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Tobacco, rice, sugar cane, and cotton.
European explored the world during the 15th and 16th century, and discovered that they could get rich by trading with Africa, America and Asia. They decided to take over settlements, and faught in wars with the local people to be able to live there (Bottaro, Cohen, Versfeld, and Visser, 2013).
Figure 2: Merz, 2019. Slaves on a cotton plantation in the USA in the mid-19th century. (Swiss National Museum, 2025).
When settlers from England came to North America, they decided to form colonies in the continent. These colonies were called the American South, and they started to grow crops, such as tobacco, rice, sugar cane and cotton, on plantations. These plantations were used to make money, and the American South quickly became known for its cotton, as it was the most profitable crops to grow on these plantations (Bottaro, et al. , 2013).
As cotton grows on bushes, it needs to be picked by hand which was hard work. Therefore, the owners of these plantations decided to bring slaves from Africa to work the plantations for them (Bottaro, et al. 2013).
Learner activity 1: Group work
Watch the following video, and answer the questions below i your groups:
Who came to North America to start colonies?
List some of the crops that were grown on plantations?
Why would you say did most of the plantation owners decide to plant and grow cotton?
Would you say picking cotton by hand was hard work?
How do you think did the lives of plantation owners differ from plantation workers?
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