Tobacco

Tobacco is an agricultural product made from the leaves of plants in the Nicotiana family. Native Americans grew and used tobacco for centuries before Europeans arrived in the New World. Native Americans used it for trade with each other, recreation, and spiritual practices.

Tobacco became a staple crop in the colonial New World, especially in Virginia and Maryland . A staple is something produced in mass quantities for sale. By the middle of the seventeenth century, tobacco was second only to grain as the most valuable commodity exported by the American colonies. Rice, fish, and indigo made up the other top five exports.

Became main export

Tobacco played an important role in the early success of the Virginia settlement of Jamestown . In 1614, when the settlement was struggling, John Rolfe (c. 1585–1622) found a strain of tobacco that grew well there. Just three years later the Virginia colony exported twenty thousand pounds of tobacco to England. High prices for tobacco at the time earned huge profits for the owners of the colony.

Tobacco also was the most important crop in Maryland beginning around 1634. Corn was a vital agricultural commodity as well. Exports to Europe allowed the colonists to obtain clothing, tools, and other manufactured goods in return.

Demanded large workforce

Working tobacco fields required hard labor. To supply it, colonists first brought indentured servants from Europe. Often from England, Scotland, and Ireland, indentured servants signed a contract to provide labor for a period of years, frequently seven. In return they received transportation to the New World and food, clothing, and housing during their period of indenture. Eventually planters replaced indentured servants with slave labor, which was less expensive and more permanent.

After the initial tobacco boom early in the seventeenth century, conditions made the industry a hard one. Prices fell and farming the same crop in the same soils every year depleted soil nutrients. Still, tobacco remained profitable in Virginia and other colonies, and was one of the most important exports throughout the colonial period.