Economic, Geographic, and Social Factors Encourage the Growth of Slavery as an Important Part of the Economy of the Southern Colonies Between 1607 and 1775

In the year 1619, the very first African slaves were brought the Jamestown, Virginia. Slaves would forever change the southern colonies. Between 1607 and 1775 the southern colonies needed people to work on their cash crops, and while indentured servants were useful; Africans better suited this job because they were socially easier to control, because they came from a similar climate making them better immune to disease and also by South economically benefiting from their physical working abilities. Economic factors encouraged the growth of slavery. With the improvements on Tobacco by John Rolfe (also known as the father of tobacco), the colony of Jamestown was saved. In other words, Jamestown’s economy was beginning. Tobacco was starting as a cash crop and with Europe’s desire for tobacco. Plantations (where the cultivation of tobacco took place) were being brought out and required vast chunks of land on which to cultivate the tobacco. Indentured servants were used and were contracted for an average of seven years. However, nearly half of the indentured servants died off before they reached their seven years; diseases such as smallpox and malaria. They were not accustomed to the conditions of working the tobacco. Africans were better suited with their immunity to disease and their ability to work. Africans however were very expensive, but they were servants for life and with regulation laws, slavery in the south was important. Geography also played an important role in the expansion of slavery in the south. Geography in the south was different than the geography in the north. Rivers and hot weather was the backbone of the South. The south was able to plant different crops than the north. The south cultivated its most important crops, tobacco and rice. The Carolinas were best known for their rice cultivation. Here in the Carolinas, Africans were used to growing rice. With rice and tobacco, such items like these were a part of the triangle trade; which was a trade between the colonies, Europe, and the West Indies. How the Africans got to the south was through the Trans-Atlantic Slave System. Which would sell Africans then would be put into slavery in plantations. Overall, the geography also made the expansion of slavery possible. Social factors also encourage the growth of the southern colonies. Slavery was basically racism on the African slaves. African slaves were not able to be like their owners. Slave codes were first created in the Caribbean’s. These laws were first created to keep order and these laws allowed the slave owner to do anything they wished to. South Carolina later adopted these laws and then spread across the colonies. Laws such as these caused the expansion of slavery, whites would only need to provide the necessities such as clothing and food but the rest was left for them to decide. Blacks were belittled and were mistreated with whip lashes, sometimes hit for no reason. Good or bad, social factors promoted slavery expansion into southern colonies. Slavery was the act which made the south economically boom. Many factors affected the growth of slavery and in return made the economy thrive. Through the need of labor, African’s cultivation changed the economy through economic, geographic, and social factors.