WORLD HISTORY

Detailed explanation-1: -However, like other colonies before and after it, Jamestown nearly did not survive save for the introduction of one agricultural crop: tobacco. Read on to find out how this cash crop turned Jamestown from despair to the path of making Virginia the wealthiest and most populous of the thirteen colonies.

Detailed explanation-2: -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-3: -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-4: -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-5: -John Smith saved the colony from starvation. He told colonists that they must work in order to eat. John Rolfe had the colony plant and harvest tobacco, which became a cash crop and was sold to Europe.