The Success of the Chesapeake Tobacco Colonies
When Britain had the colonies in the New World, they established a complex trade system. It was more than just robbing the new land of valuables or sitting up settlements. It was a complex network that was developed over time to make Britain strong on both sides of the ocean. It was a give and take that might not have been as balanced as it should have been, but there was a trade.
Give and Take
It was a complex give and take. The New World gave the Old World things they needed. The Old gave the New tools to achieve that end.
The success of the British trade is easily attributed to the success of the Chesapeake colonies and the tobacco they furnished. The land in this region was fertile and the temperature more favorable than most other European colonies. It “proved able to develop forms of subsistence agriculture”, more so than other colonies. (1)
The obsession Europe had with tobacco made it a commodity worthy of sinking money into. Though other countries did grow tobacco in the Caribbean, only the Chesapeake colonies had the land and resources to meet the ever growing demand. It brought in huge profits “sustained by European mode so consumption”. (2)
