What Was the Plantation System?
Quick Answer
The plantation system was a system that divided land in the New World into smaller tracts known as plantations. The plantation system started in Virginia and spread to New England, with plantations growing labor-intensive crops like cotton, rice, sugar cane and tobacco, initially powered by convicts that were shipped to the Americas by the British and then later, by slaves bought by plantation owners in the slave trade.
Continue ReadingFull Answer
The demand for labor was so intense that slave markets became popular. Slaves were first imported from the West Indies, but almost exclusively from Africa during the late 1700s. Slave ports were established in Louisiana, South Carolina, Virginia and Pennsylvania.
Because death rates among slaves were high, slave owners encouraged slaves to bear children. In fact, child bearing usually began around age 13, and by the age of 20, women slaves were expected to have borne as many as five children. Female slaves were often promised freedom if they would bear 15 children for the slaveholder.
The plantation system was modeled after the sugar plantations found in the eastern Mediterranean as early as the year 1100. These early plantations tapped into slavery as a source of ready and expendable labor that could be replaced and scaled up or down as needed.
Learn more about US HistoryRelated Questions
-
Q:
Lord Baltimore Established the Maryland Colony in Response to What?
A: In the late 1600s, Sir George Calvert, the First Lord Baltimore, asked King James I for land on which to found a colony of New World Roman Catholics in res... Full Answer >Filed Under: -
Q:
What Is the Seigneurial System?
A: The seigneurial system was a system of institutionalized land distribution put into effect in 1627 in New France. It was abolished in 1854. Full Answer >Filed Under: -
Q:
What Was Maryland's Colonial Government?
A: Maryland was the first colony to be founded on the proprietary system of government in which a private land owner or corporation was granted express power ... Full Answer >Filed Under: -
Q:
What Are Some Facts About Martha Washington?
A: Martha Washington was born on June 2, 1731, at Chestnut Grove plantation in New Kent County, Virginia, according to the Mount Vernon Ladies' Association we... Full Answer >Filed Under:
