Factors Influencing Southern Colonies

Factors Influencing Southern Colonies

Factors Influencing Southern Colonies

The 17th century was overflowing with major transformation in economy, geography and societal changes that resulted in the growth of slavery. Notoriously called indentured servants at the time, slaves developed quickly in the southern colonies because there was a strong need for manual labor that insisted danger, and hard work for cheap labor. Since the slaves began to alter the way of life, many colonies depended on them like a commodity, in order to maintain balance in their lives.
Economy was one of the major factors that encouraged the growth of slavery that made them an important part of the economy of the southern colonies in the beginning of the 17th century. By definition, economy is efficiency and conservation of effort in the operation or achievement of something. Slavery began becoming part of the “triangular trade”, where sugar cane was shipped from the Caribbean to New England which then made Rum, which was then shipped to Africa where it was traded for slaves, who where taken to the Caribbean to support the large sugar plantations. Since plantations were huge in size, their large estate required many field hands. People did not want to take these jobs voluntarily. The few indentured servants who did agree, soon left and started competing farms. Therefore, slavery quickly became a critical component of the plantation system, and with the absence of a plantation system critical for food, the economy would suffer.
In addition, the geography of the south was another major factor in the slavery era. The southern colonies are home to large, flat, and moist soils that made suitable for farming. At the time, tobacco was the thriving cash crop in the colonies, and also the most labor- intensive. With this, plantation owners needed a way to get the job done, but also get the job done without robbing their pocketbooks of money. As a result, indentured slaves were one to do this labor, and as the years passed,...

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