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Why African Slaves ? - 0 views

  • The reasons usually stated for African slaves being preferred by plantation owners is that they could more easily be bought from traders on the West African coast and were more immune to European diseases than indigenous Americans or imported white slaves
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    "The reasons usually stated for African slaves being preferred by plantation owners is that they could more easily be bought from traders on the West African coast and were more immune to European diseases than indigenous Americans or imported white slaves"
isabelgrniet

John Rolfe -- Jamestown Rediscovery - 0 views

  • Rolfe's experiments with tobacco that developed the first profitable export.
  • The Spaniards found the natives in the West Indies using the tobacco plant. They took seed to Europe where its use soon spread to other countries around the Mediterranean Sea.
  • Sir Walter Raleigh is often credited with the introduction of the use of tobacco in England. While he may not have been responsible for its introduction, he apparently played an important role in the spread of tobacco use among the English. Spain and Portugal monopolized the European tobacco trade; England imported tobacco from Spain.
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  • The English colonists did not like the type of tobacco the Virginia Indians grew. They preferred the fragrant sort that Spanish colonists produced in the Caribbean and sold in large quantities at high prices to London merchants.
isabelgrniet

Virtual Jamestown - 0 views

  • John Rolfe is best remembered for having introduced tobacco as a commercial crop to Virginia colonists.
  • shaped the future development of the colony and provided an economic incentive for further expansion and settlement of the New World.
  • John Rolfe began his experiments with planting tobacco in 1612
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  • Rolfe planted seeds from the West Indies and produced a crop which was more fragrant and sweet than native tobacco, yet was also well-suited to the growing conditions of the new colony.
  • 1617, the colonists produced enough tobacco to send their first shipment to England.
  • Virginia tobacco
  • it was plentiful and cheap
  • Early tobacco prices ranged from one to three shillings, prompting a tobacco boom which lasted through the 1620's
  • obacco (both as a medicine and as a recreational drug
  • The native tobacco of Virginia was of little commercial interest to the Virginia Company as the tobacco was too harsh for European taste.
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How Tobacco Saved Jamestown Colony | Musings of a Cigar Curmudgeon - 1 views

  • In 1614, the new colony at Jamestown in what is now Virginia was a death camp of starving colonists with little hope of survival.
  • In 1614, in what has been called by at least one historian the most momentous event of the 17th century, the first shipment of Virginia tobacco was sold in London.
  • John Rolfe, who married Pocahantas, had learned to smoke tobacco while in London and decided to take a shot at cultivating tobacco in Jamestown, and not the Nicotiana Rustica of the local Indians but he chose the coveted Nicotiana Tabacum strain then being grown in Trinidad and South America–though Spain had declared a penalty of death to anyone selling such seeds to a non-Spaniard.
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  • Rolfes’ Virginia tobacco, “Orinoco”
  • Tobacco became such a popular crop that a law had to be passed to force some food cultivation in the suddenly affluent colony.
  • By 1619 Jamestown had exported 10 tons of tobacco to Europe and had left behind its dismal history of starvation, cannbalism and general debotchery.
  • By 1639 Jamestown had exported 750 tons of tobacco.
  • Tobacco was the American colonies’ chief export.
  • tobacco has been a critical crop
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    date when they began to grow tobacco
isabelgrniet

Economics of Tobacco - 0 views

  • After finding no precious metals and failing at such endeavors as glassmaking and silk production, John Rolfe finally succeeded by growing a sweet variety of tobacco which was all the rage in England
  • This meant land became a very important resource since a great deal of land was required to grow tobacco.
  • Because growing tobacco also required a lot of hard work and labor, more people (human resources) were needed to work in the fields.
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  • tobacco became a cash crop for the colony. 
  • Once in Virginia, John Rolfe experimented with the planting of tobacco seeds he obtained from somewhere in the Caribbean.
  • He gave some tobacco from his crop to friends, and they agreed that the new leaf was very pleasant and better than the Indian tobacco.
  • He shipped the remainder of his crop to England where it compared favorably with “Spanish” leaf.
  • John Rolfe eventually married her in 1614
  • Pocahontas, daughter of Powhatan
  • Their marriage coincided with a temporary peace with the Indians, allowing the settlers to develop and expand their colony, including planting more tobacco.
  • Tobacco production was the biggest success.  Wood products and the fur trade earned a small profit.  They were disappointed that they found no gold or silver and that industries such as glassmaking, silk making, wine making, and iron making were not successful.
  • They hoped to find gold or silver; provide England with valuable raw materials; establish manufactories that would turn a profit.
  • There was a great demand for tobacco in England.  There was much available land in Virginia, and labor was available from indentured servants and later slaves.
  • Profits, prosperity and ability to purchase luxury goods with the profits of tobacco were positives.  Establishment of slavery was a negative that would affect American society for years to come.
  • English merchants served as the middlemen, acquiring goods from around the world to send to Virginia in exchange for tobacco.
  • What two things were required in order for tobacco growing to become profitable?  Land and labor.
  • John Rolfe left England bound for Jamestown in May 1609
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