosperity and power in the Atlantic flowed from slave colonies. Slaves were purchased cheaply allowing for a larger profit. However, the tobacco drained the soil of its nutrients, only about three successful growing seasons could occur on a plot of land.

- Then the land had to lie fallow for three years before the soil could be used again.

- This created a huge drive for new farmland.