USA HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -Tobacco farming became popular, because many planters wanted to earn money from selling their tobacco. The Virginia planters paid in pounds of tobacco for everything they bought. So the more tobacco they grew, the more “money” they had to buy stuff with!

Detailed explanation-2: -Relatively cheap labor, a growing population of middling planters, the increasing worldwide demand for tobacco, and a system of regulation designed to maintain the quality of the product all contributed to the creation of a tobacco industry in Virginia, especially in the Piedmont area.

Detailed explanation-3: -The Company’s plan was to identify profitable raw materials such as gold and silver in Virginia to repay the investors back in England. The first settlers included artisans, craftsmen, and laborers alongside the gentlemen leaders.

Detailed explanation-4: -In 1612, John Rolfe, one of many shipwrecked on Bermuda, helped turn the settlement into a profitable venture. He introduced a new strain of tobacco from seeds he brought from elsewhere. Tobacco became the long awaited cash crop for the Virginia Company, who wanted to make money off their investment in Jamestown.

Detailed explanation-5: -Because of the scarcity of specie, Virginia, Maryland, and North Carolina used tobacco as currency throughout most of the colonial period. In 1619 the Virginia legislature “rated” high-quality tobacco at three shillings and in 1642 made it legal tender.