SETTLING NORTH AMERICA 1497 1732
THE 13 COLONIES LIFE IN EARLY AMERICA
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Question
[CLICK ON ANY CHOICE TO KNOW THE RIGHT ANSWER]
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It was the main crop the founders of Jamestown hoped to grow when they first established the colony
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It turned out to be the cash crop and that saved the colony.
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It caused fighting when the colonial government outlawed the crop and would not allow it to be imported.
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Although Virginians tried to raise tobacco, the crop failed miserably
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Detailed explanation-1: -The Jamestown colonists found a new way to make money for The Virginia Company: tobacco. The demand for tobacco eventually became so great, that the colonists turned to enslaved Africans as a cheap source of labor for their plantations.
Detailed explanation-2: -Tobacco became so important, that it was used as currency, to pay taxes, and even to purchase slaves and indentured servants. Because of its burgeoning tobacco industry, African slaves were brought to Jamestown in 1619 to work the plantations. Others worked as indentured servants.
Detailed explanation-3: -The American tobacco industry was started by John Rolfe, the eventual husband of Pocahontas. Rolfe brought tobacco seeds to Jamestown from the Caribbean island of Trinidad. In 1612, he harvested his first tobacco crop, which was well-received in England, and which, became the colony’s cash crop!
Detailed explanation-4: -Jamestown continued to go through its ups and downs through the remainder of the 17th and into the 18th centuries, but the introduction of tobacco was a key moment that helped the colony survive financial ruin and prevent further human loss.
Detailed explanation-5: -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.