Tobacco colonies
English North American colonies where tobacco was the dominant export.
The tobacco colonies were the English settlements in the Tidewater region of North America, stretching from Delaware through Maryland and Virginia into the Albemarle Sound area of North Carolina. Their significance arose from the enormous increase in European demand for tobacco during the seventeenth century, which made tobacco the staple crop of the Chesapeake Bay Region.
The Colonies
Tobacco cultivation in Virginia began in 1614 when John Rolfe experimented with Nicotania tabacum from the West Indies, and the first shipment was sent to England that same year. The British valued tobacco as a public display of wealth affordable only to the high-status. As tobacco's popularity grew, it became the savior of the colonies because the rough climate prevented production of other necessary crops; the Virginia climate and land structure proved ideal for tobacco plantations. The crop's rapid popularity abroad discouraged diversification, as land was readily available and quick profits could be made. Tobacco required a large labor force; indentured servants worked for passage, and the first slaves arrived in 1619, though slavery did not become dominant for several decades. Between 1740 and 1770, Virginia's population grew faster than tobacco production, leading to greater economic diversification. Maryland, founded in 1634 as a proprietary colony granted to Cecil Calvert, 2nd Baron Baltimore, also made tobacco its dominant export.
Types of tobacco
Two major types were grown: Sweet-scented and Orinoco. Orinoco was coarser, bulkier, and pointier in leaf shape, while Sweet-scented had rounder leaves of finer fibers. Orinoco was grown throughout the Chesapeake Bay, whereas Sweet-scented was limited to the Potomac, James, York, and Rappahannock Rivers. English consumers preferred the milder Sweet-scented, but the rest of Europe favored Orinoco, making it more profitable for plantation owners.
Economic ties to England
The tobacco colonies operated under the mercantile system, supplying England with raw materials that were turned into finished products and often sold back to the colonies. British policy discouraged cotton production in America to protect its woolen and linen manufacturers, further promoting tobacco. As colonial populations grew, tobacco exports to England rose dramatically: from 60,000 pounds in 1622–1628 to 500,000 pounds by 1628, reaching 1,500,000 pounds by 1639 and over 20,000,000 pounds annually by the late 1600s.
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