Southern Colonies

The Southern Colonies were overwhelmingly rural, with large agricultural operations, which made use of slavery and indentured servitude extensive.

[2] The colonies developed prosperous economies based on the cultivation of cash crops, such as tobacco,[3] indigo,[4] and rice.

[5] An effect of the cultivation of these crops was the presence of slavery in significantly higher proportions than in other parts of British America.

Shaftesbury and his secretary, the philosopher John Locke, devised an intricate plan to govern the many people arriving in the colony.

In 1691, dissent over the governance of the province led to the appointment of a deputy governor to administer the northern half of Carolina.

[8] The warm climate and swampy lands make it perfect for growing crops such as tobacco, rice, sugarcane, and indigo.

He received a grant for a large tract of land north of the Potomac river and on either side of Chesapeake Bay.

[9] Calvert planned on creating a haven for English Roman Catholics, many of whom were well-to-do nobles such as himself who could not worship in public.

[10] He planned on creating an agrarian manorial society where each noble would have a large manor and tenants would work in the fields and on other tasks.

Sir William Berkeley, the colony's governor, sent explorers over the Blue Ridge Mountains to open up the back country of Virginia to settlement.