Tobacco colonies

The tobacco colonies were those that lined the sea-level coastal region of English North America known as Tidewater, extending from a small part of Delaware south through Maryland and Virginia into the Albemarle Sound region of North Carolina (the Albemarle Settlements).

The development of tobacco as an export began in Virginia in 1614 when one of the English colonists, John Rolfe, experimented with a plant he had brought from the West Indies, 'Nicotania tabacum.

With no crops, they lacked an income and a food supply, so the colonists took the opportunity to begin growing tobacco.

As Virginia tobacco rapidly gained popularity abroad, it became more difficult to encourage the production of diverse crops or other commodities in the colony.

However, between the years of 1740 and 1770, the few decades just prior to the American Revolution, the population of Virginia was increasing more quickly than its tobacco production was, resulting in greater economic diversification.

Founded as a source of income for Baltimore and a refuge for Roman Catholics, tobacco soon became the dominant export in Maryland as it had in Virginia.

The inlets, creeks, coves, and river mouths allowed for ships to come directly to plantation wharves to trade English goods for tobacco (or corn, another widely-grown crop in Maryland).

Compared to the other tobacco colonies, North Carolina was less developed, with no cities and barely any small towns or villages.

[5] During the colonial period, the British discouraged cotton production in America to protect its woolen and linen manufacturers.