What Role Does Tobacco Play In The Columbian Exchange

John Rolfe is best known for his marriage to Pocahontas, but his greatest contribution to the new world would be introducing tobacco as a commercial crop to Virginia colonists. Although the Indians had already cultivated tobacco, Rolfe introduced a sweeter form in Virginia that he imported from Trinidad, whose tobacco was considered superior to the Indian variety (Horn, 2011). His marriage to Pocahontas in 1614 led to eight years of relative peace with the Indians allowing time for increased land holdings tobacco to take root, grow, and gather markets. The production of this valuable commodity played a major role in the formation of the transatlantic slave trade, a trading market that capitalized on slave labor and exploitation. The cash crop
known as tobacco was responsible for the success of the colonies and led to the transition from indentured servant to slave labor across the new world while also shaping American tobacco use today.
The demand for tobacco was already established across Europe, but it was met by the tobacco grown in West Indies and South America. King James recognized that Britain would be freed from purchasing tobacco from these markets while simultaneously raising tax revenue (Horn, 2011). Rolfe began exporting more and more tobacco as its value across the Atlantic Ocean grew. With Virginia being part of the global market, the colony was able to ship lumber and tobacco together. Tobacco weighed little making it less costly to ship and resulting in maximum profits (Gray & Wyckoff, 1940).
By 1621, a bill was introduced in Parliament to prohibit tobacco cultivation and prevented importation of tobacco from anywhere except Virginia and the British Indies.
In 1625, Charles I succeeded his father as king and continued the policy of maintaining a colonial tobacco monopoly. Recognizing the colonial dependency on tobacco, he encouraged the diversification into pitch and tar, and planting vines (Gray & Wyckoff, 1940). In 1630, Charles issued a proclamation forbidding mainland Britain from growing tobacco and again gave Virginia the monopoly on British tobacco imports. Virginia then agreed to only sell their tobacco to England and in return England provided all goods to Virginia. Tobacco soon become another form of currency in both England and Virginia. Goods and wives were to be purchased via tobacco, even fines could be handled by trading in tobacco. Tobacco replaced currency in the colonies until the end of the colonial period when America became an independent nation (Gray & Wyckoff,
1940).
The plantations across the new world were expanding rapidly, in the late 1600’s, the number of slaves outnumbered indentured servants four to one.
This method of labor revolutionized America’s production of tobacco and maximized England’s profits. Gloria Sesso described the move to a slave system as “the product of an extensive plantation system” and “the sheer availability of African slaves and the lack of alternatives (Sesso, 2008). Indentured servants became the first means to meet this need for labor. In return for free passage to Virginia, a laborer worked for four to five years in the fields before being granted freedom. England rewarded planters with 50 acres of land for every inhabitant they brought to the New World. However, over time, indentured servitude was no longer profitable, and America would have to continue looking across the Atlantic Ocean for their labor source for tobacco fields and other crops (Sesso,
2008).
The transatlantic trade was formed as the plantations needed labor and Africa had an available source. England utilized Africa and became the middle man in the slave trade to gain more profits. Britain would sail to Africa in order to sell goods and exchanged goods for slaves. British ships then travelled to the Americas to exchange slaves for goods in the Americas, such as tobacco. The ships would then return to England and the process would begin again.
The transition from indentured servants to slavery occurred in the late 1690’s. The supply of indentured servants dropped as people realized the treatment was not much different than the treatment of slaves. Another component to the supply was people knew after their term of servitude was complete, there were no benefits or jobs to take up unless the continued to work as a servant. The increase in supply of slaves allowed for their prices to dropped drastically. It was more profitable to have slaves instead of indentured servants for colonists. Tobacco’s rise to cash crop glory was major factor in the slave increase (Sesso, 2008).
Carole Shammas argues that plantation systems in the new world grew because the planters were purchasing items such as tobacco, sugar, porcelain, tea, etc. items often considered luxuries in Europe, in large amounts. Large planters wanted goods that Virginia and the other colonies could not provide and used their tobacco as purchase power. Until then, colonists’ importance in the transatlantic trade have not been given enough attention even as their expenditures changed the way Europeans thought and ultimately consumed (Shammas, 2005).
Today, tobacco kills five million people yearly, which is much more then HIV/Aids, Tuberculosis, and Malaria combined, according to International Union Against Cancer. This addicting drug can in fact end up giving the user a death sentence. As the body grows older, the DNA atoms can be mutated by this seemingly harmless plant. This mutation of cells can eventually spread, and the user will end up with a body full of cancer. These cancer sticks or cigarettes are not only harmful to your body but also hard on your wallet (U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, 2004).